According to the usual narrative, communism and socialism are embraced and promoted by poor people, by exploited workers, in a bid for justice and better treatment. In reality, communism and socialism are created and promoted by the wealthy elite, as historian John Stormer writes:
Communism is commonly believed to rise out of poverty. Yet, Fidel Castro was a product, not of the cane fields of Cuba, but of the halls of Havana University.
Karl Marx, it will be remembered, was the child of an upper-middle-class family, and received an exclusive university education. His father was a successful lawyer, and his parents owned a vineyard. Never during his lifetime did Karl Marx work for a wage, or work to support himself and his family. Instead, his efforts went into speechmaking, writing, and organizing, as he lived off of the privilege of his family and his wealthy supporters.
In the course of contradicting the propaganda which is nearly omnipresent in textbooks and classrooms, two questions will arise: Why would the wealthy support communism and socialism, if those ideologies advocate the dismantling of their privilege? Why would the poor not enthusiastically embrace the ideas which claim to liberate the downtrodden?
Among the elite supporters of communism and socialism, one may discern two types. On the one hand, there is the naive believer, who with true goodwill thinks that he will help his fellow man by advocating for these beliefs. On the other hand, there is the cynic, who understands that any attempted implementation of these ideologies will inevitably result in a concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few.
Among the poor, there are many who understand that communism and socialism are systems which fail to generate opportunities. Yet that is precisely what the poor need and want: a chance at something better.
There are those in poverty who are deceived into supporting some communist or socialist movement, but they are often quickly alerted to the fact that their lives do not improve after the installation of some government which bears the name of these ideologies.
Joseph Stalin was not a simple peasant rebelling at the oppression of the Czar. He became a communist while studying for the priesthood in a Russian Orthodox seminary.
It is the case, in every instance of a political takeover by a government which represents, or claims to represent, these ideologies, that the poor find no relief. Not only that, but the poor are often subjected to greater hardship under their alleged benefactors.
This is the situation in every case in which such a takeover has happened. It is also the situation in any conceivable or possible scenario of a such a takeover.
The instigators, leaders, and promoters of communism and socialism are inevitably wealthy, privileged, and elite. It is difficult to find a revolutionary leader who was a member of the lower classes. Examples from Russia in 1917, to China between 1927 and 1949, and in Cuba between 1953 and 1959, are representative of other communist revolutions in history, as John Stormer details:
Dr. Cheddi Jagan, communist premier of British Guiana, became a communist, not as an “exploited” worker on a plantation of a British colonial colony, but as a dental student at Chicago’s Northwestern University.
It is necessary to articulate statements which are nearly the exact opposite of what is commonly believed: Communism and socialism are created and promoted by the wealthy, the privileged, and the elite, for the purpose of maintaining and increasing their wealth and power. The notion that communism and socialism intend to, or can, help the poor is a notion created to deceive, to dupe naive but well-intentioned people into helping the communist and socialist movements. The poor and the working class generally reject communism: some do so outright, seeing that it fails to offer them opportunities; others do so only after learning the bitter lesson of having at first supported these movements, only later to be alerted to the harsh reality that these movements will simply worsen their lot.
