President Donald Trump and Republican allies are increasingly drawing parallels between democratic socialism and communism, a tactic that has resurfaced as some progressive candidates win Democratic primaries. Recent polling indicates a growing identification with democratic socialism among Democratic voters, with about one-third of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults now holding this view. Abdul El-Sayed, who supports policies such as Medicare for All and received endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, recently won a Democratic Senate primary in Michigan.
This political shift has prompted Trump and his party to conflate democratic socialism with communism, a strategy that is not new for the president. Concurrently, reports have surfaced noting that some members within the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) openly identify as communists. Maurice Isserman, a history professor at Hamilton College and author of "Reds: The Tragedy of American Communism," discussed the historical context of communism in the United States in an interview on the "Today Explained" podcast.
Communism, Isserman explained, originated as a faction of the socialist movement, influenced by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. It advocates for a complete transformation of capitalist society, with the state owning and operating the means of production, and typically enforces one-party rule. The American Communist Party was founded in 1919, inspired by the Bolsheviks' successful seizure and maintenance of power. The party gained traction during the Great Depression as capitalism appeared to falter, and the rise of fascism in Europe presented a stark choice between fascism and communism for many.
Historically, elected communists were rare in the United States; in the 1940s, there were two communist members on the New York City Council. Their influence was more often exerted behind the scenes, particularly in organizing industrial unions in the 1930s and forming groups focused on anti-fascist and anti-racist causes. At its peak in the late 1930s, the American Communist Party had approximately 75,000 members in a country of 130 million, representing a minor but growing political force.
Several factors contributed to communism's decline in the U.S. The government repressed the party through two Red Scares, one after World War I and another during the McCarthy era in the late 1940s and 1950s, leading to the jailing of individuals for advocating communist ideals. Additionally, the American Communist Party's perceived subservience to Soviet leadership, including its alignment with the Soviet-Nazi pact from 1939 to 1941 and subsequent shifts in foreign policy, damaged its credibility by suggesting its primary loyalty was to Soviet interests rather than American ones.
Within the DSA, certain factions, such as Red Star and the Marxist Unity Group, openly identify as communists. These groups, which collectively hold a narrow majority of the national leadership, are inspired by historical communist movements and advocate for a revolutionary socialist party independent of both Democrats and Republicans. Isserman contrasts this with the approach of democratic socialists like Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani, who aim to work within the existing Democratic Party framework.
Isserman characterizes the current Republican rhetoric as a "Red Scare," suggesting it is an attempt to create a boogeyman for political purposes. He notes that many Americans under 45 have no memory of the Soviet Union as a direct threat, unlike in 1919 or the McCarthy era when a tangible foreign adversary existed. The current geopolitical landscape, with nations like Cuba posing no significant military threat, makes the historical