Thirty years ago, if you claimed to be a socialist, you would be an outcast—Called a dirty, red, commie. Now it’s a common occurrence to speak to someone, especially a young person, and learn they’re a socialist or even a communist.
For those who don’t know, socialism is a system of economics which aims to eliminate a socioeconomic hierarchy through public property and taxes. With this system, everyone pays a little bit so everyone may have access to essential things such as healthcare, education, and housing. Often socialism is looked down upon because of its relation to the USSR, China, and North Korea. While this is true, the issues with these countries can be attributed not to socialism, but to authoritarianism.
Take the USSR for example. Under Joseph Stalin, the people of the USSR starved and suffered. Art, especially abstract art, began to disappear. At the same time, however, they rose to have the second best GDP. If their economy was failing due to socialism, they would have had a terrible GDP. This means something else must have been killing the people of Russia. That something else was Stalin himself. Stalin would send anyone who did anything that could be seen even the slightest as defying him to the Gulag. He also was the richest person in the soviet union. While his people suffered, he kept the money for himself and stopped it circulating, all this during a huge famine.
Now then, why are people turning back to socialism? Some may say the kids are being radicalized by CNN, some say Bernie Sanders is to blame, but in reality, today’s generation has been radicalized by political apathy. During the 2016 election, many new voters just plain didn’t vote. They didn’t see either remaining politician as “good”. So they didn’t pick either. This led to the election of President Donald Trump, who did little to the benefit of minorities in America. This generation has seen the consequences of political apathy and just general apathy to other humans. Many have turned to socialism due to its emphasis on the people as a whole, rather than every man for himself. The belief that someone should not suffer solely due to their financial status has become a much more popular idea in today’s age.
Popular socialists such as political commentator Hasan Piker, who has become the largest political streamer on Twitch, have shown their solidarity with minorities, the poor and impoverished, and the working class. Despite recent controversy around Piker caused by his purchase of a multi-million dollar LA house, he will not forget his roots as a Turkish-American of Muslim descent, especially post 9/11.
At the core of Socialism lives empathy, and in a world where one sees death and anger around every turn, the current generation has turned to socialism in hope to try to fix our home. But before empathy can exist, education must also happen. One must know the ups and downs of every reasonable viewpoint, and if one does this, they will find that empathy is the most effective means of fixing our rapidly deteriorating Earth.
Works Cited
“Hasan Piker.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Sept. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_Piker.
Hays, Jeffrey. “Economy under Stalin.” Facts and Details, May 2016, factsanddetails.com/russia/Economics_Business_Agriculture/sub9_7b/entry-5165.html.
