Since Zohran Mamdani’s shocking election to mayor of New York, candidates supported by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have recently enjoyed significant victories. More generally, socialism is experiencing a resurgence, especially among younger voters. Why, after the horrors of 20th-century socialism in the Soviet Union, China, Venezuela, Cuba, and elsewhere, do people still support socialism?
In a recent, widely seen episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and I propose an answer that is contrary to many popular explanations. We observe that young socialists driving this resurgence are morally confident and determined in their vision, and this is no accident: From their perspective, morality is on their side. We suggest that a culture-wide commitment to the morality of altruism — according to which one has a duty to sacrifice to those in need —has led directly to a re-energized socialist movement.
Young people have heard all their lives that the needs of society outweigh the needs of individuals, and that we have a duty to serve others. What better way to make the individual subservient to society than to dismantle a system based on private property and profit? What better way to serve the needs of others than to expropriate the wealth of the successful to fund public housing, public grocery stores, and endless other social programs?
They’ve also heard all their lives that democracy is good and just — in essence, that if a majority votes on a policy, that makes it right. What could be more democratic than the democratic control of the economy that democratic socialism offers? If we can vote on whether we have more welfare or more progressive taxation, why not vote on whether private corporations can exist at all?
As to the history of socialism, these socialists don’t care — they will always believe their approach will be the one that “really works.” This helps show that the morality of altruism is a religious commitment: No one has ever rationally demonstrated why a human being should sacrifice values for others.
Thus, only a rejection of its faith-based moral foundation can defeat socialism. It is merely the consistent political implementation of altruism. As we have argued in previous podcasts, the only response that can succeed is one that rejects both altruism and unlimited majority rule (the true meaning of democracy) as evil and incompatible with human flourishing.
Watch the podcast here:
Image credit: Selcuk Acar / Anadolu via Getty Images
