Graphic by Natasha Nagarajan '26.
By Hope Frances Simpson ’24
Staff Writer
During Christmas of 2016, I started talking politics with my uncle. During our conversation, he expressed how he thought Senator Bernie Sanders was a communist. To be clear, Sanders is not a communist. As per The Atlantic, Sanders is a social democrat, which cannot be used interchangeably with the title of communist. Calling politicians like Sanders a communist only acts to spread misinformation and increase fear in people, especially the more conservatively minded, around left-wing politics.
I have often encountered misunderstandings of communism, like with my uncle, by the general public. However, going to an institution like Mount Holyoke allows students like myself to learn about Marxism and communism beyond the way it is defined by popular American culture and beyond general misconceptions and fears regarding its place in current politics.
According to The Center for European Studies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “communism,” as defined by Karl Marx in the “The Communist Manifesto,” advocates for “a society in which everyone shares the benefits of labor equally, and eliminates the class system through redistribution of on income.” It is an economic and political theory of collective ownership over the means of production. Furthermore, Kenneth H. Tucker, Helen P. Bibbero Professor of Sociology at Mount Holyoke College emphasized that the kinds of communism espoused by communist leaders like Stalin and Mao used aspects of Marxist theory in their regimes, however they did not adopt every aspect of Marx’s ideas. In the United States today, in 2022, there is no longer a fear of Soviet missiles like during the Cold War era, but people are still afraid of communism. In a New York Post article, Amy Phan West said “Our country is in the beginning stage of communism.” She cited “lockdowns, free speech suppression and hypocrisy among elected leaders” as examples of this and what she called “authoritarianism” in the U.S. These types of views are an example of how people in the U.S. still see communism as a threat even since the end of the Cold War.
Some courses at Mount Holyoke College educate students on Karl Marx, Marxism and communism in a way that challenges the dominant misconceptions that I have encountered. For instance, I came to Mount Holyoke having only read “The Communist Manifesto,” but with little knowledge of Marx’s theories otherwise. In sociology classes at Mount Holyoke, I learned more critically about Marx’s theory behind why he felt Marxist communism was the ideal economic system. For me this showed that communism is not one-dimensional, but a full-fledged ideology made up of both good and bad ideas that cannot be used flippantly in current politics to encourage fear.
“In sociology classes at Mount Holyoke, I learned more critically about Marx’s theory behind why he felt Marxist communism was the ideal economic system.”
Kim Kindred FP ’24 had a similar experience. She said that when she was in high school she was told, “Karl Marx created communism [and that] … communism is bad.” Kindred discussed her trajectory with her understanding of communism and Marxism. She entered Mount Holyoke with a limited knowledge, whereas now, at Mount Holyoke, Kindred said Marx piqued her interest because it felt important to learn about his ideology even if she did not agree with it. For example, she stated that she wanted to take “Soci-223” to understand Marx better. “I knew I’d never read any of his literature on my own, she said” Herein, she has understood more about how Marxism figures into society structures, irrespective of whether she agrees or disagrees with it.
Along with her experience with communism and Marxism at Mount Holyoke, Kindred discussed its perception outside this setting. She pointed out how she grew up during the time of the Cold War, discussing the fear around communism present at this time in the United States. That fear still exists today but the way it is espoused has taken on a different form. It is used as a dog whistle to scare people away from certain ideas that are associated with it, as seen in the case of my uncle talking about Sanders. This thinking reflects a limited understanding on the subject.
Critically understanding Marxism is important for modern politics. According to Tucker, “Marx [was] a critic of too much of the extreme economic inequalities in our society today.” Ideas of communism coming back are seen in the push for more socialized health care over the past decade. However this is not quite the same as pushing for communism altogether, rather adopting certain aspects of Marxist ideology.
Kindred also explained, “Growing up in the religion I was in, we were told to [have] nothing to do with politics.” A position such as this puts people in a position to fall for the fear tactics around communism. Kindred chose to educate herself more deeply on politics at Mount Holyoke. “I’m not going to vote if I don’t understand what’s going on,” she stated. Kindred wanted to vote, so she chose to learn.
Kindred was in a unique position where she lacked previous knowledge when she first began studying politics at Mount Holyoke. She had to learn about the United States political system as an adult, so she had more critical thinking skills. This sort of position gave Kindred a more objective view of Marxism because while she grew up hearing about communism as a bad thing, she was without the context as to why.
Here at Mount Holyoke, students have the opportunity to learn about Marx from an academic perspective, contrasting to how he is portrayed otherwise in the United States, where Marx is framed as a boogeyman, especially by conservatives. However, when you come to understand his ideas, even just the basics as described by Tucker, Marxism begins to have some appeal because it was arguably directed, by Marx, at the working class. I am not endorsing that Marxism is bad or good, rather it is an ideology with pros and cons. One that we are encouraged to learn about at Mount Holyoke, but it is best to remember that not all of greater society gets that opportunity.