We do seem to be misunderstanding each other, Vince. To summarise the debate so far, as I see it:

We began with your description of your father’s many kindnesses towards others, including strangers, behaviour which you equated to Marxism. You went on to imply that people who were not Marxists did not exhibit such behaviour.

I countered by suggesting that the majority of ordinary people behaved in a similar way, adding that this did not make them Marxist.

You disagreed, suggesting that, if I was correct, there would be no need for a police force, stating that there was no such thing in Marxist countries. You added that empathy, or lack of it, was a manufactured concept used as an excuse for persecuting those who lack it.

I reminded you of the existence, under Marxist administrations, of organisations like the Stasi, to which you responded by referring to Ireland’s history of occupation by the British and the atrocities committed by rogue elements of the British military during the Irish war of Independence. This was, in your view an example of ‘Liberal’ forces persecuting ‘Marxists’.

I think that, between us, we have managed to confuse political ideologies with aspects of human behaviour. Perhaps that is why we are doomed to disagree.

My view is that those who espouse ideologies are inclined to use violence in order to enforce those ideologies on others. This is, I believe, equally true of those who are passionate about either so called ‘Liberal’ or ‘Marxist’ ideologies. No political ideology has a monopoly on ‘good’, or as I would say, empathetic, behaviour. Nor is ‘Liberal’ the antithesis of ‘Marxist’. Possibly ‘Fascist’ is, although the political spectrum is not a simple 2-dimensional left-right one. Economic and social aspects of governance are not synonymous. It is possible to be economically ‘right’ and socially ‘left’, and vice-versa.

I hope we can both agree that the world needs more of the kind of behaviour your father exhibited. It is my contention that that can happen whatever the prevailing political ideology in any given time or place.