@ Brad - Lenin and the Bolsheviks were actually incredibly lenient towards their enemies in Russia at first. If you have read 'Ten Days That Shook The World' it describes how in Petrograd they allowed the bourgeois government of the municipal Duma (which was calling for the Bolsheviks to be massacred by the Tsarist armies!) to meet and propogate more or less freely. You should also read up about the "Philosopher's Steamer". During the Civil War obviously harsher measures had to be taken - the Bolsheviks were fighting something like 10 armies at the same time, most supported by the major imperialist powers! In a war situation internment etc do occur and can be necessary - look at the example of the Japanese in WW2-era USA for an example of how hypocritical these bourgeois critics are.
Mao colluded with the 3rd international in allowing the Chinese working class to be massacred again & again by their alliances with the KMT. One of the first actions of the PLA on taking Peking was to shoot striking workers. Mao is to be despised, whatever pathetic rhetoric he came out with. Gramsci isn't really worth reading either (considering how he has repeatedly been distorted by Left Communists and Eurocommunists), stick to Marx, Engels, Lenin & Trotsky for the mean time.