"Better red than expert" is not a prerequisite for socialist thought. For what it's worth, putting totally unqualified ideologues in positions of real temporal power over the economy and health of the nation and watching them fuck everything up is something we do in modern capitalism, too. Our tools are different; political power grows not out of the barrel of a gun but a barrel full of money with a dollar sign on it.

I find it bafflingly common to encounter the conflation of authoritarianism with collectivism.