I'm Literally a Communist!

**I'm Literally a Communist!**: From memes to politics, left-wing ideas are permeating the youth.  Should it be a concern?

by Lisandra Wagan Fesalbon & Rihards Steins (KU Leuven)

This blog post was written for the course "Current Issues in Global and EU Affairs, which took place from February 11-May 9, 2019.

Young adults attend the 2015 Global Climate March in Berlin
Image Credit: Flickr user mw238, via Wikimedia Commons

Whether You find Yourself in a gentrified New York neighbourhood sipping avocado smoothies or a deindustrialized part of England hardly making ends meet, socialism seems to be all the rage among the young. Indeed, both sides of the Atlantic have seen a significant rise in popularity of socialist ideas, albeit from different starting points.

All over Europe the spirit of socialism, in milder or more radical forms, has been a staple of political and social life since mid-19th century whereas in the United States, with its weak labour unions and byzantine welfare state, the word “socialism” has only recently emerged from the discursive backwaters. And then there is Canada - lodged between the two approaches and finding an excellent middle-path because, you know... Canada.

There are three characteristics of the recent shift in the political sentiments. First, following general disillusionment with the traditionally moderate politics, people have increasingly moved towards stronger political hues both to the left and right. Second, there is a strong populist tinge to these new far-end movements, with the right-wingers receiving the brunt of the attention. Finally, it’s age that seems to be the best predictor of one’s political preferences with the young flocking to the left and their elders digging in on the right.

This is not to say that this broad brush statement is universally applicable to all the young - there is cross-age group support for both Five Star Movement and Northern League, the Labour and the Conservatives, or the Democrats and the Republicans. Incomes, culture, race, education, family - all play a role in determining an individual’s political orientation.

Nevertheless, discontent with capitalism seems to be spreading through the youths on both sides of the pond with France, Italy, the UK, and the US being just the most visible examples. Such disillusionment with capitalism and free markets combined with a desire for a radical left-wing alternative is particularly striking to the domestic conservatives and those hailing from countries that have suffered tremendously under left-wing regimes (albeit foreign-imposed).

Still, as with everything, the reality of the matter resists simplicity and greater attention to nuance reveals that young people are not wrong to argue that the post-Cold War version of unbridled capitalism has often left many behind. Meanwhile, some of the alarmist claims of young people effecting a return to communism are also overblown.

What gives?

The propensity among the young to vote for leftist policies may be attributed to the environment that they have grown up in. Younger cohorts across the rich world share the sentiment of not being properly taken care of by out-of-touch governments. An exorbitant trust in liberal and free market policies espoused by the “the third way politics” has left many a young person appalled by the frequent disregard for their futures and values.

Coming of age in the time when the financial crisis tore the complacent post-Cold War consensus apart, the millennials have every reason to be worried. They will be the first generation to be poorer than their predecessors and unless concrete steps are taken the trend is unlikely to stop.

The most common worry of the young millennials is the inability of starting a life the same way their parents did due to rising property prices, mounting debt burdens, and uncertain work prospects. For instance, in the UK, housing prices have gone up more than 152 percent in the past 20 years while university students in the US collectively owe over $ 1.5 trillion in student loans. This is exacerbated by a stiff competition for jobs among university graduates. In countries still recovering from the financial crisis (e.g. Greece, Italy, France), unemployment rates among young generations fuel the anti-capitalist fervour.

To heat things up even more, capitalism has been unable to address the drastic effects of climate change. In a testament of how misgivings about capitalism go beyond the millennial generation, the recent climate marches primarily organized and attended by the ingeniously called Generation Z (reaching adulthood in 2010s) have shown a cross-generational trend of dissatisfaction.

The recent misgiving thus have a sound basis. Given the inability of the traditional political parties to find a satisfying answer or provide an inspiring vision for the future, it is hardly a surprise that alternative fringe parties and candidates are rising in popularity among the young. According to a poll by the University of Chicago, young Americans aged 18-30 find it hard to identify with the two major parties in the United States. As a result, most of them opted to support Bernie Sanders or the Green Party against Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Younger politicians with non-traditional views are also gaining more support from the youth. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 29-year firebrand congresswoman, is a personification of millennials’ support for socialism in the United States today.

In Europe, the disillusionment has found different outlets from country to country, but the trend of upending the complacent neoliberal establishment remains. In the first round of the 2017 presidential election in France, far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon won over 30 percent of under 25s by offering simplistic solutions to a fed-up age group. The electoral map in the UK would be soaked in the hues of the proletariat if only 18-24 year olds would be allowed to vote.

What next?

The youth’s swing leftwards is just one piece of the puzzle of a broader backlash against traditional parties, stretching beyond age and ideological barriers. To preserve peace and prosperity, the mainstream moderate parties should reassess their approaches in the battle for the hearts and minds of the young. Emmanuel Macron managed to do that back in 2017. Spain’s Ciudadanos party has followed suit and resuscitated the liberal spirit despite the economic strain. Canada can offer lessons on how to remain socially just, open, and market-oriented for decades.

In early 20^th century a Russian revolutionary by the name of Vladimir Lenin is quoted to have said: “Give me just one generation of youth, and I'll transform the whole world.” In the subsequent decades other radicals across the continent managed to exploit the anger and fear of the young leading the transatlantic world into the abyss. Let’s not fall for the same mistakes again.