VOC Releases Third Annual Report On Generational Attitudes Toward Socialism in America
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
- 52% of millennials would prefer to live in a socialist (46%) or communist (6%) country than a capitalist (40%) one.
- 26% of Americans have never been taught about communism in any education or professional setting.
- Half of Americans associate socialism with welfare states in Western Europe and Scandinavia -- not Marxist dictatorships.
The Third Annual Report on US Attitudes Toward Socialism has confirmed a trend evident in the previous two reports: the American public lacks a serious understanding and education regarding socialism and communism. When Americans -- especially Millennials -- think of "socialism," they primarily think about Bernie Sanders, Western European democracies, income equality, and access to healthcare. They also do not associate socialism with communism and authoritarianism.
"We can talk about different policy ideas as we debate our future, but when we talk about socialism we need to know what it means," says VOC's executive director Marion Smith. "We can talk about a high-tax welfare state, expanded healthcare system, and even universal basic income. But intellectually and historically that's not the meaning of socialism. This system has a record of practice in places like the USSR, China, Cuba, North Korea, and now Venezuela, among dozens of others around the world since 1917. Marxist governments have caused enormous political, economic, and humanitarian catastrophes -- some of which continue today."
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a Washington-based, non-profit educational and human rights organization devoted to commemorating the more than 100 million victims of communism around the world and to the freedom of those still living under totalitarian regimes. VOC was authorized by a unanimous act of Congress on December 17, 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton.
https://www.victimsofcommunism.org/
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SOURCE Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
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