Why Hide? It’s Time to Stop Pretending We’re Not Marxists
The Euphemism Era Is Over
For generations, American leftists played linguistic hide-and-seek with our actual politics. We called ourselves “progressives” when we meant socialists. We said “liberal” when we meant anticapitalist. We adopted “social democrat” when we were really democratic socialists. And when even “democratic socialist” felt too spicy, we retreated to the safest possible label: “I just think people shouldn’t die from lack of healthcare.”
This rhetorical cowardice was understandable. McCarthyism wasn’t a joke—it destroyed lives, careers, and movements. The Cold War made “communist” and “socialist” into slurs worse than any profanity. Even after the USSR collapsed, the stigma remained. Being openly Marxist in America meant professional suicide, social ostracism, and FBI surveillance. So we hid. We used code words. We talked about “economic justice” instead of “abolishing private property.” We discussed “workers’ rights” instead of “proletarian revolution.” We became masters of euphemism.
But here’s the thing: that era is over. The data is overwhelming. The conditions have changed. And continuing to hide behind sanitized language isn’t strategic anymore—it’s just cowardice.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: America Is Ready for Marxism
Let’s start with the hard data that should make every closeted Marxist stand up and declare themselves openly. Democratic Socialists of America membership exploded from 5,000 members in 2015 to 79,000 by 2021—a 1,480% increase in six years. Even after declining to around 64,000 in 2024, DSA is still over 12 times larger than it was a decade ago. Over 250 DSA members now hold elected office across 40 states, with 90% elected after 2019.
But it’s not just organizational membership. Public opinion has shifted dramatically. A 2020 YouGov poll found that 26% of Americans supported “the gradual elimination of the capitalist system in favor of a more socialist system.” Among young people, the numbers are even more striking: 44% of Americans aged 16-29 would prefer to live in a socialist nation rather than a capitalist country. Another 7% chose communism outright.
The generational divide is stark. In 2019, only 50% of Millennials had a favorable opinion of capitalism, down from 66% just nine years earlier. Among Gen Z, 30% view Marxism favorably—up from 6% in 2019, a five-fold increase in one year. Meanwhile, 49% of Gen Z views socialism favorably.
These aren’t fringe numbers. These aren’t outliers. This is a fundamental shift in American political consciousness, driven by material conditions (decades of wage stagnation, exploding housing costs, student debt, and the 2008 financial crisis) and successful organizing by groups like DSA. The question isn’t whether Americans are ready for Marxist politics. The question is: why are we still pretending to be something we’re not?
The Historical Cowardice: When We Had to Hide
To be clear: there were good reasons for the euphemism strategy. During the McCarthy era (1950-1956), openly identifying as communist or socialist could mean losing your job, being blacklisted from entire industries, or facing federal prosecution. The House Un-American Activities Committee destroyed countless lives. The FBI’s COINTELPRO program infiltrated and disrupted leftist organizations for decades. Being openly Marxist wasn’t brave—it was suicidal.
So leftists adapted. We called ourselves “liberals” and worked within the Democratic Party. We founded organizations with innocuous names like “Students for a Democratic Society.” We talked about “civil rights” and “economic justice” without mentioning class struggle or revolution. We became experts at speaking in code that other leftists could recognize while keeping our actual politics hidden from the mainstream.
This strategy had some success. The New Deal was built partly on the organizing efforts of socialists and communists who never publicly identified as such. The Civil Rights Movement included many Marxists who strategically emphasized racial justice over economic transformation. The anti-war movement of the 1960s was filled with socialists who focused on “peace” rather than imperialism.
But the cost was enormous. By hiding our politics, we allowed the American right to define what “socialism” and “Marxism” meant. We ceded the ideological battlefield. We let generations of Americans grow up thinking socialism was when the government does stuff, and communism was Soviet authoritarianism. We failed to build a coherent, publicly visible Marxist tradition in America because we were too afraid to claim the label.
