The Right Is Self Defeating: How Y.A.S Proves That.

To understand the extreme center we must understand why it is so powerful. Because it is excellent at making the left, face the right instead of the extreme center. However facing the right is useless. The right wing is often self defeating that is why up until now, our essays on the extreme center have not taken the far right too seriously. When speaking about Marget Thatcher in Strike On Saturday not Monday! I came to the conclusion that the right wing will naturally act like the right wing. This has always been my attitude which is why it is not too often that I give importance to the thoughts of right-wing social media accounts, yet today one has not escaped my mind ever since it came on my explore page. In this essay, Young Americans Against Socialism is going to be confronted. The Y.A.S  represents the fear of reactionary elites, using social media as a way to misguide the working class. Although they must be challenged, they are self-defeating, demonstrating that the left must concentrate on themselves when confronting the extreme center, not the dogmatic and backwards thoughts of the Y.A.S. This will be proven first by illustrating what the page and its followers are, then by confronting their main talking points and finally thinking about what place these pages have in our society and what must be done with them in the future. 

Meeting the Y.A.S and Cuban History

The video that was shown to me by the Instagram algorithm caught my attention quickly, soundtracked by indie Latino rock music, which is something I have a particular soft spot for as in my first year of university I ran a college rock station devoted to the topic, I thought that I was getting introduced to a new band; instead, it was my introduction to Young Americans Against Socialism. The video was of the removal of a statue of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro in Mexico City. Quite simple and not a big deal from a logical perspective. What you think about it the statue of the two great Cuban Revolutionaries does not mean much, what means a lot is the fact that Cuba has one of the best healthcare systems in the world, best literacy rates and that they managed to overthrow Batista a dictator who had allowed Cuba to become at worst slave state for the United States and at, best a modern feudal system where rich landowners took advantage of campesinos. Under Batista, there was a common practice which in Mexico was called Tienda de Raya which according to the Royal Institute of International Affairs article published in May 1959 worked like this: “Agricultural workers and small farmers are consequently forced to buy on credit - often from the stores belonging to the companies that employ them - and to run into debt, sometimes over years, with the result that they are, in effect, bound to the land or the company where they are employed. In Mexico this system (known there as 'tienda de raya') brought about the revolution of 1910, or at least was one of its main causes.” (RIIA,1959). So simply put, before Castro the average Cuban worker was in a situation where he was tied to the land he worked on, or as we know it in political science he was a serf in feudalism. So, it is not surprising in the least bit when we learn “The passivity of the big towns - with the exception of Santiago itself an agricultural town - and of the trade union movement served to accentuate the distrust and sense of difference between town and country. These differences can be seen at all levels: in the standard of living, which in the country is very low, despite the high wages received by a minority of specialized agricultural workers and overseers; in the popular mentality, for in the country the old Spanish customs, the sense of hospitality and of political and personal honesty, are much more strictly observed; and in politics, for in Cuba, contrary to general experience elsewhere, the rural areas are the most radical and liberal parts of the country and politically the most active and idealistic.” So now the formula has been established after having to serve as serfs, the countryside of Cuba became politically active and overthrew Batista, so what importance does the removal of the statues have, Castro and Guevara have long passed away and they had achieved their goals. As well in communism, idolization is avoided. For the same reason that David Graeber explains that the Workers Party of Kurdistan refused to put up pictures of any alive member of the movement and reserved that honour for members who died in the armed struggle. In Communism, it is taboo to idolize a leader, so would communist not celebrate the removal of the statues? This brings us to the larger question: what do these statues even represent, and why do they provoke such intense reactions on both sides?

Do Statues Matter or Does All that Is Solid Melt Into Air?

