Bearded communists tend to be 'better' than non bearded communists

My arguments shall be divided into 2 parts, 1st part will discuss the non bearded communists and the 2nd part will put into attention the bearded communists. (reminder: only national leaders and revolutionary leaders). Con may rebut in this round and add more leaders into the 2 sides as he wishes. To clarify any confusion, I am NOT arguing that beards make communists better leaders. I am arguing that communists who happened to have beards tended to be better leaders. Non bearded side:1) Pol Pot2) Mao Zedong3) Joseph Stalin1) Pol Pot After Cambodia gained independence from the French, it became a monarchy. The monarchy was a brutal authoritarian regime. Pol Pot fought a guerilla war against them (which was one of the few good things he did). After the US withdrew from Vietnam, "Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army, consisting of teenage peasant guerrillas, marched into Phnom Penh and on April 17 effectively seized control of Cambodia. "[1] Yes, he employed teenage soldiers. Almost as bad as child soldiers. He is most famous for his genocide where he targeted any intellectual, anybody with non cambodian ancestry (this includes mixed) paticularly ethnic vietnamese, thai and chinese. The number dead is around 3 million, 25% of Cambodia's population. [2]To add insult to injury, after he seized power: "All businesses were shuttered, religion banned, education halted, health care eliminated, and parental authority revoked. "Unlike a normal communist leader who usually emphasizes education and health care, he eliminated them. Pol Pot was undisputably terrible. 2) Mao Zedong Mao Zedong wanted to change china to become a communist industrial powerhouse. He is attributed for 2 main things as leader of China: The Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap forward1.5 million people lost their lives as a result of the cultural revolution while many millions more were imprisoned, lost property, even tortured. [3]In a franatic effort to industrialize china, he started what is known as 'The Great Leap Forward', the rapid industrialization came at a cost. Famine plagued China as a result. Mao did not stop however, forcing the farmers to work and overwork despite the fact that they were starving. This ultimately led to 45 million deaths (some sources even place this number at 60 million). It is described as Pol Pot's genocide multiplied by 20. [4]Mao Zedong was even worse than Pol Pot, being responsible for more deaths than even Adolf Hitler.3) Joseph Stalin Stalin is famous for similar atrocities that Mao committed. In his efforts to create a modernized Soviet Union, he brought great turmoil to Ukrainian peasants. He exported foods to other countries to gain money to build up his industry, but at a great cost. The lack of food resulted in a 'man made famine' very similar to what happened in Mao's China, with abysmal results. 7 million people died during this famine, but that did not deter Stalin. To be fair to him, if he slowed down the modernization efforts, the USSR could have suffered even greater losses in the 2nd World War. However, this was too extreme and surely there must have been SOME alternative. [5]He is also known for his purges, where he 'took care' of his political opponents, most notable of them is Trotsky (a bearded communist, though the fact that he is bearded is irrelevant). In his eyes, this could even include civilians. 20 million innocent people were sent labor camps, 10 million died. Many officers of the Red army were killed (perhaps this led to USSR being less able to fight Nazi Germany). [6]Joseph Stalin is most often seen as the worst leader of the Soviet Union, and for good reason. Bearded side:1) Ho Chi Minh2) Fidel Castro3) Vladimir Lenin1) Ho Chi Minh He led the Vietnamese Independence rebellion against the colonial rule of the French and, during WW2, the Japanese. He was obviously loved by his people for leading the Vietnamese to independence. [7] He is also loved for uniting South and North Vietnam and establishing communist rule. According to US president Eisenhour, 80% of Vietnamese (north and south) wanted a united communist government. Ho Chi Minh provided what the people wanted, and he was not known for committing atrocities. [7]Ho Chi Minh is a good leader because he fought French (and Japanese) Imperialism, gave freedom and unity to his people.2) Fidel Castro Fidel Castro is not as bloodless as Ho Chi Minh, he is known for the famous firing squads where thousands were put to death (the non bearded communists I mentioned killed millions). However, those that were put to death were supporters of the regime before Castro which was the brutal authoritarian US puppet regime of Fuegencio Batista. So in a way, Fidel Castro was brutal to the bad guys, which is good because there was almost no risk of the hated Batista coming back into power and due justice was served. The people loved him for it. [8] Fidel Castro led communist rebels into a victory to overthrow Batista, with huge popular support for Castro. Castro brought about free healthcare, brought literacy rate to a 100% and of course, he 'freed' Cuba from American influence. The only people that had a problem with him were supporters of the Batista regime and the United States. Castro allowed people to leave Cuba if they wished (which is a freedom that is rare for communist countries) which is why there are a good number of Cubans living abroad[8]Fidel Castro brought literacy, healthcare, removed a hated puppet regime and gave Cuba a freedom that many communist nations unfortunately did not have, that is the freedom to leave the country if one wishes.3) Vladimir Lenin Lenin was the founder of the Soviet Union. Prior to 1917, Russia was ruled by Czars/Tsars (Monarchs). Russia's devestating defeat in WW1 is largely attributed to the poor leadership of Czar Nicolas II. To make matters worse, Czar Nicolas's rule resulted in soaring inflation and abject poverty of the Russian people. [9]This was the perfect place for a Marxist Revolution which was what happened. After Lenin seized power, he took land from the former Czar, the church and the nobles and redestributed it to the poor. Lenin gave workers far more rights than what they had under the Czar. The Czar's regime had factories where basic human rights of workers were neglected. Lenin's government changed this and improved worker's job conditions. [10] Before lenin, Russian working class children were not allowed to go to school but instead were forced to work (child labour). Lenin removed this restriction and provided free education to the masses. Lenin gave women rights to education and employment which were previously denied. [10]Vladimir lenin overthrew a terrible ruler under which the Russian economy collapsed and he reformed the country such that the comman man AND woman had more human rights both at employment and education. It should be easy to see that the bearded leaders Minh, Castro and Lenin were far better leaders than Pot, Zedong and Stalin all of whom do not have beards. With that, I hand the debate to Con. Sources:[1]. http://www.historyplace.com...[2]http://worldwithoutgenocide.org...[3]http://www.history.com...[4]http://www.independent.co.uk...[5]http://www.historyplace.com...[6]http://russiapedia.rt.com...[7]http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...[8]http://www.youtube.com...;(obviously a video, its interesting, do watch this)[9]. http://www.biography.com...[10]http://www.sahistory.org.za...