What practical lessons can we learn from history? There is no simple answer, as history is a complex and dynamic social process. It is far more than a chronological record of facts or a logical classification of data. Instead, history tracks the evolution of humanity from the past, through the present, and into the future, forming a comprehensive picture.

History meets society’s need to know itself and understand its relationship to the past, as well as to other cultures. It explains how nations emerge, intellectualizes facts, and uncovers the causes of events. History is also poetic, appealing to innate human curiosity and our sense of wonder about what came before.

The history of our nation is relevant because the current patterns of contemporary American progressive movements strikingly resemble the utopian socialist and Marxist movements of 19th-century Europe. This is especially evident in the popular and controversial rhetoric surrounding “white privilege,” “systemic racism,” “Black Lives Matter,” “BIPOC” (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), and “democratic socialism.”

Utopian socialists of the 19th century – specifically France’s Charles Fourier and Henri de Saint-Simon, alongside England’s Robert Owen – believed they could design ideal, self-contained communities of a predetermined size. Theoretically, these societies would seamlessly integrate farmers, industrial workers, artists, and occasionally capitalists.

The Utopian socialists hypothesized that these communities would remain stable and self-sustaining while ensuring an adequate livelihood for every member. Many, however, view this vision of a perfectly harmonious, cohesive society as remarkably naive. Modern critics often draw parallels to short-lived experiments like CHAZ/CHOP (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone or Capitol Hill Occupied Protest) – a self-declared, police-free protest area that occupied six blocks of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood in June 2020.

Karl Marx was the communist thinker who best grasped the revolutionary nature of the 19th century. In his famous 1913 essay, The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism, Vladimir Lenin identified the three intellectual pillars of Marxist theory: German classical philosophy, English political economy, and French socialism.

The Three Sources of Marxism

German Classical Philosophy: Figures like G.W.F. Hegel and Ludwig Feuerbach laid the foundation for Marxist dialectical materialism. Marx adapted Hegel’s dialectics (the concept of change through contradiction) and fused it with Feuerbach’s materialism.

English Political Economy: Economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo developed the labor theory of value. Marx used their economic concepts to critique capitalism and explain the exploitation of labor.

French Socialism: Thinkers like Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier envisioned social equality and critiqued industrial capitalism. Marx built upon these utopian ideals to develop a scientific framework for class struggle and revolution.

I have lived in Southeast Alaska for 41 years and have never witnessed institutional racism. Ignorance exists, but not systemic racism.

Rejecting utopian socialism in favor of “scientific communism” (a term he coined), Marx claimed that changes in the economic structure of society were the result of class struggles between capitalists (bourgeoisie) and workers (proletarians).

In the “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” published in 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels stated: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.”

In other words, Marx did not look to natural or moral laws for guidance, but relied on historical materialism, drawing lessons from history to advocate for a revolutionary uprising against the ruling class.

What, then, are the connections and patterns shared by 19th-century Marxism, contemporary neo-Marxism, and modern American Democratic Socialism? Critically, the concept of “white privilege” serves as an ideological foundation for other neo-Marxist frameworks, including “systemic racism,” “Black Lives Matter” (BLM), “BIPOC,” “democratic socialism,” and “ANTIFA.” This doctrine posits a fundamental societal division driven by racial conflict, wherein systemic advantages favor white individuals over people of color.

The rhetoric and objectives of “systemic racism,” “BLM,” “BIPOC,” “democratic socialism,” and “ANTIFA” represent the logical extension of the “white privilege” doctrine, engineered to threaten opposing ideologies, politics, and lifestyles. These movements employ deliberate tactics to institutionalize the “white privilege” framework within government, ultimately undermining constitutional freedoms – most notably the principle of colorblind equality under the law. To advance this agenda, neo-Marxists and democratic socialists actively advocate for the dismantling of capitalism, which they categorize as an inherently oppressive system.

In 2020, following nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, the Juneau Assembly unanimously approved a diversity resolution embracing demands from local far-left activists. During this same period, the Assembly voted to create and fund the Systemic Racism Review Committee through the following actions:

August 2020: The Assembly approved the ordinance officially creating the Systemic Racism Review Committee.

September 2020: The Assembly finalized $50,000 in funding for the board and passed Resolution 2899, committing the local government to addressing systemic and individual racism.

This advisory panel was empowered to review upcoming ordinances and resolutions to ensure municipal laws do not inadvertently duplicate or advance institutional discrimination. Notably, no clear evidence of institutional discrimination has been found in Juneau, and the Juneau Systemic Racism Review Committee (SRRC) issued no specific verdicts or judicial findings of institutional discrimination between 2020 and 2026.

I have lived in Southeast Alaska for 41 years and have never witnessed institutional racism. Ignorance exists, but not systemic racism. Instead, the real threat is the Juneau Assembly’s radical social agenda. Indeed, their policies frequently reflect neo-Marxist and democratic socialist ideologies designed to quietly infiltrate our political, academic, social, and cultural systems.

As someone born, raised, and educated in the former Soviet Union, I am shocked to witness so many intelligent Americans fall under the influence of far-left ideological rhetoric. This radical socialist narrative is the driving force behind the civil unrest and riots threatening to divide our great nation today. Americans must resist this progressive movement and unite to halt the spread of a neo-Marxist and democratic socialist agenda before it reshapes our culture and way of life.

The views expressed here are those of the author.

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