The removal of the statues had two interesting reactions on the page, the first one which will be explored more in depth later on in the essay is what you would expect on an anti-leftist page, comments of “Better dead than red”, “Down with Communism, long live liberty” and many along the same lines. What interests me at this moment is the leftist reaction to the statues, as was established in the last paragraph, it should not matter to us and yet it clearly did. There was a swamp of leftist comments defending the two Cuban Revolutionaries, attacking the supporters of Y.A.S and only one comment pointing out the fact that Castro and Guevara would have found this taboo. So why do statues matter? Should the left not have the attitude of Marx's famous quote that “All that is solid melts into air”. On paper we should, but when you see countless right wingers laughing, praising and calling for leftists to be thrown out of helicopters (1) that gets to a point where logic abandons the body and anger and defence for one's beliefs enters. Which is why pages like Y.A.S cannot be ignored, as much as, as leftists they should not matter to us, they do for the sheer reason that they are fellow humans whose ideas must be confronted and disproven for the advancement of society. Now this is where a key point must be made, I am not calling for their minds to be changed, I have come to the realization through debating supporters of pages like Y.A.S that this is not possible, what is possible is proving them wrong, so that the majority of people realize this, thus regulating them to the fringe, fangless section of society, much like the town drunk who screams his newest stories every day but is not taken seriously. So who are the followers of Y.A.S?

Who Are The Town Drunks?

Y.A.S was founded by Sunny Kutcher, about whom there is a lack of meaningful information, she is labeled as a voice actor and actress but there is no explanation of what caused her to create her organization. According to Y.A.S 'Linkedin page “Young Americans Against Socialism is focused on educating and inspiring the next generation to reject the dangers of socialism and embrace American freedom. Through real stories, facts, and historical lessons, we advocate for individual liberty, free markets, and limited government—empowering young Americans to preserve and defend the values that uphold the American Dream.” So now we know the goal of the town drunks, but here is the interesting part: their supporters are not young, nor do they often interview anyone from my generation. All they have interviewed are “survivors of communism” from Cuba who talk about the fact that their land and houses were seized by Castro, which let me state the obvious it was not the campesinos who had their houses seized, it was the landowners and feudal masters. This reminds me of Hugo Chavez, When asked if it bothered him that there was a group of citizens who fled Venezuela and were now working with the United States to overthrow him, he said “Look at who's celebrating my revolution and look at who is fleeing, if this does not show my success, what does?” (2) So, Y.A.S is obsessed with protecting the legacy of the feudal masters, you see it in all the comments from Cubans talking about the fact that their family land was taken by the Castro government but that raises the interesting paradoxical point, that for a page that is targeted to the youth, all the people they post or get comments from are 40 years old or older. So if this page is not targeted to youth, it has now been established it is targeted to a certain breed of right winger, the same Cubans for Trump that are now facing Alligator Alcatraz after helping elect Trump. Now there is one other typical post. Them going on the street to do the only interviews of young people on the page, where they ask them if they prefer capitalism or socialism and when they answer socialism you see all the comments talking about how this generation is doomed, but there is a real reason for this which is reflected in a humorous but funny tweet “I have lived through 3 genocides and 4 recessions maybe it is time for a change.” Is this need for change not the same attitude that Engels shows us in his book Socialism: Utopian and Scientific that Robert Owens had after realizing that the Post-Industrial Revolution factory conditions were horrible “Robert Owen He forced through in 1819, after five years’ fighting, the first law limiting the hours of labor of women and children in factories. He was president of the first Congress at which all the Trade Unions of England united in a single great trade association. He introduced as transition measures to the complete communistic organization of society, on the one hand, cooperative societies for retail trade and production.” Imagine if the Y.A.S existed at that time, they probably would have interviewed people on the street with the attitude of “Owens is taking away our ability to flourish under the industrial revolution, we must get rid of his kind.” The average comment on their page is: Under socialism why would I be a pilot or a doctor, if they would get paid the same as a starbucks worker. Or to put it to Owens times: Under Owenism, why would I be the head of his factory, if I got paid as much as my fellow worker.”

