I agree M_G, even a blabbermouth like me is going to struggle to chat for long about this.
I guess I don't know that much about Communism, except that it's been described as a great idea that nobody ever tried. In other words, the supposed ideology got swamped and twisted by the usual human failings and corruptions. I don't think that Stalin and his kind are a fair representation of the ideals of communism, any more than Islam should be judged by some of the people who are currently getting a lot of publicity. (Or Christians by the Crusades, or whatever...)
As for Nazism, I know very little about its origins and rise. I'm sure that many people got swept up by the initial appeals to restore German pride and dignity, and then became increasingly uneasy with the direction it took. Too much of what I have heard from those times has been overpainted with propaganda - both Allied propaganda (that I was fed a steady diet of as I grew up after WW2) or Nazi propaganda seen on old newsreels. Similar story for Communism. So, not being a historian, I don't really know the reasons why either managed to gather so many people to their banners.
I'm really not a big fan of mass ideologies or "isms" of any kind. Except perhaps Individualism. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> But having said that, I went through same hippy thing that Kiya describes above - a phenomenon where we all loudly proclaimed our individuality by banding together and behaving just like each other! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
