Techrights

Deliberate Lies or Glaring Distortions

Posted by Roy Schestowitz on Dec 13, 2025

Lately we've seen several new pages that were trying to compare Free software to Communism, Bolshevism etc.

We've made the decision not to link to these or to even screenshot these.

Instead, let's quickly refute.

Bruce Perens (OSI co-founder) isn't a "commie", he found Debian useful for Pixar, a very capitalist company where he worked. Disney is greedy.

ESR hates communism with a great passion, due to his strident and controversial political views.

RMS speaks of democracy and sometimes elements of anarchy. He never supports any of what Russia is doing right now, which is akin to plunder, not sharing. Anyone who follows his political notes is aware of that.

Calling Torvalds anything "Soviet" or "Russian" would overlook the fact he comes from Finland and has Swedish roots. They're no "collaborators" or Putin (or of Stalin). They're afraid, they don't revere their enemy (an openly hostile neighbour).

If the metaphors don't pass muster, then it's time to ignore them. Better yet, avoid the social control media which amplifies such false analogies. █