perhaps this is a pink glow on an otherwise dark horizon.
Carl Jarvis
On 11/9/19, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/10/29/seve-o29.html
Seventy percent of US Millennials say they are likely to vote socialist
By Genevieve Leigh
??29 October 2019
The fourth annual report on ???US Attitudes Toward Socialism, Communism,
and Collectivism,??? commissioned by the anticommunist Victims of
Communism Memorial Foundation and conducted by YouGov, found a sharp
growth in interest in socialism among youth in the US over the past year.
The study has been conducted annually since 2016 and bases itself on
interviews with over 2,000 people.
Young person in Michigan supporting Socialist Equality Party candidate
Niles Niemuth in 2018
This years??? results reveal a significant radicalization taking place
among youth, particularly in the Millennial Generation (those aged
23-38) and Gen Z (aged 16-22). Compared to last year???s report, favorable
views of capitalism dropped 6 percentage points and 8 percentage points
for Gen Z and Millennials, respectively.
Other notable findings include:
* 70 percent of Millennials say they would be ???somewhat likely??? or
???extremely likely??? to vote for a socialist candidate. The percentage of
Millennials who say they would be extremely likely to vote for a
socialist candidate has doubled (from 10 percent in 2018 to 20 percent
in 2019).
* Overall, 83 percent say they know at least a little about socialism,
and 39 percent of Americans say they ???know a lot??????a nearly 40 percent
increase from 2018.
* Nearly half of Millennials think the government should provide a job
to everyone who wants to work but cannot find it.
* Forty percent of Americans (45 percent of Gen Z and Millennials) think
all higher education should be free.
* Around one in five Millennials thinks society would be better off if
all private property were abolished.
* Seventy percent of Americans say the divide between the rich and the
poor is a serious issue.
* Of the more than half (63 percent) of Americans who think the highest
earners are ???not paying their fair share,??? 54 percent think increased
taxes are part of the answer, and 47 percent say a complete change of
the economic system is needed.
* Thirty-seven percent of Millennials think the US is one of the most
unequal societies in the world.
* Over a quarter of Americans across all generations said Donald Trump
is the biggest threat to world peace.
The source of this radicalization is not hard to find. The chief
characteristic of life for Millennials and Gen Z has been skyrocketing
social inequality. Many are forced to work two, three or even four jobs
to make ends meet. One in five millennials is living below the poverty
line.
The growing interest in and support for socialism coincides with a
significant growth of class struggle and social protest internationally.
In Lebanon, massive protests have brought an estimated one quarter of
the country???s six million people onto the streets. In Chile, millions of
people continue to flood the streets protesting social inequality and
state violence in the largest demonstrations in the country???s history.
In the US, the strike by 32,000 Chicago teachers and support staff is in
its second week, following the largest autoworker strike in 30 years by
GM workers.
This eruption of the class struggle on a global scale terrifies the
ruling class. They are acutely aware of social tensions and the growing
interest in socialism.
The response of the Trump administration has been an open turn towards
fascistic and authoritarian forms of rule. His hysterical denunciations
of socialism, now a feature of nearly every rally, express the growing
fear of the rich that demands for social reform will set off a mass
movement for social equality.
On the other hand, the Democrats, speaking for another faction of the
ruling elite, are determined to avoid anything that would mobilize
popular anger against Trump. They are systematically keeping out of
their impeachment inquiry any reference to Trump???s brutal crackdown on
immigrants and refugees, unending war and the social catastrophe
confronting workers and youth. Instead, they have focused their
impeachment campaign on issues of foreign policy.
It is within this framework that the Democratic Party???s elevation of
figures such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez must be
understood. In order to provide a left cover for their right-wing
policies, these self-proclaimed ???socialists??? have been brought forward
to direct growing social anger back behind the Democratic Party.
In this latest campaign rally in Detroit on Sunday, Sanders once again
directed his remarks against social inequality, listing many of the
social ills confronting workers and youth. Most significant, however,
was what was not said.
Sanders made no reference to the more than month-long strike by General
Motors workers, which was just shut down by the United Auto Workers on
the basis of a contract that facilitates the massive expansion of
temporary workers, which has become the ???new normal??? for young people.