Why “Social Democrat” Was Always a Cop-Out
The most recent euphemism—the one that became trendy after Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign—was “democratic socialist” or its even softer cousin, “social democrat.” This was supposed to be the safe middle ground: not scary revolutionary Marxism, just nice Scandinavian-style welfare states with universal healthcare and strong unions.
But here’s the problem: social democracy is reformism, not socialism. Social democrats want to regulate capitalism and redistribute some wealth through taxation. Democratic socialists (at least in theory) want to abolish capitalism and establish worker ownership of the means of production. These are fundamentally different projects.
And more importantly: calling yourself a “social democrat” when you’re actually a Marxist is just dishonest. It’s strategic lying. It’s telling people you want Sweden when you actually want full worker control of production. It’s promising reform when you know reform can’t solve the systemic contradictions of capitalism.
The Sanders campaigns showed both the power and the limitations of this approach. By calling himself a “democratic socialist” while running on a social democratic platform, Sanders made socialism mainstream and energized millions of young people. DSA membership jumped from 5,000 to 40,000 during the 2016 campaign alone. But Sanders also muddied the waters by conflating social democracy with democratic socialism, leaving many of his supporters unclear about what they actually believed.
And when Sanders lost—twice—the lesson became clear: reformism has limits. You cannot vote your way to socialism within a capitalist system designed to prevent exactly that outcome. The Democratic Party will always, always, always choose capital over labor when push comes to shove. Pretending otherwise is either naivete or willful deception.
Why We Can’t Keep Hiding Behind “Progressive”
“Progressive” is perhaps the most meaningless label in American politics. It encompasses everyone from Elizabeth Warren-style technocratic reformers to actual revolutionaries. It means everything and nothing. When you call yourself a “progressive,” you’re telling people absolutely nothing about your actual politics except that you’re vaguely left-of-center and probably support LGBTQ+ rights.
Here’s what “progressive” doesn’t tell people: Do you believe in abolishing private property? Do you think workers should control the means of production? Do you support revolution or just reform? Are you anticapitalist or just pro-regulation? These are the questions that actually matter, and “progressive” answers none of them.
Using “progressive” as a euphemism for Marxism is intellectual cowardice. It’s admitting that you don’t trust people to understand or accept your actual politics, so you hide behind a focus-grouped term that polling shows is nonthreatening. It’s treating potential comrades like children who need to be tricked into socialism rather than adults who can be persuaded by honest argument.
What Changed: Why Now Is Different
So why should Marxists stop hiding now? What’s changed? Several things:
1. The Cold War Is Over. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991—over 30 years ago. For Americans under 40, the USSR is ancient history, not lived experience. The automatic association of “communism = Stalin = gulag” has weakened significantly among young people. They don’t have Cold War trauma. They weren’t raised on Red Scare propaganda. They’re evaluating socialism and Marxism on their own terms, based on their own material conditions.
2. Capitalism Is Visibly Failing. The 2008 financial crisis, stagnant wages despite rising productivity, exploding student debt, the housing affordability crisis, the healthcare crisis, the climate crisis—all of these have delegitimized capitalism in the eyes of millions of Americans, especially young people. When 51% of Gen Z believes “America is a racist nation with a long history of discrimination” and only 44% thinks the American flag represents freedom, you’re looking at a generation ready for systemic critique.
3. Successful Organizing Has Made Socialism Normal. Bernie Sanders’ campaigns, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s victory, Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral run, and DSA’s growth have made “democratic socialist” a household term. Millions of Americans now know at least one person who identifies as socialist. The stigma has dramatically decreased.
4. The Right Calls Us Marxists Anyway. Here’s the thing conservatives figured out that liberals still haven’t: they’re going to call you a Marxist no matter what you call yourself. They called Obama a socialist. They called Biden a communist. They’ll call any Democrat left of Mitt Romney a Marxist. So why are we still trying to avoid the label? If we’re getting accused of it anyway, we might as well own it and actually be what they say we are.
