Almost two-thirds of Americans under 30 now hold a favorable view of socialism.
The mayor of New York City is one politician who’s leading the charge, proudly calling himself a democratic socialist. Zohran Mamdani says he wants to create Publicly Owned Grocery Stores, Fare-Free Transit, and Universal Childcare.
He also wants to ban extreme wealth, telling NBC’s Meet the Press, “I don’t think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality.”
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Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have also helped boost the popularity of democratic socialism in recent years. They will tell you they want to help people, but the socialist principles they espouse come through a very troubled man, who, say historians, if he was not a Satanist, was obsessed with Satan.
Dr. Paul Kengor, the author of The Devil and Karl Marx, says Marx was also a playwright and poet, and his writings included many references to Satan and Hell.
Marx’s Fascination with Beelzebub
Kengor cites Marx’s poem, “The Pale Maiden,” written in 1887: “Thus heaven I’ve forfeited. I know it full well. My soul, once true to God, is chosen for hell.”
In “The Fiddler or The Player,” in 1841, the same decade when he wrote the Communist Manifesto, Marx wrote, “See the sword. The Prince of Darkness sold it to me. For he beats the time and gives the signs ever more boldly. I played the dance of death.”
Kengor says Marx would tell his children stories about a toymaker who sold his soul to the devil.
Marx’s father said that his son’s heart was “governed by a demon,” and Marx was, by all accounts, a terrible husband, father, and provider who sponged off his relatives.
A Terrible Husband, Father, and Provider
Kengor says, “Marx, the man, was somebody very lazy, refused to work, did not take care of his family, his home, even himself. He refused to bathe, smelled, had boils and sores all over his body.”
Marx’s Communist Manifesto calls for “the abolition of religion,” and calls the family unit “disgusting.”
Last year’s Democratic Socialists of America annual convention in Chicago called for the “abolition” of the traditional family, and like Marx, compared marriage to prostitution. One attendee said abortions should be done in churches.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke at the group’s 2023 convention.
True Socialism Has Been Deadly
It seems as if some of those pushing democratic socialism might be confused about what socialism actually is.
Bernie Sanders has said, “When I talk about ‘democratic socialism,’ I’m not looking to Venezuela. I’m not looking to Cuba. I’m looking at countries like Denmark and Sweden.”
Yet neither Denmark nor Sweden is socialist. Both rank higher than the United States on the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. Both call themselves capitalist nations with generous welfare programs.
Countries that have called themselves ‘socialist,’ such as the Soviet Union and North Korea, have had the most oppressive and deadly governments in the last 100 years. Historians say the number of victims killed under socialism is more than 100 million.
The late Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who was tortured and imprisoned in communist Romania, said jailers would yell, “We are the devil!” while they tortured Christians.
Kengor: Christians Who Adopt Socialist Principles Are Wrong
Kengor said Christians who think socialism is good, because they believe it’s like the sharing among believers in the book of Acts, are mistaken.
“These (early Christians) have private property,” Kengor said. “They are choosing voluntarily on their own, in the love of Christ, to share their things, to help their brother. Communism is a government by fiat and coercion, which comes in and takes over an entire country and forces everybody at gunpoint or gulag, religious or not, to hand over their stuff.”
Yet the appeal of socialism seems stronger than ever among America’s youth. Kengor says that’s only because many don’t understand what socialism truly is.
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