Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Subject pretty much says it all. I am fairly certain my DC is a communist, they read communist literature, defend socialist ideas in arguments, and has a strong interest in history, especially the history of revolutions. I'm not a communist and am worried this will be problematic. Is this legal? Potentially damaging to their future prospects? Should I be taking any action?

Hilarious about wondering if it's legal.
Anyway, there will be a large socialist movement in this country sooner or later. When the top 1% holds 40% of the assets, and the top 3 wealthiest Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of the entire population combined.
The inequality grows worse every year.
Problem is people who *think* they are wealthy or well off dont recognize what is happening and where it will ultimately lead.
History repeats itself.
Howard Schultz is a great example. Comes on the scene with more bootstrapping propaganda but fails to recognize that his housing growing up was paid for because of higher taxes on the truly wealthy.
The Republicans have reversed what made the middle class possible- those higher taxes on wealthy. Killing the middle class.
I'm not a socialist but a student of history.
Stop voting Republican or we will ultimately have socialism.

Higher taxes made the middle class? The propaganda is strong with this one.

This is a troll from Loudoun.

Anonymous wrote:Subject pretty much says it all. I am fairly certain my DC is a communist, they read communist literature, defend socialist ideas in arguments, and has a strong interest in history, especially the history of revolutions. I'm not a communist and am worried this will be problematic. Is this legal? Potentially damaging to their future prospects? Should I be taking any action?

Is this legal? Really? Did you graduate from high school?

Anonymous wrote:OP here: From what I understand, DC is Trotskyist and does not support the regimes of Stalin and Mao, but maybe more radical than modern Finland. DC is outspoken about their views at home and at school but to my knowledge is not involved in any sort of communist party. We want DC to invest in the stock market which they resist. DC seems pretty firm in their views.

OK, that made me laugh.

Anonymous wrote:Well, send your son over to my house. I will tell him what it is like to survive socialism in the USSR (commonly confused with communism, but that's OK). They would put kerosene on out scalps to rid us of lice because we didnt have medicated shampoos. It was that or shave our heads. It would burn like fire. Oh and food? Not much of it. Medical treatment, ha, nope. Those countries are still experiencing the traumatic aftermath of socialism. Yes. My mom was a "mail order bride" and for that I'm very grateful. She was able to bring me here when I was 17. It was like landing in paradise. Actual paradise.

This socialist utopia people dream of does not exist. Maybe spring break 2019 in Venezuela?

My husband's parents did this here in the free-enterprise United States. Actually it was WD-40, but that's mostly kerosene.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: From what I understand, DC is Trotskyist and does not support the regimes of Stalin and Mao, but maybe more radical than modern Finland. DC is outspoken about their views at home and at school but to my knowledge is not involved in any sort of communist party. We want DC to invest in the stock market which they resist. DC seems pretty firm in their views.

“They”? It sounds like your child is also “non-binary” or something like that. You have a lot on your plate with all this, OP.

OP here: I was just trying to keep things neutral since I didn't think gender mattered in this question. I think I might have slipped up and said "her" once, yes my DC is female, but I really don't see how that's relevant here.

OP, just engage your kid in argument. Point out the negative effects of communist regimes. If you think he's coming to the wrong conclusion because he's not been educated enough, educate him. Don't yell or lecture - engage.

If he doesn't change his mind, oh well. He has a right to his political beliefs. However, if he is personally advocating for a violent overthrow of the government, you have a duty to warn him to be careful - you can get denied employment in government jobs for that.

Anonymous wrote:Subject pretty much says it all. I am fairly certain my DC is a communist, they read communist literature, defend socialist ideas in arguments, and has a strong interest in history, especially the history of revolutions. I'm not a communist and am worried this will be problematic. Is this legal? Potentially damaging to their future prospects? Should I be taking any action?

