to me all this stuff seems a bit overcoincidental, but i am tired of talking about. few months ago i joined the freedombox-project (http://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox) - now i vote by coding.
Unless a good majority of people get radical and stamp this out properly, and for every one world wide, this will creep and creep until the internet becomes nothing more than a sales portal.
I like that. I been saying to hippy mates of mine for a while that while they have been trying to change the world through the application of drum circles and yurt building classes, the geeks have quietly been building in the open source movement, the only successful communist (with a very small c) system to successfully compete with capital on its own terms, and many are now setting their sights on using it for actual manufacture.
If you don't like the world you see around you, at this point in history one of your best chances for empowerment is to learn some form of engineering and then apply it.
The word communism can also describe systems that are mutual with consent, and most of the states that claim to be communist appear to be run by totalitarians who use the word and associated dogma to seize and hold power under the promise of equity in the future, so I am not sure there has ever been an actual communist state, by the terms of the philosophy.
Personally, I'm a Groucho Marxist, so my main tenet is that I wouldn't want to join a club that would have someone like me as a member. ;)
Look, a four year old child could understand this. Quick, someone fetch me a four year old child. I can't make head nor tail of any of it.
[edit] I wonder how it would go if I tried to work Groucho Marx quotes into all of my posts. Something tells me it might not go too well.