The Strategic Case for Marxist Honesty
Beyond the moral argument (lying is bad), there’s a compelling strategic case for Marxists to openly identify as such:
Clarity Enables Organization. When you hide your politics behind euphemisms, you make it harder for like-minded people to find you. If everyone who’s actually a Marxist calls themselves a “progressive,” how do we build specifically Marxist organizations? How do we develop Marxist theory and strategy? How do we train new Marxist organizers? We can’t, because we’re all pretending to be something else.
DSA’s explosive growth happened precisely because it provided a clear, identifiable organizational home for socialists. People knew what DSA was and what it stood for. That clarity enabled organization at scale. Imagine if DSA had called itself “Americans for Economic Justice” or something equally anodyne. It would have attracted far fewer members because people wouldn’t have known what it actually represented.
Honesty Builds Trust. People aren’t stupid. They can tell when you’re being evasive about your politics. When you call yourself a “progressive” but talk like a Marxist, people notice the disconnect. They wonder what else you’re hiding. They question whether you’re trustworthy. Whereas if you’re upfront—”I’m a Marxist, here’s what that means, here’s why I believe it”—people might disagree, but they’ll respect your honesty.
We Need Marxist Class Analysis to Win. The fundamental insight of Marxism is that society is organized around class struggle, and that this struggle is the engine of historical change. Liberal “progressive” politics obscures this by talking about abstract concepts like “inequality” or “fairness” without identifying the mechanism that produces inequality: capitalist exploitation of labor. If we want to build a movement that can actually win, we need to be clear about who the enemy is (the capitalist class) and what victory looks like (abolishing capitalist social relations). You can’t do that while pretending to be a progressive Democrat.
The Enemy Already Knows. The ruling class isn’t fooled by our euphemisms. They know exactly what we want, regardless of what we call ourselves. The difference is that by hiding our politics from the public, we make it easier for them to control the narrative. They can define “socialism” however they want, because we’re not publicly claiming the label and defining it ourselves.
What It Means to Be a Marxist in 2025
So if we’re going to stop hiding, we need to be clear about what we actually believe. Here’s what it means to be a Marxist in contemporary America:
1. We believe capitalism is fundamentally exploitative and must be abolished. This isn’t about making capitalism “nicer” or “more regulated.” This is about recognizing that the wage labor system is inherently exploitative because workers produce more value than they receive in wages, and the surplus is appropriated by capitalists. No amount of reform can fix this structural exploitation.
2. We believe workers should own and control the means of production. This is the core socialist demand: democratizing economic power. Not just “stakeholder capitalism” or “worker representation on boards,” but actual worker ownership and control.
3. We believe class struggle is the primary driver of historical change. We analyze society through the lens of conflicting class interests, not abstract moral principles or identity categories divorced from material conditions.
4. We believe revolution (in some form) is necessary. The capitalist class will not voluntarily give up power. Fundamental transformation requires mass working-class mobilization that goes beyond electoral politics, though it may include electoral organizing as one tactic among many.
5. We believe in internationalism. Capitalism is a global system, so anticapitalism must be international. We reject nationalism and imperialism in all forms.
These are not radical fringe positions. These are the basic tenets of Marxism, refined over 150 years of theory and practice. And increasingly, these positions are winning mass support among young Americans who recognize that capitalism isn’t working for them.
The Objections: Why Liberals Will Tell You to Keep Hiding
Moderate liberals and progressive Democrats will tell you that openly identifying as Marxist is “politically toxic” and will “hurt the movement.” They’ll insist that we need to use softer language to appeal to moderates and independents. They’ll say that calling yourself a Marxist makes you unelectable and delegitimizes your ideas.
These objections are wrong for several reasons:
First, they assume the goal is winning elections within the existing system. But if you’re a Marxist, you don’t believe the existing electoral system can deliver fundamental change. So why are you calibrating your language to win approval from people who will never support abolishing capitalism anyway?
