If history repeats itself, prepare to starve. Many of our young people have no clue about the demons at the gates of our Western societies. Many of our young people hold a favorable view of communism, which led to the untimely starvations of millions in the past century. Anyone who has lived under the monstrous thumb of communism over these past hundred years will attest that communism is the most demonic economic system ever devised. It is against Christ, religion, human rights, property rights, human motivations, the family, human life, and dignity. It is for the governmental takeover of all private property (i.e., your homes and land) and the means of production – through violence, suppression of free speech, and lies. The means of production include the industries and engines that run societies.
In a move blessed by Satan, Karl Marx aped the type of voluntary giving witnessed in early Christian communities in the book of Acts with his own version of “giving.” He said, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” In other words, no matter how hard or how little you work, everyone will receive the same pay. Why work at all? This affront to basic human motivations, labeled as the pursuit of “equal outcomes,” led to the collapse of communism in the USSR in the past century.
According to the Cato 2025 Fiscal Policy Survey, 34 percent of Americans between 18 and 29 hold a favorable view of communism. 19 percent of Americans between 30 and 44 hold favorable views, while 9 percent of Americans between 45 and 54, 7 percent of Americans between 55 and 64, and only 2 percent of Americans 65 and older hold favorable views.
Should we be surprised that our youth have been duped? Not really. Most Americans educated in the public school system learned very little about the moral atrocities that occurred in the USSR, China, Cambodia, North Korea, and Cuba in the past century – or in Venezuela in this century. Most do not realize that around 120 million people were starved, murdered, or tortured to death under the clutches of communist regimes in the USSR, China, and Cambodia. Most have never heard of the “Holodomor” in 1932-1933, which occurred when Josef Stalin decided to intentionally starve between 4 and 7 million people in Ukraine. Most have never heard of Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward” between 1958 and 1962, which caused between 30 and 45 million people to starve in China. Many of these atrocities have been ignored by the media and by our own history books.
Communism is often defined as the abolition of private property rights, which is always achieved through violence, terrorism, and fear. It begins with a communist leader who declares class warfare against the wealthy, successful, entrepreneurial, highly educated, or rebellious. The wealthy are often demonized, while their less successful “peasant” or “proletariat” counterparts are elevated. We saw it under Mao Zedong’s regime where wealthy farmer landlords were shackled and paraded in front of villagers wearing dunce hats before being tortured and murdered. We saw it in “The Gulag Archipelago,” which recounted hundreds of stories from people trapped and tortured in USSR gulags for the crimes of being “bourgeoise,” which was Karl Marx’s term for the class of people who started businesses or were generally successful in an economy. In China, the USSR, and Cambodia, communist leaders stole people’s homes, land, and other property in the name of the collective. Owners and protesters were slaughtered, while groups of non-protesting workers replaced them, which often led to multiple families sharing the same supposedly “free” cramped apartments or homes.
Some have argued that communists do not take “personal” property, such as a person’s pots, pans, and utensils. But that is not true. Under the “Great Leap Forward,” Mao Zedong decided that people could no longer prepare their own food. Rather, they had to eat in a community kitchen and give up their kitchen items. This “Great Leap Forward” entailed Chairman Mao’s egoist attempt to compete against Britain in the production of steel. He ordered millions to abandon their farms to get involved in the production of “steel” by creating their own “steel” via the metals in their homes. In a desperate move to appease him, people burned metals from their homes – pots, pans, jewelry, and the like – which led to a subpar “steel” that had no use. Since so few remained on the farms, little food production occurred, leading to a famine larger than any in human history.
Communism is once again rearing its ugly head in the United States with useful idiots like Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, declaring that he plans to replace the “frigidity” of capitalism with the “warmth” of collectivism. Collectivism is a catch-all term for socialism, fascism, and communism as all three systems favor the rights of the group over the rights of the individual.
In the USSR and China, farmers could not even retain the food they produced for their own families as their food was needed by the “collective” in the cities. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the author of “The Gulag Archipelago,” recounted stories of starving children who had attempted to sneak morsels of food from their family’s work in the farms in the middle of the night, only to be arrested and tossed into the gulags.
