Why is communism so appealing to so many people? - Despite, you know, its proven to be a failed system.

[Monuklear]

It does not appeal to anyone who lived or lives under it.

I don't know about that. My family all grew up in the USSR and pretty much everyone who is old enough to remember living under the old system is very nostalgic for it. A lot of it just generic boomer sentimentality, but some of it is also a genuine longing for certain aspects of the system.

Communism afforded basic stability to the population. Your apartment may be small and cramped, but at least you were guaranteed a roof over your head. Food and basic daily necessities were not always available, but at least when they were the prices remained consistent and affordable. Your job might feel meaningless, but at least you were never unemployed and had relatively good work conditions.
There is real value in that sort of basic security. Communism appeared to eliminate a lot of the unpredictability of life. People genuinely believed the system will last long into the future and their lives will remain mostly unchanged until the day they die. Some found that thought depressing, but for many others it was comforting.

It also came with a certain optimism about the future that you just don't see in contemporary societies. The two most consistent things I've heard from my parents and grandparents is that "people were just nicer" and "there was something to believe in". The standard government line was that their countries are really just socialists, and were "working towards communism". The word "communism" had taken a sort of quasi-religious apocalyptic character; a utopian vision for an egalitarian future of peace and prosperity. Until the 1980s that vision seemed almost plausible. The standard of living was always rising, however slowly. It's when it stopped rising and started reversing that faith in the system collapsed and mass apathy and cynicism took hold.

More than anything, though, talking about all this with my parents and grandparents made me realize just how little these capitalism/communism debates you see online have to do with the real lived experienced of people under either system. My impression is that life under communism was paradoxically both very different and very similar to life under capitalism. It had its highs and lows, and a lot of it was absurd in a way that's just difficult to compare to life in a capitalist society. There are subtle nuances to the whole issue that just don't come across in the modern (Western-dominated) online discourse about it.

To this day my maternal grandfather insists that the root cause of communism's downfall is that "people were just not ready for it". I tend to agree, with the caveat that they probably never will be.

 

[Antenna7]

Communism afforded basic stability to the population. Your apartment may be small and cramped, but at least you were guaranteed a roof over your head. Food and basic daily necessities were not always available, but at least when they were the prices remained consistent and affordable. Your job might feel meaningless, but at least you were never unemployed and had relatively good work conditions.

"Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains." - Vladimir Putin

 

[SpergioLeonne]

Communism afforded basic stability to the population. Your apartment may be small and cramped, but at least you were guaranteed a roof over your head. Food and basic daily necessities were not always available, but at least when they were the prices remained consistent and affordable. Your job might feel meaningless, but at least you were never unemployed and had relatively good work conditions.

Presumably the Soviets had relaxed and tried to allow things to be livable by this point.

The early fire and brimstone implementation of communism was largely unlivable. A basic ration card was redeemable for about 500 calories worth of food. You got one for being a citizen, then one for having a job, then one for being in classes, and another one for being a party member in good standing and attending all meetings. That was a system designed to take up all of your free time, and that’s the system Ayn Rand spent the rest of her life denouncing.

To this day my maternal grandfather insists that the root cause of communism's downfall is that "people were just not ready for it". I tend to agree, with the caveat that they probably never will be.

What, we have to “evolve” to the point where ideology is more important than merit?

Capitalism’s flaws are in that we don’t do enough to maintain a firewall between government and business, and we’ve allowed petty corruption to grow into serious corruption. That’s an easier fix than assigning positions throughout an entire society on the basis of good ass kissing and having it be an accidental miracle when someone designs a rifle that can actually shoot.

Again, the major flaws in capitalism are where it most resembles the inevitable outcome of communism.

 

[Odd Opossum]

Nope. The reason the left still has broad support is because it appeals to the lowest common denominator of the stupid and the worthless.

As the left gets browner and stupider as a natural consequence, the right will naturally start to make gains among the few people left with more than a single digit IQ.

This sounds like more "Conservatism is the natural state of people" cope I've seen many times before. Anyone who's actually intelligent will look at the galaxy-brains that make up the leadership and talking heads of the right-wing like Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate and Steven Crowder and either join up with mainstream institutions, which lean left, to find success and power, or just try and make their own path. I don't disagree on your point about the left getting stupider, but they have deeply entrenched themselves in every level of power, while the right-wing is still content with whining online.