They want to MASA: Make socialism great again. Or, so they would say, claiming to their millions of social-media followers that it actually did and does work. Really, truly — you just missed it, somehow.
At issue are socialist/communist “influencers,” who, ironically, earn big money via “capitalism” influencing people to embrace socialism. Mounting their arguments, they make many seductive claims. Not surprisingly, however, says investigative journalist John Stossel in a new report, their claims are all smoke and mirrors.
In reality, these leftists are just riding an already existing socialist wave. Back in 2010, I wrote about how the Communist Party in Japan was rapidly winning converts and Karl Marx’s birthplace in Germany had become a tourist attraction. In 2017, MIT Press actually released a “Communism for Kids” book. And then there was the 2021 survey finding that 41 percent of Americans overall, and 51 percent of young adults, view socialism positively. It all could bring to mind, too, an observation by German philosopher Georg Hegel. “The only thing that we learn from history,” a paraphrase of him goes, “is that we learn nothing from history.”
The Bloody Creed’s New Blood
This brings us to today’s social-media socialists (S/M S. I despise the term “influencers”). While they’re certainly raking in the cash, they are very socialist in their propensity for telling tall economic tales. Just consider what Stossel reveals in his report, “What Socialist Influencers Get Wrong (Just About Everything),” posted to YouTube Tuesday.
“Socialism is working better than capitalism 93 percent of the time.” So claims Madeline Pendleton, a young TikTok star seen with green hair and a nose ring. Her stat, however, was from a study in the Journal of Health Services 40 years ago, according to Stossel’s team. And the claim is deceptive because, relates Stossel TV producer Kristin Tokarev, the study’s
Marxist authors conveniently exclude high-income countries like the U.S., Japan, Canada. In fact, all the biggest capitalist countries. They compare socialist countries to allegedly capitalist countries like these [e.g., Burma, India, Somalia, Syria, Congo, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda!], some of which were at war. Based on that, she [Pendleton] says: “We have all the data showing that socialism does work.”
Oh, Pendleton has 1.6 million TikTok subscribers. She markets herself well.
She markets communism, too — yeah, she likes it (supposedly). What she likes, “mostly,” is the “increased life expectancy” under communism.
Only, this is another falsehood.
In reality, “there’s no increased life expectancy,” says Tokarev. “People live longest in capitalist places like Japan and South Korea.” The United States is also superior in this regard. This is even though “more people die young because we drive more,” adds Tokarev. “And so we have more car accidents. We eat more and get fat.… We shoot each other more often, and we take more dangerous drugs.” Our obesity rate is also far greater. Yet the U.S.’ life expectancy exceeds that of communist/socialist countries, examples being Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela.
Housing for All?
Pendleton also boasts of socialism’s “90-100 percent home-ownership rates.” But, “That’s just silly,” Tokarev responds. “China, if you believe their statistics, does have almost 90 percent home ownership. But that only happened after China terminated socialist housing. Under socialism, just 20 percent of people owned homes. In socialist Venezuela, homeowners don’t even own their homes.” Squatting is big in Venezuela, though — people have no other choice.
(Note here that calling China “communist” is false advertising. As the above indicates, Beijing instituted many free-market reforms decades ago; it was a big story at the time. So with business largely in private hands but Big Brother having a hand in everything, China is now essentially a fascist state.)
More Bold and Old (and Already Refuted) Claims
Stossel and Tokarev then provide some more examples of money-making S/M S:
- A YouTuber with almost two million followers, who posts under the name “Second Thoughts,” boasts of socialism’s “guaranteed right to healthcare, food, and shelter.” True, it is guaranteed — but not guaranteed to be any good. As to this, I remember a man who grew up under communism, writing at American Thinker about how as a child he awaited his turn at the dentist’s office. He could kill time listening to the screams of the kids already in the chair — because no Novocaine was available.
- A socialist TikToker with Karl Marx-like hair, and 100,000 subscribers, claims that unlike “capitalism,” socialism “prioritizes people over profits.” In theory, yes, but the reality is a bit different. Socialist/communist governments subjected their citizens to back-breaking labor and brutality, killed as many as 100 million people in the 20th century, destroyed economies, and authored perhaps unprecedented famines. Before the Bolshevik revolution (1917), Russia was a breadbasket. As the USSR and under socialism, however, it became a basket case: It was forced to become one of the worlds largest importers of food.
- Another YouTuber, calling himself “Spooky Scary Socialist,” gets millions of views making claims such as, “Communism did work. It provided essential services like full employment, rough income equality.”
“How can these people be so deluded?” Tokarev then asks, incredulously. These S/M S “tell millions of people: ‘The central idea that unites all socialists is maximizing freedom, a more dignified life and the democratization of power’” (the words of an S/M S in a clip Tokarev plays). Of course, as in Cuba and North Korea today, socialist/communist governments are notorious for being oppressive autocracies. There is no “democracy”; the people can’t elect their leaders — only obey them.
What Does Work
Putting things in perspective, one could be incredulous that people living in our planet’s richest age would yearn for socialism to “make things better.” The historical norm for man was grinding poverty; life was generally difficult, often brutal, and short. Yet we now enjoy luxuries of which our ancestors couldn’t even dream. Examples are cars, TVs, computers, refrigerators, flush toilets, and supermarkets overflowing with food. Today, of course, we take them and a multitude of other market-born wonders for granted — and many still complain.
And where did all this wealth come from? No creature on Earth does anything “productive” without incentive. For example, animals seek food and to mate because of the incentives of, respectively, hunger and sexual urges. As for humans, how is it that we go well beyond satisfying just those desires? Why do we work industriously extracting resources, creating businesses, inventing, and innovating? Because we have incentive.
In particular, we have the profound incentive offered by economic freedom (not “capitalism.” That word was originated by socialists). It catalyzes the creative capacities of the common man by allowing him to enjoy fruits commensurate with his labors. I mean, how likely is it that the S/M S would be creating their pro-socialism videos if they couldn’t make money doing it?
The entire Stossel segment is below.
Oh, by the way, the aforementioned S/M S seem very confident — except, they wouldn’t agree to be interviewed by Stossel. So, heck, maybe they truly are authentic communists. After all, the commies of old didn’t allow people to question them, either.
This article was originally published at The New American.
It can never be what it never was.
Posted by: Eric Hodgdon | March 02, 2025 at 03:27 AM
There is no "socialism " in America nor has there even been . The real threat to freedom, progress, justice and equality comes from our fascist dictator-in-chief Trump , our de facto president Musk , the Republicans , the greedy, ruthless oligarchs of big business and the Christian Taliban- the religious right .
Trump is the mango Mussolini . He thinks he is our king, not our president and is transforming America into his own private totalitarian fascist police state .
Posted by: Robert Berger | April 03, 2025 at 06:25 PM