While there is pretty close to equal possibility for the abuse of government power in Fascism and Authoritarian Communism,

To be fair, this depends on your definition of "communism", some people would tell you that gov't control doesn't qualify as "communitarian", which I agree with in a technical sense, but it clouds discussion on the matter, and I'm not going to go out of my way to call it something else.

Communism would at least lack the ideological basis for a very war-like and almost always inherently discriminatory society.

Agreed.

I personally find extreme social Darwinism, a concept lauded by Fascists, to be quite horrifying.

Bear in mind, not all Fascists have been, or are like that.

Two quotes from Mussolini, for example:

"Fascism entirely agrees with Mr. Maynard Keynes, despite the latter’s prominent position as a Liberal. In fact, Mr. Keynes’ excellent little book, The End of Laissez-Faire (l926) might, so far as it goes, serve as a useful introduction to fascist economics. There is scarcely anything to object to in it and there is much to applaud."

"All this is pure fascist premises and I cordially recommend Mr. Keynes to proceed to Italy and there to study Fascism with an open mind and with the same scrupulous care as he has studied Bolshevism. An essay from his pen on Fascism would doubtless prove a most valuable piece on constructive criticism."

Though I have some difficulties with the blanket term "Communist" (Since it is unclear whether you are referring Authoritarian "Leninist/Stalinist Communism" or Democratic "Marxist Communism"), I would definitely have to put my hate in for Communist over Fascist, be it authoritarian or democratic.

As for communism versus fascism, I'd still have to disagree with you.

That being said, communism doesn't necessitate gov't control and redistribution of wealth, and there are the anarchist varieties (which I wouldn't say that Marx strictly belongs to), such as Bakunin, Kropotkin, and depending on your definition of communism, Proudhon.

Honestly I think the OP was trying to refer to Stalinist Communism, which would be where all property and means of production are owned by the state, and each person contributes according to their ability and receives according to what the state deems their need. Centralized Communism has almost all of the same possible flaws of abuse of power as Fascism does.