Ep. 217: Communism’s comeback and the surge of antisemitism

About this episode

The episode discusses the resurgence of communism among young Americans and its connection to antisemitism and historical propaganda.

Why are so many young Americans saying they support communism and do they understand that the anti-Zionist lies they are swallowing were cooked up by Soviet propagandists a half-century ago? Those are the questions JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin is asking about the willingness of ignorant Americans who are embracing the Marxist war on the West. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by scholar Jonathan Brent, the CEO of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and a historian of communism and the Holocaust. According to Brent, the reason for the revival of Marxism is, “the hatred of the American system of government and of the West generally that has been inculcated in generation after generation of young people who have gone to our most liberal and our most privileged universities and progressive schools.” This has, he says, created an appetite for a belief in the power of the state to “smash” bourgeois values, liberalism and institute more equality. But Brent points out that all this failed ideology has to offer is “an equality that is actually based on deprivation and enslavement rather than on lifting people up.” The renewed infatuation with Marxism and the…

People in this episode

Host: Jonathan Tobin

Guest: Jonathan Brent

Topics covered

• communism
• antisemitism
• Marxism
• anti-Zionism
• American government
• young Americans
• historical propaganda

Keywords

• communism
• antisemitism
• Marxism
• anti-Zionism
• young Americans
• historical propaganda
• YIVO Institute
• Jonathan Brent
• Jonathan Tobin
• Zohran Mamda

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Hamas

Places: New York City

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