[Edited Message Follows] [Reason: Editorial changes.] On Fri, Jan 9, 2026 at 07:32 PM, gojko rakic (replying to Charles) wrote:
> > What's your evidence that these young people want actual Leninist > communism rather than Nordic-style social democracy? There is none, except in the imagination of those on the Marxist left who substitute wishful thinking for a materialist analysis of the current level of political consciousness of the most advanced workers. Even among the minority of young people who express a preference for “communism” rather than “socialism", it is unclear which of the many varieties of communism within Leninism and outside of it (eg. the council communists) they know about or support. For those of them more familiar with the historic divisions within Marxism, the Soviet model under Stalin favoured by Charles is likely the least attractive. The notion of communism among young people is more insistently and widely raised by libertarian conservatives and other forces on the right as a spectre rather than a longing. Their think tanks have regularly sponsored polls demonstrating that young Americans are veering towards socialism and communism as part of their ongoing efforts to expunge any left-wing influence from the universities and public education system. Contrary to Charles’ assertion that the number of young people favoring communism "has jumped markedly in recent years”, a 2019 survey by right-wing foundation purported to show that “c ommunism is viewed favorably by more than one-in-three millennials”, the same percentage of young people ostensibly supporting “communism” reported by the Cato Institute last year. https://victimsofcommunism.org/annual-poll/2019-annual-poll/ In 2023, t he Daily Caller, co-founded by Tucker Carlson, carried a piece along the same lines by two commentators associated with Canada’s right-wing Fraser Institute: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/commentary/young-americans-support-abstract-and-unworkable-socialism. If I had the time and inclination, I could search for more examples. The fear is no longer the mass Communist parties which flourished in the aftermath of the Russian revolution during the interwar period but which have since disappeared. Today's conservative right is instead guarding against a revival of the postwar Keynesian forms of state intervention which were dismantled or eroded by the neoliberal turn beginning in the 1980's. Demands for greater regulation of the capitalist economy and social spending have intensified since the financial crisis of 2007-09, particularly from younger workers whose real incomes have been hardest hit by the lack of secure unionized jobs and the inflated cost of housing, health care, education, and other necessities. On the English-speaking left, t hese demands have found expression in support for Sanders and Corbyn and, most recently, for Mamdani and other DSA candidates for public office. Elsewhere they have been reflected in support for Syriza, Podemos, France Insoumise, Der Linke, etc. The small Leninist grouplets have also likely seen a bump in their numbers resulting from the current mass discontent with how the system is being managed but they remain on the sidelines and their activity is mainly propagandistic and online. Ultimately, it is less a question of what Charles or Gojko or the rest of us favour but how historical circumstances unfold. The present contradictions in the system will have to sharpen to the point of collapse before the working class loses confidence in the possibility of its reform and moves towards revolutionary politics essentially on the basis of its own experiences in struggle. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#40115): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40115 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/117115628/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
