Not kidding, genuinely intersted. I think you have answered the question.

The reason for asking is occasionally I read about stories of people who are sad that they no longer live in a communist country. There was a movie made about that storyline as well.

I always thought that - given the mass movements of people after the borders were opened - everyone would have seen it as a gigantic waste of years of their life and would hate the very mention of it. But I've only met a handful of people who lived under communist regimes and usually they don't want to talk about it.

I only lived through the tail end of it, I was borne in Kiev in 1984 and moved to US in 1996. Politically I am libertarian, very much so. I think every one should do their own thing, marry who they want, smoke what ever they want, and take care of them selves and their family, and not expect the government to do anything for you. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am just swinging too much in the other direction after communism, but it is what it is. My parents are largely the same, they hate communism, hate Russia, and would never want to come back to communism. My grandfather was a Military Colonel, but on the medical side, he was a Doctor. I guess he could be considered a "party" man, but he hated the party and the government. He loved his work, and cared deeply for the soldiers he was helping, but he couldn't stand the communist party. He was incredibly happy to see the day Ukraine became independent.

My grandma, on the other hand, loved the communist party. She was always well taken care of by the system, and she thinks communism is awesome, or at least that's what she says. In reality what she is missing are the good days, when she was younger, had lot's of friends, and had a generally good life. She never experienced the really horrible side of the Soviet union, so she only has good memories. That said, if I was to ask her if she thinks I would be better of in a communist state, he answer would be "God NO!" She is a realistic woman. She knows intellectually that the Soviet government was evil, but their current situation in Ukraine is very bad as well, and she can't help but be nostalgic.