Imperialist ideology is so ingrained in western thought that it even permeates allegedly leftist spaces. It’s a stronger mental vampire than mere capitalism on its own. You can easily get a westerners to hate their boss or landlord, but you’ll have a much harder time disentangling their feelings regarding foreign countries. Try getting a westerner to say anything normal about China.

Lenin knew this, calling them things like social chauvinists. Self-decribed socialists who would suspend their criticism of their own countries during WW1 because their draw to national identity was stronger. So maybe they’re feds, maybe not. It doesn’t matter because imperialism is a bug in every westerner’s mind. It’s the core feature of a liberal that has to be stripped before they can actually begin to be a leftist.

I’ve seen some people claim that the western tendency to praise failed socialist revolutions over successful ones is residual Christian admiration of martyrdom, which I kinda doubt. Westerners will boldly claim to be a “Luxemburgist” (whatever the fuck that is) while claiming the DPRK is a despotic rogue state that’s doing capitalism but even worse somehow. I think it’s simpler than just some cultural feature. Westerners at their guts know where their bread is buttered, they know their status in the world is reliant on the domination of foreign countries, and the most anti-imperialist movements will attract the most scorn. That’s it. Socialist movements that are allied with the west, neutral, or otherwise never fought the west are to be admired. Socialist movements actively resisting imperialism are to be regarded as the most vile perversions on earth.