To the surprise of no one the world isn't black and white.

Exactly

Some of the most conservative people I've met are from former Soviet or Soviet controlled republics. They are so terrified of the word socialism that drift towards fascism more often than not.

Hi

Sometimes I wonder if they just crave authoritarianism regardless of the branding.

Same

Anyway, workers can own companies without an authoritarian communist system. You can also have socialism without authoritarianism.

Yes, that's how it works

Like many things the black and white framing with all the implied assumptions is not really helpful and a lot of things exist on a spectrum.

Obviously

But, here is my counter-argument - this is a meme subreddit. I was born in socialist state. I made a meme-like joke about my own experience.

I had to make a reply because people keep downvoting me and I still don't understand why. Y'all are starting to look religious about socialism where no one can joke about it. Freaks.

Liberals cannot comment about politics without spamming the word "authoritarian" over and over again, example #637282826362.

Baltics