Yuri Maltsev: Why Socialism Endures

The western media’s fawning treatment of Fidel Castro demonstrates the enduring mystique of socialism—while recent Harvard and Rasmussen polls suggest that perhaps half of young Americans hold unfavorable attitudes toward capitalism. No matter how many millions perish in collectivist bloodbaths, the Left remains committed to its ideology of radical egalitarianism and enamored of murderous revolutionary figures like Che Guevara.

Our great friend Yuri Maltsev, a victim of Soviet totalitarianism in his youth, joins us to explain how and why westerners still don’t understand what socialism really means. He recounts his many trips to Cuba, and demolishes the myths surrounding that country’s vaunted “healthcare” and “education” systems. He explains how socialism actually produces a superclass of elites and a form of socio-economic apartheid, rather than egalitarian nirvana. And he reminds us that the romantic vision held by western elites is best defeated by those who have lived through the ravages of collectivism firsthand.