In August, I found myself in an extremely packed-out after party for the 2017 Democratic Socialists of America Convention in Chicago. The beers and snacks were plentiful and free, the guys from the leftist comedy podcast Chapo Trap House were there, and the atmosphere was welcoming. The crowd was mostly under 30, warm, friendly and passionate about making change in a divided America. Far from the sinister Stalinist ideology that it’s been painted as throughout the 20th century, the socialist movement in 2017 seems vibrant, exciting and most of all optimistic.
While socialism has traditionally had a younger base of support, until now, exposure among millennials has often been coloured by aggressive Socialist Alternative campaigners on university campuses. Today, though, the DSA boast over 30,000 paying members. “Sassy Socialist Memes” on Facebook nears a million followers. Chapo Trap House — whose “Dirtbag Left” irony-activism has fired a new generation of leftists — attracts an incredible $88,000 in Patreon subscriptions per month. The cult of Bernie Sanders and the near victory of the UK’s “absolute boy” Jeremy Corbyn have seen socialism morph from a dirty word to something inspiring passion in young people looking to make sense of their political reality.
Young Australians are facing the prospect of never owning a home as the median house prices in Melbourne and Sydney sit at close to $1 million. A generation over-educated, underemployed and burdened with enormous student debt is looking for answers.
People, like Melbournians James, 28, and Shane, 24 – both educated professionals, far from the red scare caricature of the lazy socialist — are finding resonance in socialist ideology.
“Millennials are embracing socialism more and more as their own opportunities seem to become fewer and fewer,” James tells me. “We’re becoming more aware of inequality, and while Australia loves to call itself the lucky country, the facts about how much wealth sits with a lucky few paints a much different picture.”
Having previously voted for both Labor and the Greens, James and Shane cite US socialist movements such as the DSA and the support for Bernie Sanders as key catalysts in their move to supporting socialist politics.
While socialism in America seems to be gaining significant traction, what about Australia, a nation ostensibly built on the idea of a fair go for all, which values public services and labour laws, and where the threat of cutting Medicare is so horrifying that an election scare campaign can be built around it? Is socialism still a dirty word?
“Centrism is failing on the world stage,” James elaborates. “We’re being let down by centre-left parties like the Democrats in the US and Labor over here who aren’t willing to actually make a difference while we see economic inequality grow.”
Indeed, while income inequality may be said to be shrinking, wealth inequality in Australia is growing. A report on inequality released by the Australian Council of Social Services paints a picture of a nation where, while someone in the highest 20% of income has five times as much income as someone in the lowest 20%, someone in the highest 20% of wealth has around 70 times as much wealth as the lowest 20%. Almost half of our politicians, holding the task of tackling housing affordability, own multiple properties. The latest ACTU report shows the top ten richest Australians as having $77 billion between them.
While the stats surrounding wealth inequality are evident, there’s also something to be said about the meme-ification of socialist ideals that is engaging the internet generation more than ever.
“The normalisation of socialism through memes is opening us up to socialist ideals, as stupid as that sounds,” Shane says. “People are reading more and more, and social media is helping leftists, liberals and other similar-minded folks connect and educate and empower each other than ever before.”
It’s easy to see why the movement is gaining traction. It’s hopeful and optimistic, and in a world that currently seems to have little to be optimistic about, a lot of young people are struggling to find a real alternative to a political climate that harbours far-right movements, poverty and institutionalised discrimination.
“Though Australia is fortunate and privileged, we got here on the backs of colonialism, oppression and inequality, and a lot of us are now coming to terms with that,” Shane tells me.
“We keep our heads above water by attacking the lower classes and oppressed people of all demographics. We’re now seeing a need for ideology and action that disrupts and takes away power from the core reasons of their existence in the first place – capitalism and conservative economic policy.”
Climate change should be the main issue that the young share, to lay against the old regime. In that context, we might see hope in the evolution of youthful socialism in a climate changing world. Courage for new ideas, new spirit in the streets, resilience under punishment and a will to fight through the disasters towards a new world.
However, young people deny their own mortality even more than the elderly. It is possible that a mass movement among the young only succeeds in forming a massive, head-banging denial of the collapsing climate. They may simply form another lobby group, demanding subsidised air conditioning for their homes, subsidised fuel for their cars and subsidised gas to power base load from renewable generation.
I think that the new leftist political engagement from youth is cheifly a result of their concern for the future of their planet and the snail’s paced climate change action from political parties beholden to their corporate financiers and vested interests
In my view, effective action against climate change is impossible while capitalism (particularly financial capitalism) is in the driver’s seat.
It gives me hope that many young people are looking to the material left for answers. Centrists (who are generally cultural left and economic right) let us down badly.
There is no longer a social contract between the rich and the wage earners. It is up the wage earners to fix it.
One of the most effective defenses of capitalism is the way most people can be co-opted, without coercion – that’s a 3rd or subsequent tactic, into its warm embrace from which they then do not wish to escape.
What’s the old saw? “If you aren’t socialist at 20 you’ve no heart, if you’re still a socialist at 30 no head.”
“Almost half of our politicians, holding the task of tackling housing affordability, own multiple properties.” Interesting point, and one which raises a quandary about our democracy which I have been pondering. Why is it, that at Local Government level, if a Councillor is known to have an interest in a rezoning and/or development, then they must abstain from voting, yet at national level half a parliament (and their families) with huge fingers in the pie, can vote down anything to rein in negative gearing, discounted capital gains tax, and foreign ownership?
Hey, Lucy. Predictably, I am v supportive of this account of the emerging, young left. Well done.
I would say, though, that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with “aggression” when it comes to a struggle. You call Socialist Alternative aggressive in their presentations, as though this is somehow inimical to youth, or generally unacceptable.
I am in contact with DSA Millennials and I would hardly say that Chapo is an aggression-free podcast 🙂 I would also say that many of these Millennials in the DSA do not see themselves as unconnected to older persons, such as the folks of Socialist Alternative. DSA, after all, was founded long before many of them were born!
I have my (friendly) disagreements with Socialist Alternative, of which I am not a member, but I fully support their presence on campuses. Campuses which really don’t teach socialism. (They teach social constructivism “just be nice and tolerant and have better ideas instead”, which is, in many fundamental ways, opposed to socialism. That this is often called “cultural Marxism” is just a category error.)
Again, this is a good report about how leftism (not social constructivism and identity based rights politics) is appealing to well educated young men called Shane. There is value in that. But there is also value in acknowledging the work of some quite public AU Millennials (Eleanor Robertson comes to mind, Amy McQuire of BuzzFeed also uses a materialist approach in her reports, Simon Copland regularly uses Marxist analysis in a queer politics context) which come directly from their contact with people even older than me.
I so get that a new generation wants stuff to be new. And that is great. But let’s be honest here and say that a lot of them were turned on by two very grey gentlemen, Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn. And our Lee Rhiannon is no twenty-something.
I invite you to this event which we devised expressly to discuss the strong connection between Boomers, Gen xers and Millennials in socialist thought and action. (we got one each of the first two categories, and two of the latter).
https://www.wheelercentre.com/events/on-your-marx
(It’s a free event now sold out but I like to make cheeky exceptions for Crikey contributors and subscribers.)
I have also asked Socialist Alternative to come along to sell Red Flag. We may all be a little aggressive, just as the dirtbag left is. Just as every socialist must be if they are genuinely thinking about toppling capitalism 🙂 Talk to SA. They totally know their Marx!
Again. Thanks for your report!