realistically most of the reason people find themselves 'defending communism' within the scope of american politics is on the backfoot from bad faith conservatives that avoid engaging in any meaningful discussion of economic policy by labeling anything outside the realm of reaganomics as "Radical Left Socialist Communism" or whatever. of course most real people are open to discussing actual policy, but it's funny how effective it still is for so many people to just dispel discussion with a single word like some sort of rhetorical magic trick