While excesses have been committed in socialist countries, they absolutely pale in comparison to the atrocities committed for capitalism and colonialism. I won't weap for landlords, capitalists, and fascists that were killed or imprisoned for their crimes against the working classes, and I will celebrate the immense gains made by the working classes after successfully gaining political power.

Everywhere the working classes have taken power, life expectancies, literacy rates, housing rates, and more have all dramatically climbed, while food insecurity and poverty dramatically declined. Every single time. The sheer effectiveness of socialism in uplifting the people is undeniable, and while it's unfortunate that this can only be successfully established via revolutionary and therefore violent means, this violence is a response to the daily brutalization of the working classes

Socialists do not "uninvent the market," or "require people to willingly forget what they know," and certainly not "give up any possession of value." Socialists solve the contradiction between socialized production, which markets are great at establishing, and private appropriation of the spoils of production, which creates the tiny and wealthy capitalist class. This is not an "un-invention" of the productive forces created by markets, but a solution to markets that have already fulfilled their historic role in creating socialized production.

Those that have their property appropriated are the owning classes, the capitalists, landlords, etc. This isn't "anything of value," it's specifically the means of production and distribution, to create a better society for everyone based on the labor they actually perform and contribute to society.

Further still, socialism is democratic. Capitalism cannot be. Those kept in fear in socialism and deprived of power are the formerly and present owning classes. For the proletariat, the workers, socialism is the first taste of actual democracy. Violent, revolutionary means are necessary to gain this democracy and end the oppression of capitalism, which keeps workers in fear and dictatorial control.

States are inherently monopolies on violence. Either capitalists control the state, or the working classes do. Either there's capitalism, or socialism. Only once class has been abolished can the state wither away.

Deafboy dramatically and intentionally misrepresented the point, but all states are monopolies on violence, all are "authoritarian." The excesses committed in socialist States are genuine excesses of socialism.

That being said, "concentration camps" is a bit disingenuous. No socialist state has had industrialized mass murder like the Nazis, UK, US, etc. Most deaths in prisons in the Soviet Union, for example, happened due to starvation during World War II, after the Nazis took Ukraine, the USSR's breadbasket.

Contributing famine to socialism is even more disingenuous. In all instances of famine in socialist countries, these have been in countries historically food insecure with common famine, and the socialists were the ones to end the cycle of famine. Socialism did not cause the famines, weather disaster and underdeveloped agricultural forces did. Mismanagement often played a part, but not in a way intrinsic to socialism nor in a manner that would have made capitalism preferable.

As for cultural purges, this is more vague. The cultural revolution in China, for example, is recognized as a mistake by the CPC. This is all I can really think of, though, when it comes to "cultural purges."