Communists claim to care for the poor but that’s only a guise. Rather, they envy and hate the wealthy and the successful. They covet their goods. They’re lazy. They do not want to put in an honest day of work. Exhibit A: Karl Marx. Exhibit B: Bernie Sanders.
Through their actions and beliefs, communists violate each of the 10 commandments in the Bible. Rather than worship the Lord above all else, Communist leaders require that people worship them as gods. Kim Jung Un and his predecessors exemplify this forced form of worship, which is inculcated in the schools, social systems, and institutions of North Korea. In North Korea, people have no word for “I” since “I” represents an individual. People only refer to themselves as “we.”
Communism always fails because it goes against basic principles of human motivation: work hard and earn merit. We recognize merit in the United States (U.S.), which is the most individualistic country in the world. People in the U.S. are individually accountable, responsible, innovative, and entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurship works well in the U.S. since anyone can start, own, and operate a business. It only takes opportunity recognition, motivation, hard work, and resilience. It does not require bribes or massive payments to the government. In the U.S., we embrace individual human dignity, property rights, and freedom. Our constitution has granted us certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Sometimes communism is labeled as socialism since “socialism” has friendlier connotations. Some define socialism as the “collective” ownership of the means of production, rather than communism’s governmental ownership of the means of production. But socialism always entails massive governmental oversights and taxes. In practice, it varies little from communism. And politicians often smuggle the term in to appease those who understand the stench and moral rot associated with communism.
Venezuela is a case in point. According to Statista (2026), “Venezuela was once one of Latin America’s most prosperous nations, driven by a rapidly expanding oil industry in the early 20th century. However, years of declining oil production, chronic hyperinflation, economic mismanagement, and international sanctions linked to human rights abuses have pushed the country into a deep and prolonged crisis. Today, Venezuela is among the most unequal societies in the region and faces extremely high poverty levels. A 2024 survey estimates that around 71 percent of households live in poverty, while 67 percent live in extreme poverty.”
That quotation only tells part of the story. When Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999, he promised low energy costs, low food costs, and low petroleum costs – all funded by “socialism.” In 2011, he began his “Presidential Commission on Disarmament,” to eliminate private ownership of guns. He expropriated important industries, such as the steel industry, agriculture, banking, gold mining, telecommunication, electricity, tourism and travel, transportation, and oil (Miltimore, 2020). And since only he and his thugs had guns, he could take over these industries with little resistance by owners and with very little knowledge on how to run them. He artificially lowered prices to sell “socialism,” while ignoring costs, driving businesses into the ground. Sean Penn, Bernie Sanders, and other useful idiots hailed Chavez as a genius and Venezuela as a successful experiment in socialism. But they no longer do so. Poverty and the fact that people have had to eat their own pets to survive have led Penn and Sanders to tip toe away. Hugo Chavez is no longer with us – but his daughter is – with the family’s $2 billion in loot.
Zohran Mamdani is using Chavez’s playbook by demonizing the wealthy and threatening to tax the unrealized capital gains of New York City’s wealthiest property owners. He went after billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, threatening to tax his $238 million dollar penthouse. This kind of move only pushes wealth away from cities as Griffin moved his billions in future investments to Miami.
Capitalism, which is a term Karl Marx coined to describe free markets, is not perfect, but it is the best economic system the world has ever had. It has created a middle class and has elevated billions out of poverty. It is the reason you’re reading this blog on your computer or on your cell phone. Thank an entrepreneur. And thank those who have sacrificed their lives to bring human freedoms into our societies. If we do not want history to repeat itself, we need to share the truth of history with society. #TruthMatters.
SJ Thomason is a Christian wife and mother of two adult sons. She is also a university administrator and professor of business administration with specializations in international management and human resource management. You can follow her work on YouTube @TruthMatters_SJ.
References:
Miltimore, J. (2020). 8 Venezuelan industries Hugo Chavez nationalized (besides oil). Foundation for Economic Education. https://fee.org/articles/8-industries-hugo-chavez-nationalized-besides-oil-on-venezuelas-road-to-serfdom/
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