We're often so hung up about the specks of difference among various 'isms' that we ignore the motes of similarity.
Fascism, Nazism and bolshevism, for example, are all logical developments of socialism, which should become instantly clear to anyone capable of stripping socialism of its bien pensant sloganeering.
Socialism isn't about sharing and caring. It's about the state controlling every aspect of life, robbing the individual of his liberty, supplanting his God-given free will with the will of the state.
As such, socialism isn't Christianity without Christ, which was a popular fallacy back in the '60s. It's the Antichrist, someone able to put on benign expressions and utter kindly phrases while pursuing evil ends.
All socialist states, whether 'democratic', 'fascist', 'international' or 'national' have more traits that unite them than those setting them apart.
My favourite exercise, for example, is comparing Stalin's Five-Year Plan, Hitler's Four-Year Plan and Roosevelt's New Deal. All three documents are so identical that they might have been written by the same men (the last two actually were to a great extent, but that's a different story).
Some socialists are more carnivorous than others, but none of them deserve a reputation for goodness, something fostered by most Western papers and accepted by their less intelligent readers.
On the contrary, we should never be surprised when even so-called 'democratic' socialists display evil traits normally associated with their 'national' cousins. Such as anti-Semitism, which is supposed to be the prerogative of conservatives.
True, some tweedy, clubbable gentlemen would rather not see Jews at their oak-walled Pall Mall hangouts. But over the last century or so the worst anti-Semitic atrocities have been committed by socialists, of various red and brown hues.
This ought to be kept in mind by anyone who raises an eyebrow at the news that the British Labour party welcomes activists whose attitude to Jews isn't a million miles away from Julius Streicher's.
Such as Vicky Kirby, who was suspended in 2014 for speaking her mind a tad too loudly and unequivocally. Here are a few examples of her tweets:
"I will never forget and I will make sure my kids teach their children how evil Israel is."
"Anyone thought of asking [ISIS] why they aren't attacking the real oppressors, Israel?"
"Who is the Zionist God? I'm starting to think it's Hitler."
But of course. Hitler is worshipped in every synagogue all over the world, but especially in Israel. We have Miss Kirby to thank for bringing this to our attention.
Lest one might think that Miss Kirby is merely anti-Zionist rather than anti-Semitic, she added another tweet: "What do you know about Jews? They've got big noses and support Spurs."
Some of us also know that six million Jews were murdered by people with Miss Kirby's mindset, but she did point out the most salient facts. ('Spurs', for the outlanders among you, are Tottenham Hotspur, a football team affectionately called 'Yids' in some circles. Tottenham is a poor area in North London, where many Jews live, hence the nickname.)
The amazing (or rather predictable) fact about Miss Kirby isn't that she was suspended in 2014, but that she has just been readmitted -- and appointed vice chairman of her party association.
This is to be expected in a party whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, numbers Hamas murderers among his friends and never bothers to conceal his sympathy for their cause.
Nor are such sentiments reserved for the less educated Labour members. For example, the Oxford University Labour Club is currently being investigated for anti-Semitism.
Actually, the only surprising thing about these revelations is that so many people are surprised. They've fallen victim to socialist propaganda.
For socialism is an ideology of envy and therefore of hatred. And Marx, the patron saint of this evil creed, showed in his own warped personality how naturally hatred of the rich segues into hatred of the Jews.
Jews, even the manifestly poor ones living in Tottenham, are all filthy rich, aren't they? Hence a socialist gets two hate objects for the price of one. And one doesn't have to be Jewish to be unable to resist such a good deal.