Socialism has been promoted as an ideology of equality, where comrades work together, share joys and sorrows, and cultivate a beautiful utopian brotherhood, or at least that’s how it’s claimed.
Unfortunately, this is just a fantasy. In reality, we have over a century of socialist history to draw lessons from. The (massive) deaths, torture, and surveillance in countries like the Soviet Union, North Korea, and Venezuela (just to name a few) are well known, but have people noticed that the leaders of these countries have never suffered alongside their own people?
This is a fact. Despite the leaders of socialist countries often talking about equality, they live quite well compared to the ordinary people living in their countries.
Let’s start with the Soviet Union. In Milovan Djilas’ book “Conversations with Stalin,” this communist defector described his multiple personal encounters with Stalin. One thing stood out: Joseph Stalin, often called “Ol’ Uncle Joe,” loved his banquets.
“The variety of food and drink was great, with meat and strong alcohol predominating,” Djilas wrote. “Everyone could have whatever they wanted to eat, as much as they wanted; it was just that there were too many toasts and return toasts.”
Indeed, one of the most brutal dictators in history could feast lavishly, but what about the ordinary people of Russia and the other Soviet republics? It was a different story for them.
The Canadian think tank, SecondStreet.org, interviewed several immigrants from the Soviet Union for our “Survivors of Socialism” series, and a common theme they mentioned was the scarcity and limited variety of food.
Mart Salumae from Estonia told us, “People went to work in the morning, and when they returned home in the evening, the food stores were already empty.” The government monopolized the food supply, but it always managed to meet the needs of the elite, while the masses went hungry.
Viorica Robinson from Romania said she often waited in line at groceries for two to three hours, and Boris Rassin from Latvia mentioned that the government burned cooking books to hide the use of unavailable ingredients in recipes.
This contrasts sharply with the elaborate meals Stalin frequently enjoyed, featuring Scotch whisky and sturgeon caviar.
This situation was not unique to the Soviet Union; just take a look at North Korea.
North Korean defector Yeonmi Park shared many of her childhood harrowing experiences, but sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. To this day, her stature is very petite, stunted by years of malnutrition. She is one of the few lucky ones to have escaped; many North Koreans look like walking skeletons. Now, look at any photo of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and it’s safe to say that he eats to his heart’s content every night, perhaps too much.
And in Venezuela, over 14,000 kilometers away, the same social system, the same situation.
So next time your nephew returns home from his first semester of college with a gleam in his eye, clutching the “Communist Manifesto,” and excitedly talking about the new “cool” Marxism, why not ask him this question:
“In your socialist utopia, do you think you could climb to the top of the party?” Because history tells us that those outside the core circle will suffer, while the rich and powerful will enjoy feasts.
This article is authored by Dom Lucyk, the Communications Director of the Canadian think tank, SecondStreet.org.