From libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara:
Not all people find it terrifying. Only people who have some understanding of its actual nature.
Communism** is an outgrowth of collectivism. Collectivism is rooted in altruism. Altruism is the moral doctrine that the individual has no moral right to live for himself; that self-sacrificial service to others is his only moral purpose. It follows logically that altruism is the moral road that leads straight to collectivism.
Collectivism is the doctrine that the good of the group is the standard of morality. Since Communism is a political manifestation of collectivism, Communism embodies the principle that each and every member of society must live through, for the sake of, and at the expense of everyone else, not for oneself. “Society,” however, is an abstraction. Society is not a conscious entity separate from the individuals that comprise it: It is not an entity capable of acting in its own interests. Only individuals are capable of acting, and society is comprised of individuals. Yet communism claims that society has interests that supersede the interests of the individuals that comprise it. Since society cannot act on its own–that is, independent of individual thought and initiative–who, then, assumes the authority to represent society’s interests? A ruling political elite, acting through the mechanism of the state.
Sorry, the mere fact that Ayn Rand concocted an Orwellian re-definition of the word “altruism” does not have any effect on what the word actually means.