I've noticed this too. Though I've never been a communist (which I take to mean Leninist or Maoist, though there are those who feel anarchism is pure communism, and I'm sympathetic to that view), I always respected their toughness. I remember watching Bill Bailey in the docu "Seeing Red," and being impressed with his "Yeah, I'm a communist -- you wanna make something of it?" stance. He was a seaman and longshoreman, a dedicated Party member who fought in Spain and was later blacklisted. He left the Party but remained a socialist. And I cannot imagine him whining, the way the WWimPs and their allies do, about "red baiting." The fucker had a hammer and sickle tattooed on his arm. He played for keeps when it mattered. Call him a Red and he'd say, "Fuck yeah!"
DP