| Trailblazers

Ten Famous People You Didn’t Know Were Socialists

Years of institutions hiding and diluting their past have obscured the true ideals of many of the world’s greatest artists, thinkers, activists, and innovators.

By Kevin Duckman, January 26, 2021

Since the 1950s in the United States, socialist currents of thought have seen undue stigma. It began with the Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy,  who led a fierce anti-Soviet campaign within the US government, and later continued with the House Un-American Activities Committee, which persecuted suspected communists in the entertainment industry.

This policy of sanctioned repression, known as McCarthyism, brought about unsubstantiated allegations and investigations against the Communist party, as well as many famous individuals left of center, justified by false claims of communist infiltration in the United States.

Since its inception, many great thinkers have supported socialism, but their political orientations have been muffled throughout American history. We are taught watered-down versions of their beliefs, as the perception of intelligent ‘American heroes’ supporting socialism would tarnish the lucrative capitalist status quo in America. 

These 10 influential figures supported socialism in their day, and are mostly overlooked for doing so:

1. Albert Einstein

Often regarded as one of the brightest minds in history, Albert Einstein had over 50 patents registered under his name, and published over 300 scientific works. His great contributions in the field of physics are fundamental to our modern understanding of the universe. However, many people do not know he held anti-capitalist sentiments. He harshly criticized the profit motives of capitalist societies, which lead to depressions and economic insecurity. Instead, he advocated for a democratically planned socialist economy. You can read his essay, “Why Socialism?”, here. 

2. Nelson Mandela

Mandela was best known as thea South African anti-apartheid leader and a great philanthropist. He is hailed as one of the most important leaders in the world, and his work was paramount toled to the introduction of democracy in South Africa. He was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 1993. What isn't often taught about him, though, is that Mandela secretly joined the South African Communist Party and was influenced by Marxism. He viewed poverty as a social evil and fought for nationalistic and socialistic reform.

3. Helen Keller

Hellen Keller is best known for advocating for the blind and deaf and forming the ACLU. Unbeknownst to many, Keller was an active member of the Socialist Party. She also opposed American military intervention abroad and championed women’s rights. An avowed anti-capitalist, she landed in the FBI’s radar. According to Smithsonian Magazine, “Keller had strong personal politics that even landed her on a 1949 list of Communist Party members compiled by the FBI.”

4. Pablo Picasso

Picasso was a famous sculptor, painter, and designer who helped define cubism. His contributions to modern art are felt around the world; nowadays, no art class is complete  without learning of his works and creative style. In his personal life, Personally, Picasso was outspokenly communist. He famously said, “I am a Communist and my painting is Communist painting.”, and mentioned turning his exile in France, “I have become a communist because our party strives more than any other to know and to build the world, to make men clearer thinkers, more free and more happy. I have become a communist because the communists are the bravest in France, in the Soviet Union, as they are in my own country, Spain”. He, like Keller, had an FBI file open on him even after his death.

5. Martin Luther King Jr.

The most famous advocate for racial equality in the United States, MLK played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement’s ending segregation in the US. Throughout the country you will find statues, busts, plaques, and streets named in his honor. Nonetheless his socialist ideals are often forgotten by his many admirers. King advocated for wealth redistribution,writing in letters to his wife that, “capitalism has outlived its usefulness” and “I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic.” That letter he wrote to his wife can be found here.

6. George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)

Eric Arthur Blair, more often recognized by his pen name of George Orwell, was a famous 20th century English writer who fought in World War II. He is known for works such as “1984” and  “Animal Farm”, books that conservatives and capitalists point to as a succinct explanation for why socialism doesn’t work. The book aims sharp criticism at Stalin but was never written to be anti-socialist. To the contrary, Orwell was outspokenly pro-socialist. In an essay, Orwell wrote “Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism”.

7. Francis Bellamy

An obscure figure to many people, Francis Bellamy is best known for writing the United States’s pledge of allegiance. He was a Christian socialist, a minister, and an author. He was an outspoken advocate for worker’s rights and supported immigrants, going against the popular nativist sentiments of his time.

8. Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

Famed American author Samuel L. Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, is regarded as one of America’s greatest authors, and is b best known as the author of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. His work was so impactful that, still to this day, most English curriculums usually include some of his works for literary analysis. In life, embodied the spirit of American westward expansion and was an idol for US nationalists. However, many of Twain’s unpublished works are anti-imperialists, and advocate for equality and socialism. He was even quoted as saying, “Who are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist, and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat”.

9. Frida Kahlo

Kahlo was a Mexican painter, best known for her self-portraits and works inspired by nature and her garden. She was a feminist activist and became an icon for Mexican culture in the 1940s and 50s. She combined her advocacy for social justice with a strong belief in Mexican nationalism and socialism. Kahlo wrote in a letter from the US back to Mexico, “I'm more and more convinced it's only through communism that we can become human.”

10. Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi is best known for his work in India as an anti-colonialist and nationalist. He resisted British tyranny through nonviolence and is often considered the father of the Indian nation. Gandhi dreamed of an India with a self-sufficient economy and political system, a concept he referred to as Swaraj, and an end to economic disparity. He was outspokenly socialist, and was quoted saying “The socialism that India can assimilate is the socialism of the spinning wheel.”

Kevin Duckman is an author for and co-founder of Young Patriots Magazine.