is communism, according to this Economist review of The Rise and Fall of Communism by Archie Brown.
Aside from the big mistake, suggested by Douglas Adams, of coming down from the trees in the first place, there seem to have been a number of mistakes that are arguably equally big when thinking about longer periods of time – slavery, feudalism, tribalism, religion, nationalism, and unrestrained capitalism for starters.
In the 20th century, fascism and communism were both equally abhorrent for similar if different reasons – even if communism managed to kill more.
What makes communism interesting, is that despite the clear evidence it was an anti-human ideology in all its expressed forms, intelligent people still defend it, act as apologists for it, and waste their lives playing about in tiny communist sects.
