Interesting author! But he also doesn't provide any sources himself. What I'm asking about is for evidence that the Soviets planted the idea of a left/right spectrum with communism on the left and nazism on the right. I think it may take some effort to prove that, and I haven't seen a persuasive argument yet.
However, I agree 100% with you that this spectrum has been abused by Marxists in academia and the press. I also agree that it's worth noting whenever this issue arises. But I'm not willing to agree with you that communism is the same as nazism, or that left/right continuum didn't model their differences well for two generations. How that has been abused by academia is a separate issue. Anything can be abused by a professor with tenure or an editor with a socialist ax to grind.
I notice that Balint Vazsonyi cites Besancon's ideas, as well. Richard Grenier mentions him in his "Between Murderous and Noble Ideals" essay in the Washington Times.
I also see a similar debate in this thread. I'm not taking the position that the Soviet crimes against humanity were less than Nazi ones, and I do not believe that the horrors of communism are diminished by distinguishing them from Nazism.
For an illustration of why it's important to examine differences (and commonalities) just consider the Islamist movement today, with its amalgam of religion, racism, and nationalism. It's new, but it has something in common with the Nazis. I would argue that it's distinct from communism, as is described by Paul Longgrear and Raymond McNemar in The Arab/Muslim Nazi Connection.
I would argue that there are an infinite number of possible totalitarian holocausts, and to prevent them, it's almost as important to study how unique they are as it is to examine their differences.
You want Besancon's original sources? Fine. I'll retrieve them for you, on one condition: You first provide me with all the original (not secondary) sources for your claims on this thread, starting with those you've made in your post 21.
I'm sure you won't mind setting a good example and applying the same standard to yourself that you are applying to me.