Read Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, it was the first time the western world knew about the extreme poverty and suffering that took place in Communist countries, and it signalled european left-wingers to distance themselves from communism and re-invent themselves as "progressives". NK is really small fry compared to the nightmarish hell that was the soviet union. It'll make you view communist-sympathisers for what they are - evil disgusting people.