USA, July 12— On the Fourth of July, Trump called out “those who peddle Marxist lies about our heritage, tell our children that we live on stolen land or that our heroes were oppressors… They are slandering and attacking our future.” This reflects a growing concern from the US ruling class that more and more young people are rejecting capitalism.
A widely-cited recent survey done by the libertarian (rightwing) CATO Institute found that among 18-29-year-old Americans, 62% had a favorable view of socialism and 34% had a favorable view of communism.
This stance is reflected in recent electoral victories by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) wing of the Democratic Party. These successes have opened a major rift among the Democrats, as some declare, “They (the DSA) should not be the face of our party.”
And a number of friends have said, “Isn’t it great that Mamdani was elected Mayor of New York? Look at what he is doing!” They are referring to Zohran Mamdani, a self-described Democratic Socialist.
A friend of ICWP said, “Everything socialists propose is a band aid. The whole system has to go down. Young people are waking up, but the messaging is mainly about fixing the system, rather than bringing it down. They don’t yet see communism as an option. It is not a real thing.”
The growth of the ICWP around the world is a real thing. Under the fascist conditions of Zionist occupation, ICWP has grown in Tel Aviv during the current phase of the genocide. From one comrade cautiously going to a May Day march to standing-room-only meetings and mass, but careful, presence in the growing opposition marches. Workers and students in the Eastern Cape of South Africa eagerly take Red Flag and organize neighborhood meetings to discuss it. Comrades in India go to the masses with Red Flag and are overwhelmed by the response.
There are particular obstacles to mobilizing the masses for communism “in the belly of the beast.” Trump’s Fourth of July speech reached back to a long tradition of anti-communism that began in the 19th century, spiked with the Palmer Raids after the Russian Revolution, and dominated US discourse during the Cold War.
DSA doesn’t want communism. They and others hope to evade anti-communism by espousing socialism: an electoral, piecemeal strategy of reforms. But this doesn’t address what the working class really needs. We need to end class society, wage slavery, and production for profit. That can only come with communist revolution.
Espousing socialism is a way to win people who are unhappy with the way the world is ruled to think that we can change the death, destruction, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. that they detest while still basically maintaining a class society and production for profit rather than need.
Socialist ideology at best doesn’t understand (and at worst covertly supports) the racism and sexism that keep the working class from rising up and smashing wage slavery and the capitalist system.
We can see fascism growing around us. But more and more young people understand the sordid history of the US, from the genocide of indigenous people to the horrors of the slave trade.
Our work in ICWP is to make communism become a “real thing.” Building a mass, worldwide Party fighting for communist revolution is the only way to destroy the deadly capitalist system once and for all.
Read more about socialism here
Read Mobilize the Masses for Communism here