The Hysteria of the U.S. Establishment: A Red Scare Redux

By David Starr

Socialism has somewhat increased in popularity in the United States. The recent elections have put Democratic Socialists at the center of attention in U.S. politics.

And this is making the U.S. establishment sweat. With that comes the reactions characterized by hysteria in its propaganda. It’s as though we’ve traveled back to the 1950s, and even after that with Cold War I raging between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Now we are in Cold War II and the propaganda sounds pathetically familiar. 

The right-wing and corporate neoliberals have tried to bombard the U.S. public with appeals to fear, and hysteria. They spout out anti-communist rhetoric and socialist stereotypes. And most of the time they fail to understand the actual meanings of communism and socialism.

For one thing communism hasn’t really existed. Being an epoch, it would take more than 74 years for it to be established and developed, the length of time the USSR existed. There have been varying degrees of socialism depending on which countries you are talking about. And we’ve had the unfortunate debacle of Stalinism.

Stalin actually violated communist, socialist, i.e., Marxist ideas and ideals. I routinely recommend the book, “Let History Judge” by Roy Medvedev, a Soviet historian and Marxist who recently passed away at the age of 100 years old. His book analyzes the legacy of Stalin and his policies. And it isn’t pretty.

There have been many examples of Red Scare hysteria, especially among Republicans, that the establishment has put forth. The White House, meaning Trump and his fellow fascists, wrote a proclamation of propaganda titled “Captive Nations Week, 2026.” (Given Trump’s gross ignorance, someone else probably wrote it. And it still sounds ignorant.)

It starts the following way: 

“During Captive Nations Week, we stand in solidarity with all those who suffer beneath communism and tyranny, and we renew our commitment to advancing the timeless cause of liberty around the world. That same devotion must hold firm here as well, where the evil ideologies of socialism, communism and totalitarianism will never be allowed to take root. As one nation, we vow to ensure our republic remains the fiercest guardian of freedom and democracy the world has ever known.”

That last sentence is laughable, as the opposite has been happening. Trump’s multi-wars and crushing protests in the U.S., much of it from Trump’s Gestapo, ICE, and an imperial foreign policy, have amounted to brutality and murder.

And here’s another example of Red Scare propaganda from this “noble” proclamation: “Communism has always been a doctrine of darkness, promising equality and prosperity, while delivering misery and ruin.” Shades of Joe McCarthy.

If you can stomach it, you can read the rest of this garbage. 

The Republicans are having fits about the emergence of Democratic Socialists winning primaries on the Democrat side. A segment on The Humanist Report provides details of the GOP’s secret admission characterizing their fear of the “commies.”

While Democratic Socialists have an agenda that supports policies which would benefit the U.S. population, they are still within the Democratic Party, which has been, and still is, capitalist. To try and change the party’s ideological bent sounds impossible. And there is the danger of the establishment coopting the left flank of the party. The establishment is still that strong. 

Ideally, those on the left should defect from the party and form a working-class party of their own. But there is the danger of splitting the Democratic vote, which would probably mean that the fascist GOP could win in elections. (Although the GOP has cheated in elections.)

Both parties have had a strangle-hold on power for over 100 years. To try and break that duopoly would possibly take a “super human” effort. The political situation in the U.S. has become openly and morally bankrupt.

Establishment Democrats are trying to make an effort to stop Democratic Socialists from winning elections. In that sense, the establishment is no different from the Republicans. When the left has tried to gain momentum, corporate neoliberals panic and veer to the right, collaborating with that side of the political spectrum.

Secular Talk showed an angry James Carville being interviewed on Fox “news.” He threatened to quit the Democratic Party. If enough neoliberals quit, they could wind up splitting the vote as they accuse Democratic Socialists of threatening to do that very thing. Fascism would further be established.

The Republicans, like corporate Democrats, have had massive funding from big corporations and the wealthy. The Zionist organization AIPAC heavily funded Abdul El-Sayed’s opponent, Haley Stevens in a Michigan primary election. Stevens is fanatically pro-Israel, regardless of its attempted genocide. But El-Sayed won the election anyway.

Democrat Chuck Schumer, also fanatically pro-Israel, has had a secret campaign to stop the left flank of the party from winning elections. Details are on a segment of Status Coup News. It specifically highlights the primary election against El-Sayed and Stevens, just before the election itself. 

The Democratic voting base has now woken up and sees both the GOP and the establishment Democrats as unpopular choices. It remains to be seen in the long run whether the Democratic Socialists would follow through on, and keep, their promises. They face a powerful Republican-Democrat duopoly. And the duopoly doesn’t want real change. Thus, the Red Scare redux.