Is communism better than democracy?

Word reaches Maturin Towers that the Chinese government are edging towards democracy.

First, let me lay my cards down on the table. I considered it a tragedy in Eastern Europe when the USSR collapsed and the state-educated masses missed the opportunity to create a thousand Lichtensteins and went instead for western European-style democracy, with many of the parasites who had infested the communist halls of power hardly needing to bother to change either offices or jobs, as a new democratic bureacracy replaced on old communist bureaucracy, with the European Union standing in the wings ready to amalgamate these bureaucracies under its super-state wing.

Could the same be about to happen to China? Have the party bosses seen the writing on the wall? Have they seen that they will lose all of their parasitic privileges if the market economy of China keeps progressing at its fantastic rate? Is the only way they will keep these privileges via the means of instituting a process of western-style democracy? Would the alternative be the sloughing off of big government in China and its replacement by a true free market order, unless the communist big government can replace itself with a democratic big government before that can happen?

In short, as far as economic and social freedom goes, is it better that China remain communist, with a hated but clearly demarcated element of robbers who are tolerated but kept confined within their strictly demarcated lines by a productive population who otherwise ignore them, or would it be better for China if it became democratic, and then fell under Bastiat's illusion that everybody can prosper by robbing everybody else, via the broken mechanism of western-style democracy?

In short, is communism better than democracy, because under communism we can see who the bad people are, and then ignore them, whereas under democracy, the bad people can more easily pose as being part of the people, while still retaining their parasitic privileges?

It would be interesting to see what Professor Hoppe thinks? In fact, I may just email him to find out! :-)