While it is well known that the history of U.S. politics is fraught with anti-communist, anti-socialist and anti-leftist sentiment, something that often goes overlooked is the prevalence that these ideas still hold today. Though the modern political climate is far from that of the mid-20th century, when even accusations of communist sympathies could result in persecution and imprisonment, the underlying narratives and rhetorical themes that helped drive this hostility are still alive and well today. This can be seen not only through the more obvious aspects — such as modern media’s blanket condemnations of socialism and the attacks faced by prominent socialist figures like Zohran Mamdani — but also in the more subtle use of demonizing rhetoric against progressive and leftist movements through “anti-wokeism.”
In order to better understand this modern sentiment, it’s helpful to briefly explore the history of anti-socialist movements in the U.S. The most prominent period of anti-socialist hysteria took place during the Second Red Scare in the 1950s-1960s. During this period, prominent political figures like J. Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy led a wave of fear around leftist movements. This practice, which came to be known as McCarthyism, relied on a combination of conspiracy theories and generalizations surrounding leftist beliefs and organizations to drive hostility. These conspiracy theories would usually center around left-leaning institutions or marginalized groups like queer people, immigrant communities and racial minorities being involved in a leftist plot to subvert American society. This hysteria culminated in the creation of the House Un-American Activities Commission to seek out and persecuted anyone accused of being part of these baseless conspiracies. Eventually, as society grew less paranoid and Cold War tensions passed their absolute peak, public sentiment turned against McCarthyism and the era of political persecution came to an end for the most part.
This brings us to the modern iteration of McCarthyism, Neo-McCarthyism. While the central themes of scapegoating and conspiracy theories remain prevalent, there have certainly been changes over the years. Although echoes of the more blunt and direct accusatory rhetoric of the 1950s remain, Neo-McCarthyism has largely moved on to more subtle and discrete methods of demonizing leftist movements. In place of the adamant and direct accusations of subversive behavior against certain groups, the modern practice instead tends to lump all targeted groups, beliefs and movements under a nebulous umbrella term like “wokeism.” This not only serves the purpose of granting plausible deniability against accusations of prejudice, but it also allows narratives to be tailored to any target audience by simply allowing them to make their own interpretation of what entities are included within that umbrella. If the goal is to drive anti-leftist hostility in a religious community, these umbrella terms could be interpreted to include exclusively members of another religion. If the target audience are citizens of border states or people in fields vulnerable to displacement to immigrant labor, the scapegoat could be immigrants.
This strategy even works to reach groups that would have previously seemed immune to reactionary rhetoric. Though terms like “woke” are generally ineffective in swaying liberal audiences, other narratives and blanket accusations have been used to great effect against progressive elements of the American left both by conservatives and moderate liberals. In these cases, the strategy remains the same, but the perspective shifts. Instead of associating progressive ideas and figures with traditional scapegoats like minorities or other feared groups, Neo-McCarthyist rhetoric attempts to tie them to conservatism. This can be seen in the attacks made against progressive politicians like Bernie Sanders by moderate liberals. Because of their broad appeal and tendency not to engage in distracting identity politics, they were branded MAGA sympathizers and accused of being conservatives in disguise. This occurs even beyond accusations and harmful labels against individuals as well. Notably, former Vice President Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump a “communist dictator,” despite his actions and ideology in no way resembling communism or any adjacent ideology.
This is all part of an effort — conscious or unconscious — to harm leftist movements in the U.S. and across the world, and to prevent the global political landscape from moving beyond the current elite-serving status quo. There is much room for nuance and discussion around communism, socialism and many other leftist political ideologies, and this article is not intended to serve as an endorsement of any specific one. There are valid criticisms to be made towards past socialist projects, many of which subjected their citizens to extreme suffering, but the current state of discourse surrounding these ideologies serves no purpose in reaching a well-considered and balanced perspective. I encourage everyone not to simply pick a belief and engage in whatever disingenuous rhetoric required to defend it, but to look beyond the dishonest and deceptive narratives that surround leftist movements and draw your own conclusions on how to build the best future for everyone.