Hilarious about wondering if it's legal.
Anyway, there will be a large socialist movement in this country sooner or later. When the top 1% holds 40% of the assets, and the top 3 wealthiest Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of the entire population combined.
The inequality grows worse every year.
Problem is people who *think* they are wealthy or well off dont recognize what is happening and where it will ultimately lead.
History repeats itself.
Howard Schultz is a great example. Comes on the scene with more bootstrapping propaganda but fails to recognize that his housing growing up was paid for because of higher taxes on the truly wealthy.
The Republicans have reversed what made the middle class possible- those higher taxes on wealthy. Killing the middle class.
I'm not a socialist but a student of history.
Stop voting Republican or we will ultimately have socialism.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: From what I understand, DC is Trotskyist and does not support the regimes of Stalin and Mao, but maybe more radical than modern Finland. DC is outspoken about their views at home and at school but to my knowledge is not involved in any sort of communist party. We want DC to invest in the stock market which they resist. DC seems pretty firm in their views.

“They”? It sounds like your child is also “non-binary” or something like that. You have a lot on your plate with all this, OP.

Well, I was a conservative Republican during high school. My salad days, when I was green in judgment.....thankfully, I grew out of that uneducated and ill-informed phase with better education. Like Communism, conservatism has more to do with philosophy and less to do with reality, although, unfortunately, like so-called Communism in practice, it has also had devastating effects on societies around the world.

Cheer up, OP. There’s hope for your DC, especially once s/he moves away from your McCarthyist household. Oh, and with any luck s/he has already studied the Constitution and Bill of Rights to understand exactly how un-American your views are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I was trying to keep things fairly vague since this is the internet, after all. However, I feel as though I need to be more specific. DC is in high school, and gets good grades, especially in the humanities, so I don't think they're "stupid" or lack critical thinking skills. DC has always liked Russian literature, which I think lead to some of the more left-leaning authors like Gorky or Chernevsky, which lead to reading Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and Mandel. DC seems do have ideological reasons for being a Trotskyist over the other ideologies. What sort of "youth outreach" do the Trotskyists do? They have also read more right/centrist authors, so I don't think this is a case of believing everything they read. While I've gotten into discussions with DC about their viewpoints, I haven't outwardly "lost my lunch". I was going to this forum to see if more reaction is merited. I am a Democrat (voted for Hillary). I am confident I know the difference between someone a little further to the left and a communist. The stock market idea was just a hopefully fun and informative idea, and we would use some of her savings. I've encouraged DC to pick a stock, but they've had "moral qualms about support exploitative businesses" their words not mine. Sorry for the long post.

OP, sounds like your kid is very thoughtful. You should be proud of them! On another note, the one thing I would worry about would be if your kid got suckered into joining a small leftist sectarian party that's more like a cult than a political party. Back in my day, the Spartacist League was one such Trotskyist cult-like group. In that case, you've got a different problem on your hands. But it sounds like your kid reads and thinks and has their own opinion. And hey I'm no expert on Trotsky but I know he criticized Stalin and was exiled from the Soviet Union for not falling in line. That's strikes me as a good role model for an independent thinker.

No, actually, it doesn't. It sounds like OP's child is a typical immature follower who will go along with any trend of the day, especially for shock value.

OP said the kid reads centrist and right-wing authors so that suggests someone with a more open mind than say, you, pp.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I was trying to keep things fairly vague since this is the internet, after all. However, I feel as though I need to be more specific. DC is in high school, and gets good grades, especially in the humanities, so I don't think they're "stupid" or lack critical thinking skills. DC has always liked Russian literature, which I think lead to some of the more left-leaning authors like Gorky or Chernevsky, which lead to reading Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and Mandel. DC seems do have ideological reasons for being a Trotskyist over the other ideologies. What sort of "youth outreach" do the Trotskyists do? They have also read more right/centrist authors, so I don't think this is a case of believing everything they read. While I've gotten into discussions with DC about their viewpoints, I haven't outwardly "lost my lunch". I was going to this forum to see if more reaction is merited. I am a Democrat (voted for Hillary). I am confident I know the difference between someone a little further to the left and a communist. The stock market idea was just a hopefully fun and informative idea, and we would use some of her savings. I've encouraged DC to pick a stock, but they've had "moral qualms about support exploitative businesses" their words not mine. Sorry for the long post.

OP, sounds like your kid is very thoughtful. You should be proud of them! On another note, the one thing I would worry about would be if your kid got suckered into joining a small leftist sectarian party that's more like a cult than a political party. Back in my day, the Spartacist League was one such Trotskyist cult-like group. In that case, you've got a different problem on your hands. But it sounds like your kid reads and thinks and has their own opinion. And hey I'm no expert on Trotsky but I know he criticized Stalin and was exiled from the Soviet Union for not falling in line. That's strikes me as a good role model for an independent thinker.

