Youth today are the most socialist that they have ever been in our country’s history. Now socialism is a vague term that can mean pretty much whatever you want it to mean. There’s Cuba, China, Scandinavia, and even post-revolutionary Russia, formerly known as the Soviet Union, for example. However, no country has ever been “pure socialist”, or even reached Karl Marx’s idea of “communism,” in what he liked to call “the goal of socialism”. The Scandinavian’s political system, although social democratic, takes its inspiration from socialistic ideals, whereas Cuba is the closest thing the world will probably ever get to “socialism.”
Post-World War II, the Soviet Union got a lot of bad reputation for building towards a communist society. Despite their efforts though, that dream was and still is impossible. Communism is very utopian, as is socialism, and the only way it would work would be if the world as a whole worked towards it.
In the United States words like “communist” and “socialist” are negatively thrown around a lot. Part of that has to do with the Cold War, but nowadays it seems that the term is being embraced more than ever before. Growing up, most millennials and Gen-Zers weren’t raised with the constant fear of being branded a “communist.” They didn’t fight in world wars, instead they were forced to deal with the realities of capitalism: competition and exploitation. They try to build towards a better future for the people that will come after them but what many fail to realize is that in America that may never happen.
Having a bad history with communism means having a bad opinion towards anything that isn’t exactly capitalist. What is possible in America is a Social Democracy, although working towards a government like that of Norway or Sweden is still but a dream for many young people.
Social Democrats like Bernie Sanders have seen a lot of support from those under 30. And this year, more Americans voted in the election than ever before. It seems that the youth has opinions- opinions that want to be heard. I think it has a lot to do with how many in this generation were raised being told that they were too young to understand politics, too young to tell their parents what they thought, but times are changing. No matter what social media app you open, you’re bound to come across an activist; it’s inevitable. What most young people fear isn’t a “socialist” America. What they fear is an America with no free healthcare, no clean environment, and no acceptance. It’s the older generations that fear what that change means. But it’s not just Americans that can’t deal with that change, it’s immigrants too. A large number of immigrant families in the country come from Latin America. They come from countries suffering from poverty, sickness, and inequality. Many Latin American countries even call themselves “socialist”, including my own. However, the failure in realizing that it is reform and not complete change that is needed in America is what is setting progress back.
The future is socialism…that’s just a fact. So, instead of fearing it, why not embrace its purpose? I get it, we’re afraid of becoming the next USSR, but America wasn’t founded on the same principles as those before it were. We are still a new nation and the future begins with those willing to understand change.