More than one in five U.S. millennials would be open to backing a communist candidate, and a third believe George W. Bush killed more people than Joseph Stalin, according to a new poll released Monday. . . .
While 57 percent of respondents overall had a “very unfavorable” view of communism, only 38 percent of millennials felt the same way. Close to 20 percent said they were likely to vote for a self-described communist, while barely 50 percent said they were likely to vote for a self-described capitalist.
Millennials were also more likely to take a favorable view of communist leaders. Twenty-five percent view Soviet revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin positively. Eighteen percent were favorable towards Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, despite a body count in the tens of millions. Thirty-four percent were favorable to Karl Marx, and 37 percent were favorable to revolutionary and T-shirt fixture Che Guevara.
A full third of millennials believe U.S. president George W. Bush is is responsible for more deaths than Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin, of course, killed millions during his 29-year run as the chief political figure in the USSR. Between two and seven million people were killed in the Ukraine thanks to a policy of state-engineered famine, while millions more were executed or died in labor camps following various political purges.
Notably, despite his infamous purges, Stalin enjoys a 12 percent approval rating with millennials.
Not to defend this monumental ignorance, but we need to realize that very few high schools are teaching history any more. Instead, they teach “social studies.”
And the few courses in history they might take, perhaps as a college elective in the absence of meaningful liberal arts requirements, professors spend so much time on the distant past that they hardly ever get to World War II, let alone the Cold War.
Also, much of history teaching these days is from a leftist perspective.
And, for various reasons, capitalism connotes robber barons, selfishness, and the wealthy who oppress the poor.
Socialism, by contrast, has the association of sharing, helping each other, and fairness.
As for Communism–I guess they have cool T-shirts. It’s funny to hear that one in five would vote for a Communist, as if Communism would allow you to vote! And that they think George W. Bush killed more people than Stalin! Man, these folks are susceptible to propaganda!
At any rate, it doesn’t bode well that the next generation is so open to totalitarianism.
Even if it is nothing more than ignorance, it does not bode well.
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