Doctors and Pilots Under Socialism

This section will begin with two simple answers to two google questions posing the same question: how much does it cost to be a doctor/a pilot? “Becoming a commercial pilot in Canada can cost between $50,000 and $90,000”. A doctor surely must be cheaper ,right? “The total cost of medical education in most provinces can easily exceed $100,000 in tuition and residency prep. Once you factor in living expenses through school, the total cost of med school can top $300,000 in some cities. One-third of med school graduates finish their training with $140,000 or more in debt.” Now after a simple search, we have come to the truth of being a doctor and pilot under capitalism, that it is reserved for a very special class of society, people who have $50,000 to spend or more because of their parents. That is my most simple answer to the comment that is often found under Y.A.S posts. You are right, under socialism you would not be a doctor because that royalty would no longer be held by your class, and unlike what the average 2025 move to Dubai buy cryptocurrency capitalist would like you to believe when they say that socialism is for lazy people, it is capitalism that is for lazy people for the mere fact that they have to be pushed by money the same way an ass is pushed by a carrot on a stick. When as socialist, we call for CEOs to not earn 400 times more than their workers, we are not calling for CEOs or Pilots or Doctors not to exist. (3) What we are calling for is for this financial reservation to be destroyed. That amount of money throws out potential great doctors away due to financial restraints, so when they say “Why Would I be A Doctor…”, the answer is not trying to argue to their ethical compass, instead you should answer “You wouldn’t be and were better off for it, as doctors should not be led by their greed for money but instead their will to help humanity.”

We Must Avoid Idolization, but Let’s Idolize Robert Owens for A Moment  

“At this juncture, there came forward as a reformer, a 29-years-old manufacturer – a man of almost sublime, childlike simplicity of character, and at the same time one of the few born leaders of men. Robert Owen… he directed the great cotton mill at New Lanark, in Scotland, as managing partner, along the same lines, but with greater freedom of action and with a success that made him a European reputation. A population, originally consisting of the most diverse and, for the most part, very demoralized elements, a population that gradually grew to 2,500, he turned into a model colony, in which drunkenness, police, magistrates, lawsuits, poor laws, charity, were unknown. And all this simply by placing the people in conditions worthy of human beings, and especially by carefully bringing up the rising generation. He was the founder of infant schools, and introduced them first at New Lanark. At the age of two, the children came to school, where they enjoyed themselves so much that they could scarcely get home again. Whilst his competitors worked their people 13 or 14 hours a day, in New Lanark the working-day was only 10 and a half hours. When a crisis in cotton stopped work for four months, his workers received their full wages all the time. And with all this the business more than doubled in value, and to the last yielded large profits to its proprietors.” (Engels Socialism Utopian and Scientific, 1880). Pages like the Y.A.S would have hated Owen with a passion, pointing to him as a socialist who wants to do away with factories that allowed farm workers a new life in the city and would have called for his death. Ignoring his reforms of shorten work days, child labour laws and support of workers meanwhile difficult times, calling this plain socialism. One of their reposts on their Instagram story just from today was the fact that Gavin Newsom raising the minimum wage to 20 dollars is why hundreds of fast food workers in California lost their jobs, and instead of blaming the capitalist that laid them off, they attacked Gavin Newsom for trying to give workers a better living, because of this the conclusion is simple Pages like Y.A.S have a place in our society and are needed. This conclusion might not be what the reader was expecting but there is a reason we need them. It shows us what the out of power, feudal lords want, their power again. Pages like Y.A.S show us this fact, and they must be observed, engaged with and then realized that they are useless. A page like Y.A.S would be calling for Robert Owen to be thrown out of a helicopter. Because of this, these pages must be laughed at as an ironic unmasking of the ruling class, not taken seriously. We must continue to follow Owen's example and fight for better conditions for the working class, unless we want the Y.A.S to lead us in the future. 

Footnotes

1.) Dictator Augusto Pinochet infamously threw leftist, intellectuals and students out of helicopters to their deaths after his coup against Salvador Allende.

2.) I don’t know where Chavez said this, my mom used to always tell me it as a kid though so it has a special importance to me.

3.) CEOS should not exist, but for sake of discussion lets say a CEO who is head of the vanguard wing of a company