Sanders also made no reference to the ongoing Chicago teachers strike.
The omissions were not accidental. The Democratic Party, through figures
like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, propose a ???socialism??? (though they
almost never use the word) that does not involve the class struggle.
Ending the domination of the ???billionaire class??? is supposedly to be
achieved without any mass social movement or any challenge to the
economic domination of the capitalist class.
And it is supposedly to be done within the framework of the Democratic
Party, which is no less responsible than the Republicans for the social
conditions confronting workers and young people.
The critical question is to build a socialist leadership in the working
class and youth, to explain what genuine socialism is and how it must be
fought for. The fight for socialism means the fight to establish
democratic control of the giant banks and corporations by the working
class. It means an end to social inequality through a radical
redistribution of wealth and the expropriation of the ill-gotten gains
of the corporate and financial aristocracy. It means an end to war and
abolition of the military-intelligence apparatus.
The foundation for a socialist movement is the working class, in the
United States and internationally. The reorganization of economic life
on a world scale, on the basis of social need, not private profit,
requires the independent mobilization of the working class to take power
and establish a workers??? government.
This is the perspective fought for by the Socialist Equality Party and
its youth organization, the International Youth and Students for Social
Equality. We urge all those who want to take up the fight for socialism
to join the SEP and the IYSSE.
Share this article:
Digg
Delicious
StumbleUpon
Blogger
Commenting Discussion Rules ??
New Today
The Democrats??? campaign for internet censorship: Who is to determine
what are ???lies????
UAW-Ford contract gives green light for video monitoring of workers
Billionaire ex-NYC Mayor Bloomberg takes steps to run for Democratic
nomination
Macron warns Economist magazine of world war, collapse of NATO alliance
Defying their unions, Dutch teachers stage countrywide one-day strike
more articles ??
Youth and the Social Crisis
Australia: Mobilise students, staff and academics against the closure of
Macquarie University???s human sciences faculty
The global youth radicalization and the fight for socialism
Stop the censorship of socialist views by the University of Leipzig
student council
Seventy percent of US Millennials say they are likely to vote socialist
Trump proposal denies free school meals to half a million children
more articles ??
US Politics
The Democrats??? campaign for internet censorship: Who is to determine
what are ???lies????
Billionaire ex-NYC Mayor Bloomberg takes steps to run for Democratic
nomination
Democratic Socialists of America ???International Committee??? denounces
???reckless??? withdrawal of US troops from Syria
White House appears increasingly isolated in impeachment crisis
Bernie Sanders unveils immigration plan
more articles ??
Socialist Equality Party (US)
Seventy percent of US Millennials say they are likely to vote socialist
Drawing the lessons of the ICFI split???International Strategy and
National Tactics: The change in the ICFI???s approach to national
liberation movements
The World Capitalist Crisis and the Tasks of the Fourth International:
An analysis of the ICFI Perspectives resolution of 1988
The International Committee???s response to the ???End of History???: The
March 1992 Plenum of the ICFI
The Dissolution of the USSR and the Unipolar Moment of US Imperialism
more articles ??
The Trump Presidency
White House appears increasingly isolated in impeachment crisis
Bernie Sanders unveils immigration plan
Trump calls for US troops to wage ???war??? on drug cartels in Mexico
Democrats make gains in off-year elections
Washington Post and New York Times incite racist campaign against
Chinese-Americans
more articles ??
Mehring Books
The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution
undefined
By Harold Isaacs
Get Involved!
