Cronus is the Greek Titan who devoured his own children. He must be the patron saint for communist - and indeed most revolutionary - parties, which inevitably purge, murder or destroy their best and brightest, leaving the criminal, ruthless and mediocre as bosses. That is why, though the party may carry an odious name, being an ex-communist or a surviving old comrade could be a badge of honour.
This is also the case in Hong Kong. It's hard to fathom why being a member of the Chinese Communist Party during colonial times should be taboo. The latest furore has Florence Leung Mo-han, a member of a united-front youth group in 1960s Hong Kong, trying to out Leung Chun-ying, the chief executive candidate, as a communist. Leung's office has denied it - for the umpteenth time.
Whether he was a communist or not should not matter now. Indeed, it might even be a small plus for someone with a Machiavellian reputation - it suggests that there once may have been a small spark of idealism somewhere within him. Unlike in China today, being a communist in colonial Hong Kong was no bed of roses. You risked harassment, jail, beatings, even outright torture if you were caught. Your career options were limited. So why join the party, if not out of patriotism and idealism? OK, so you were wrong about the real nature of the CCP, but your delusions were not dishonourable.
Much in the way that we now accept gay and HIV-positive people, we should encourage the old commies among us to come out of the woods. There should be no stigma any more.