My mother thought of communists in terms of how bravely they fought for independence. And for this reason alone, it was impossible to demonize them in our home. Communism had no other meaning than freedom fighting and radical nationalism, and was not identified with the Soviet Union or thought of in terms of East/West relations. If Communism were understood as self emancipation of the working class, instead of radical nationalism or, say, the defense of the Soviet Union, then perhaps it would have been demonized in our household. As for the Reagan build up, we were not scared of communist take over as my father had a pretty good sense it was a massive subsidy to the high tech industries (at least the 1980s allowed him the most job security he ever had until the Japanese tried to buy Fairchild, later sold to a French multinational). I don't think anyone in our family had any trouble believing that US aggression, rather the Soviet manuvering, was more likely to trigger a nuclear conflagaration in some third world country. But then you must remember that the US was loading Pakistan up in the 1980s.
best, rakesh