No, actually, it doesn't. It sounds like OP's child is a typical immature follower who will go along with any trend of the day, especially for shock value.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Invite him to come speak with my husband. Or anyone else who survived-- yes SURVIVED-- real communism.

No, he didn't. Nobody survived real communism because communism has never been a society or a system anywhere in the world. You can't survive utopia that never existed. It seems that OP's DD is smarter than most pps here. OP, you should read about Trotsky some, so you don't seem stupid to your own child?

I have friends who espouse communist ideals and call themselves communists and they do often wax lyrical about the current and previous so-called communist regimes. All that tells me is that they are students of philosophy, not students of history.

In high school, a friend of mine was a devote anarchist. High school is a great time to be an anarchist or whatever because its safe and you can explore new ideas. He was over it by college. Don't worry about it.

Anonymous wrote:Invite him to come speak with my husband. Or anyone else who survived-- yes SURVIVED-- real communism.

No, he didn't. Nobody survived real communism because communism has never been a society or a system anywhere in the world. You can't survive utopia that never existed. It seems that OP's DD is smarter than most pps here. OP, you should read about Trotsky some, so you don't seem stupid to your own child?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I was trying to keep things fairly vague since this is the internet, after all. However, I feel as though I need to be more specific. DC is in high school, and gets good grades, especially in the humanities, so I don't think they're "stupid" or lack critical thinking skills. DC has always liked Russian literature, which I think lead to some of the more left-leaning authors like Gorky or Chernevsky, which lead to reading Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and Mandel. DC seems do have ideological reasons for being a Trotskyist over the other ideologies. What sort of "youth outreach" do the Trotskyists do? They have also read more right/centrist authors, so I don't think this is a case of believing everything they read. While I've gotten into discussions with DC about their viewpoints, I haven't outwardly "lost my lunch". I was going to this forum to see if more reaction is merited. I am a Democrat (voted for Hillary). I am confident I know the difference between someone a little further to the left and a communist. The stock market idea was just a hopefully fun and informative idea, and we would use some of her savings. I've encouraged DC to pick a stock, but they've had "moral qualms about support exploitative businesses" their words not mine. Sorry for the long post.

OP you are overreacting. DC isn't anything and the Trotskyists aren't recruiting from middle school.

Communism to kids sounds great. Everything is "fair." Power is spread equally. The little guy is important. Everyone shares. Children, who are powerless little guys obsessed with things being "fair" naturally find this appealing. And, because they are kids, getting their heads around the complexities and nuances of political and civil society takes some work. Encourage it! Encourage discussion and reading history. Encourage him discovering what happened in the USSR and other "communist" countries. Maybe have him read about kibbutzes and how those have worked out-- and not worked out.

This is just like him exploring his interest in space when he was four. Doesn't mean he's going to the moon in 10 years.

This. I would add, your kid is old enough to see the downsides of capitalism as practiced in the United States, and may have a strong moral sense that exploitation and extreme inequality are wrong. As an earlier poster noted, Marx is actually quite eloquent on the miseries suffered by the working class and the ways that power structures are maintained. And simplistic answers are attractive (on both ends of the spectrum). She's trying on ideas, and as long as she's not in a bubble and is willing to read other views, she'll be fine. She's figuring things out. I'd engage with her--ask her what's she reading. Ask her questions about it. Encourage her to read history and think about how different ideologies (communism, socialism, fascism, capitalism, feudalism) actually worked (or didn't). Compare what people wrote to what actually happened when their ideas were implemented. (I read Adam Smith. Turns out, the guy was not in favor of unregulated markets and unfettered capitalism! And Marx thought that communism should and would happen in advanced industrial societies, which Russia was not.)

And I don't know what reaction you think you could have that would be remotely constructive, other than encouraging her to keep reading and thinking critically. If you oppose it, she's likely to just dig in. Don't patronize her and treat it like a phase, but keep in mind that it may well be--as she continues to learn and mature, her views are likely to become more nuanced.