Better Dead than Redpretty much means that it is better to die than to be communist. It was used a lot during the western side of the Cold War. It will sometimes be used in the modern-day but mainly online.
An american saying about communism. As they used to think that communism was taking over the world. the saying basically means the americans would rather die than be communists, the red bit comes from the belief that red is a communist colour! this phrase was also used with the J F Kennedy murder.
Play on words of "better dead than red", which means you'd rather die than be a communist.
Better red than dead implies that capitalism has gotten so bad and companies so greedy that you'd rather be communist (as there is ideally a minimum guaranteed food ration provided from the state for free) because otherwise you'll die from not being able to afford the highly inflated price of goods necessary for human life, such as food and water.
Hardcore American: What the fuck? You think we should just give food away for free and that healthcare should also be free? Better dead than red, you commie bastard.
Average American wage slave in 2050: *sigh* I have two jobs and work 100 hours a week and never get to spend time with my family and yet I still can barely afford to feed myself and my kids... Better red than dead, maybe those commies were onto something...