Join the SEP
Join the IYSSE
About the ICFI
Donate to the WSWS
Follow the WSWS
Youtube
RSS Feed
Daily Podcast
WSWS Newsletter
Recent Perspectives
The Democrats??? campaign for internet censorship: Who is to determine
what are ???lies???? (09/11/2019)
The expanding UAW corruption scandal and the case for rank-and-file
committees (08/11/2019)
German imperialism???s new drive for world power (07/11/2019)
Socialist Equality Party to stand in UK general election: No to
austerity, militarism and war! Free Julian Assange! For class struggle
and socialist internationalism! (06/11/2019)
Washington Post and New York Times incite racist campaign against
Chinese-Americans (05/11/2019)
Most Read Over the Past 7 Days
1.Chicago Ford workers reject UAW agreement (07/11/2019)
2.Chelsea Manning imprisoned without charge for six months for refusing
to testify against Julian Assange (21/09/2019)
3.UN rapporteur Nils Melzer warns: Julian Assange may die in a British
prison (04/11/2019)
4.Judy: Singer-actress Judy Garland???s sad fate brought to the screen
(04/11/2019)
5.Ford autoworkers denounce tentative deal as corruption scandal engulfs
UAW leadership (04/11/2019)
The Editor recommends
For a worldwide campaign to prevent Julian Assange???s rendition to the
US! (20/06/2019)
Roger Waters to perform in London Monday in defense of Julian Assange
(31/08/2019)
IYSSE holds meetings in defence of Assange at Australian universities
(31/08/2019)
Australia: NSW Greens pass motion ???defending??? Assange, but MPs remain
silent (30/08/2019)
The Political Origins and Consequences of the 1982???86 Split in the
International Committee of the Fourth International (03/08/2019)
Halil Celik, a fighter for socialism (1961-2018) (01/02/2019)
The Strategy of International Class Struggle and the Political Fight
Against Capitalist Reaction in 2019 (03/01/2019)
The specter of Marx haunts the American ruling class (06/11/2018)
Eighty Years of the Fourth International: The Lessons of History and the
Struggle for Socialism Today (09/10/2018)
The struggle for socialism and the importance of history: David North
interviewed on Radio Sri Lanka (12/10/2018)
Vadim Rogovin and the sociology of Stalinism (25/09/2018)
Workers Party in Argentina seeks to ???refound??? Fourth International in
alliance with Stalinism (07/06/2018)
Lenin, Trotsky and the Marxism of the October Revolution (19/03/2018)
The CIA takeover of the Democratic Party (13/03/2018)
An interview with David North???Socialism or Barbarism: Reflections on
Global Disorder (03/01/2018)
The bicentenary of Marx???s birth, socialism and the resurgence of the
international class struggle (03/01/2018)
Final reflections on the centennial year of the October Revolution
(30/12/2017)
???? For an international coalition to fight Internet censorship
An open letter to Google: Stop the censorship of the Internet! Stop the
political blacklisting of the World Socialist Web Site!
The Russian meddling fraud: Weapons of mass destruction revisited
New York Times exploits Parkland tragedy to escalate anti-Russian campaign
WSWS Chairperson David North interviewed on Chris Hedges??? ???On
Contact???
US Federal Communications Commission sets end date for net neutrality
The Place of the October Revolution in World History and Contemporary
Politics
Why Study the Russian Revolution?
Socialism and the centenary of the Russian Revolution: 1917-2017
All lectures from the series
Lectures and Essays by David North
Socialism and the centenary of the Russian Revolution: 1917-2017
(01/03/2017)
Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov (1856???1918): His Place in the History of
Marxism (12/05/2016)
Philosophy and Politics in an Age of War and Revolution (10/25/2016)
A Quarter Century of War: The US Drive for Global Hegemony 1990???2016
(07/11/2016)
Socialism and the Struggle Against War
ICFI Resolution: Socialism and the fight against war (02/18/2016)
SEP (US) Resolution: The fight against war and the political tasks of
the SEP (08/25/2014)
SEP (Australia) Resolution: The Socialist Equality Party and the fight
to build an international anti-war movement (07/27/2016)
SEP (Sri Lanka) Resolution: The political struggle against war and the
tasks of the Socialist Equality Party (04/30/2016)
PSG(Germany) Resolution: The struggle against war and the tasks of the
PSG (11/14/2014)
?? .
About the WSWS | Contact Us | Privacy Statement | Privacy Settings | Top
of page
Copyright ?? 1998-2019 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved
--
---
David Hume
??? In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable
degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of
moral evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the
evidence. ???
??? David Hume,