Second, they assume Americans are too stupid to understand Marxism. This is condescending and empirically false. When you actually explain Marxist ideas—that workers create value but don’t get the full value of their labor, that bosses exploit workers for profit, that democracy should extend to the economy—people understand and often agree. The problem isn’t that Marxism is too complicated. The problem is that no one’s explaining it honestly.
Third, they’re still fighting the Cold War. The liberal fear of “Marxist” as a label is stuck in 1985. But we’re living in 2025, and the political landscape has fundamentally changed. Young people don’t have the same anti-communist reflexes that older generations do.
Fourth, and most importantly: their strategy has failed. Decades of hiding Marxism behind progressive euphemisms didn’t build a mass socialist movement. It didn’t win Medicare for All. It didn’t raise the minimum wage. It didn’t stop wars or address climate change. The strategy of liberal respectability politics has delivered exactly nothing. So why should we keep following it?
How to Come Out as a Marxist
If you’re a Marxist who’s been hiding behind euphemisms, here’s how to stop:
1. Just say it. The next time someone asks about your politics, say “I’m a Marxist” or “I’m a communist” or “I’m a socialist” depending on your specific tendency. Don’t hedge. Don’t qualify. Don’t say “well, I’m kind of a progressive but I also think…” Just claim the label.
2. Be prepared to explain. Most people don’t know what Marxism actually means. They’ll ask. Have a 30-second and a 3-minute explanation ready. Focus on class analysis, worker ownership, and the failures of capitalism. Use examples from people’s lived experiences: wage theft, unaffordable healthcare, student debt, housing crisis.
3. Connect it to organizing. Don’t just be a Marxist in theory. Join DSA or another socialist organization. Participate in labor organizing. Show people what practical Marxist politics looks like: tenant organizing, workplace organizing, mutual aid, strike support.
4. Study and educate. If you’re going to publicly identify as Marxist, you should actually know what Marx said. Read Capital (or at least Wage Labor and Capital). Read Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci. Join a reading group. Develop your analysis.
5. Don’t apologize. When conservatives or liberals attack you for being a Marxist, don’t retreat into defensive crouch. Don’t say “well, I’m not that kind of Marxist.” Stand your ground. Defend your politics. Make them defend capitalism instead.
Why This Matters: The Stakes of Honesty
The reason Marxists need to stop hiding isn’t just about personal authenticity or intellectual honesty. It’s about building a movement capable of winning. And we cannot build that movement on a foundation of strategic deception and euphemistic language.
When Zohran Mamdani runs for NYC mayor as an open socialist, when over 250 DSA members hold elected office, when millions of young Americans tell pollsters they prefer socialism to capitalism—these are signs that the political terrain has shifted. The opening exists for mass Marxist organizing in a way it hasn’t since the 1930s.
But we will only seize this opening if we’re honest about who we are and what we want. We need to build explicitly Marxist organizations with clear Marxist politics. We need to train Marxist organizers who can explain class analysis to their coworkers and neighbors. We need to develop Marxist strategy for the specific conditions of 21st century American capitalism.
None of that happens if we’re still calling ourselves “progressives” and pretending we just want slightly higher taxes on the rich.
The Question Is Not Whether, But When
History is moving. DSA grew from 5,000 to nearly 80,000 members in five years. Socialism has gone from political death sentence to viable electoral identity. The contradictions of capitalism are intensifying: climate catastrophe, rising authoritarianism, increasing wealth concentration, declining life expectancy, collapsing public goods. The crisis is here. The question is whether the left will be ready with a coherent alternative.
We will not be ready if we’re still playing word games and hiding behind sanitized labels. We will not be ready if we’re afraid to say what we actually believe. We will not be ready if we prioritize liberal respectability over revolutionary clarity.
The time for euphemisms is over. The time for strategic ambiguity is over. The time for pretending to be progressive Democrats when we’re actually Marxists is over.
Say it loud: We’re Marxists. We believe capitalism must be abolished. We believe workers should own the means of production. We believe in class struggle as the engine of change. We believe another world is not only possible but necessary.
And we’re done hiding.
Auf Wiedersehen, amigos.
