Well I can't say you have convinced me that the Soviet system is superior, but I can see you are a true believer, and I respect that. if you ever happen to find survey results even distantly in the future, I would be interested.

As far as police state. I do agree that the party does not like strong forces outside the party, and will attack them. But it seems the biggest difference between east and west is the strength of the court systems and due process. Jack Ma made a speech against the gov, and he *disappeared* for months. Even now he is not really attending normal events as before. And he was never even charged! I cannot think of a comparable case where a western gov just disappeared a prominent citizen. I am sure it must have happened, but that kind of thing seems much more common in strong party systems, since the courts are not powerful enough to over rule the party. (of course disappearing a NON-citizen is a different thing that sadly DOES happen in the west!)

also you made reference to 'ordinary citizens' controlling such a country. I certainly grant that the leaders of most western democracies are not 'ordinary citizens' but I am skeptical that this is true for communist countries. At the lowest levels in china, I can see the party members are just (well connected) regular folks, just as you way. But I cannot believe at the higher levels it is true. Is it?

Finally what are the basics of democratic centralism? I can kind of guess, but I have never even heard that term before. Any (short) reference to look at?