But seriously, why didn't communism triumph in the 20th century when things were looking so good? If the russian revolution and chinese revolution can succeed, liberating 800 million people, 1/3rd of the world's population, defeat the nazis, why couldnt we finish the final stretch? What was the fatal flaw?
pretty much. it is the same reason those parties largely went along with WW1. Ireland was the first, even before the Russians, and eventually ended up being the only other european revolution of that time to somewhat stick even if betrayed and leading to a civil war. I think much of that comes from the fact that the irish by and far didn't have the opportunity for comfort. You had the classic Irish elite who sold them out sure, but some concessions had to be made to them because their status as a colonized people made for a contradiction that could not even be temporarily resolved. You never got something close to that in Germany, while in Ireland people who otherwise would be SPD or tuned out of politics, engaged in revolutionary action and aligned with the nascent Soviet Union