by Kurt Mahlburg
Communism has killed over 100 million people and immiserated countless more. But that won’t stop a group called the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), which is running its 2023 Marxist School “from coast to coast” over the coming months.
The first event, already held in Minneapolis, will be followed by three more in New York City; Phoenix, Arizona; and Bellingham, Washington through mid-November.
“Join the communists!” its website urges, with hammer and sickle proudly displayed. The posters were recently spotted across the campus of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Marxist and Communist propaganda posters found throughout the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus.@AlphaNewsMN @action_liberty @GLpodcast @JonJustice @jdtcnt @nathanmhansen @lizcollin @HayleyFeland @mngop pic.twitter.com/B3ynPhJTCK
— LeftistsofMN (@LeftistsofMN) September 22, 2023
“World capitalism is in crisis,” the event’s online description proclaims. “Millions of people are looking toward communist ideas to find away [sic.] out of the impasse. Revolution is on the agenda in country after country.”
“For the movement to succeed, all communists must organize in a cohesive revolutionary party with the correct Marxist theory and program for the transformation of society,” the event description adds.
All events run for two days and include sessions such as “Building the Revolutionary Party,” “Lenin, Trotsky, and the Russian Revolution,” and “How Communism Can Win!”
Ticketing is being hosted on Socialist Revolution, the official publication of IMT’s United States branch.
IMT’s self-proclaimed goal is “the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a workers’ government in the United States and across the world, which will require the revolutionary transformation of society.”
The group calls for
- A universal 20-hour work week
- Minimum universal wages of $1,250 weekly
- Universal health care
- An end to all border security measures
- Rent fixed at 10 percent of a person’s income
- A moratorium on evictions and foreclosures
- A “socialist planned economy” to help “combat the climate crisis”
“Genuine reparations for centuries of slavery, colonialism, exploitation, and oppression can only be achieved by expropriating the capitalists and building socialism,” IMT also declares.
No such handouts will be granted for attendees of the 2023 Marxist School, however. Tickets for the events cost between $10 (depending on the location; ASU students are given free admission for the Phoenix event) for students and the unemployed to $60 for those who would like to offer their “solidarity.”
Neither is membership of IMT free. Members must pay monthly dues and are expected to sell copies of Socialist Revolution in their locale and recruit new comrades. “We receive no money from the capitalists or their foundations,” the group laments, “and are funded entirely by our members and sympathizers.”
How are such messages received?
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) is an education and research non-profit commemorating the victims of communism and advocating for freedom for those still living under such systems of government.
In its most recent poll on “U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism, Communism, and Collectivism,” VOC found that 40 percent of Americans have a favorable view of socialism, up from 36 percent in 2019. And more than one quarter of Americans support the gradual elimination of capitalism. Meanwhile, socialist sentiment is increasing among younger generations, with Gen Z’s favorability at 49 percent, up from 40 percent in 2019.
Incredibly, the poll, conducted in 2020, found that one-third of Americans (33 percent) believed Donald Trump was the biggest threat to world peace. A full 32 percent believed Donald Trump was responsible for the deaths of more people than North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
While most Millennials and Gen Zers are not exactly running off to join Marxist training cells, Marxist groups like IMT are clearly exploiting misconceptions about America and ignorance of communism’s bloody legacy.
Certainly, if groups like IMT are successful, communism will only grow in popularity, and with their stated goal of ushering in a Marxist revolution, these groups are seeking radical change.
But what cost—in human lives and dollars—would this revolution require? And who will pay it?
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Kurt Mahlburg is an emerging Australian voice on culture and the Christian faith. He has a passion for both the philosophical and the personal, drawing on his background as a graduate architect, a primary school teacher, a missionary, and a young adults pastor. Since 2018, Kurt has been the Research and Features Editor at the Canberra Declaration. He is also a freelance writer and a regular contributor at Mercator, the Spectator Australia, Caldron Pool, and Intellectual Takeout. He is married to Angie, who hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Photo “Marxist Leaflet” by LeftistsofMN.
