No Distinction Between Socialism and Communism, Survivors Say

Daily Signal journalism fellow Pedro Boccalato Rodriguez-Aparicio and Manhattan Institute fellow Daniel Di Martino drew on their own experiences under Venezuela’s communist regime to expose the intentions behind the new push for “democratic socialism” in the United States.

In a special Daily Signal podcast, the fellows explained how socialism and communism are the same, despite the Left claiming there is a distinction between the two, while exposing the true intention behind the Marxist movement, which is to have full control over all aspects of life, such as property, faith, family, education, the economy, and government.

“It’s all about control,” Rodriguez said, and “when voters realize they made a mistake, the government makes sure that it’s too late to turn back.”

During the course of the conversation, Di Martino argued that America’s foreign adversaries support the rise of socialism because it offers a way to “destroy America from within,” undermining the Constitution and the anti-Marxist principles that have helped the nation thrive for 250 years.

Family

Since the early 1900’s, communists have argued that in order to create more workers, the “state” will have to “replace the family,” making the destruction of the nuclear family essential for a Marxist society to prevail.

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The two fellows argued that these tactics, used by overreaching governments to decentralize a child’s identity to facilitate the state ownership over the child, are gradually being deployed throughout the United States. These include such acts as laws restricting the abilities of parents over their kids’ education, exposing children to transgender ideologies, and making it unlawful for a school to reveal the students’ desire for a gender transition,

Other, more extreme tactics that ultimately erode the shared identity between the child and his or her parents, such as forcefully separating the child from their parents, are commonly deployed by Marxist regimes.

“When I tried to leave Venezuela, they let my parents go because they were not Venezuelan nationals and were over the age of 18, and tried to hold me captive,” Rodriguez said. “Why? Because, since I was a kid, I was considered property of the state.”

Di Martino expanded on the remarks, adding that a Marxist government attempts to divide parents from each other as much as they do with their children.

The Manhattan Institute fellow cited a tactic used by the Soviet Union, where they mixed married couples in the same housing unit for long periods of time, essentially encouraging them to become disloyal to each other.

“This was purposeful. They [state] had the goal of destroying married couples,” Di Martino said. “It’s really sick, sick behavior.”

Faith

In order for Marxists to continue exerting control over a naive population, governments have historically taken the place of the God, in order to decentralize the population, the two argued.

Di Martino provided the example that under Venezuela’s socialist dictatorship of Hugo Chávez in the early 2000s, the Marxist dictator began placing his face in Catholic rosaries given out to the public en masse.

“They [Marxists] have certainly used faith to their advantage, he wanted people to pray to him,” Di Martino continued, before adding that one of the reasons Marxist leaders want to idolize themselves is because of their lack of faith, suggesting that they place themselves above God.

“There are no self-proclaimed Democratic Socialists who are Christian. Find me a churchgoing Christian leader who is a socialist,” he said. “That is not a coincidence.”

Economy

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to seize private property through rent control and tax increases dominated the conversation.

Regarding the mayor’s implementation of rent control and increases in property taxes, which they said pushed the city’s average rent to more than $6,600, both fellows agreed that this is a plan of Mamdani’s to push homes into bankruptcy. Once a property is forced into bankruptcy, they argued, the government swoops in and acquires it.

Di Martino, who commutes into Manhattan every day for work, believes the properties would then be distributed to nonprofit organizations “run by his friends” and converted into public housing.

The Cuban communist regime previously executed this strategy, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., who fled Cuba, recently claimed.

Di Martino referenced Mamdani’s release of the personal information of wealthy figures “he resents,” such as Scott Galloway and Ken Griffin, arguing that the individuals are now being “doxxed” after the mayor released their and their families’ personal information.

The two noted that Venezuela’s Marxist regime deployed a similar tactic in order to drive out capitalist companies from the country.

Government

The claim from Marxists that they will not rig elections, eliminate checks and balances, or stack the deck in their favor if elected to power is a myth, the two argued.

In 2013, Venezuela held presidential elections for the first time since Maduro assumed power when his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, died of cancer. Maduro claimed victory after winning by less than 2% of the vote. However, many international organizations and world leaders alike claimed the system was rigged in his favor.

However, this did not stop American Marxists like Mamdani from praising the 2013 Venezuelan electoral system.

Recently, left-wing streamer Hasan Piker asserted that if candidates he endorsed are elected to office, conservatives will never be able to regain power.

“Was that a threat?” Di Martino asked of Piker’s comments.

The two then discussed the socialist talking points commonly chanted in American cities, like abolishing the Senate and packing the Supreme Court, which Maduro publicly did before and after he rose to power.

“They want a one-voice system,” Rodriguez said, adding that this in an example of Marxists wanting to eliminate checks and balances in order to facilitate their pursuit of power.