Democrat Support for Hamas Has Deep Roots in Pro-Marxist Sympathies

Nearly a century ago, horrific accounts of widespread famine and mass atrocities committed by Stalin’s communist-socialist regime in the Soviet Union sparked an identity crisis within the American left that has never been resolved. Now, those internal divisions are once again on full display amid the response to the Israel-Hamas war.

Following Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7, the initial response from President Joe Biden was one of unequivocal support for Israel. In a televised address, Biden called Hamas a “terrorist organization” and declared, “Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Full stop.”

But then came the shocking and unconscionable flood of vitriol toward Israel from left-wing activists and even many high-profile elected Democrats. Unsurprisingly, it was the openly socialist elements of the American left that were the most outspoken in their hatred toward Israel.

The day after Hamas launched its assault, the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America rallied in Times Square to celebrate the Palestinian “resistance.” The Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter, meanwhile, used the image of a paraglider to show its support for Hamas, an apparent reference to the horrific incident early in the massacre where Hamas terrorists used paragliders to murder hundreds of innocent civilians at a concert.

The tacit support for Hamas was particularly pronounced on college campuses, which have especially in recent decades become a breeding ground for radical Marxist-communist ideology. More than 30 student groups at Harvard issued a statement blaming Israel for the attack. Dozens of university professors openly celebrated the attack, with some calling it “awesome” and “exhilarating.”

These Hamas apologists received support from elected Democrats as well, most notably members of the “Squad” in Congress. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY) used the occasion of Hamas’s attack to call for an end to the “blockade of Gaza.”

Rep. Cori Bush of Minnesota, meanwhile, demanded an end to “U.S. government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid.” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, used a popular slogan in her Middle Eastern homeland, “apartheid system,” to describe Israel. The other members of the “Squad” called for a cease-fire – that is, permission for Hamas to walk away unpunished for its astounding crimes.

This shocking support for Hamas among many prominent Democrats and a sizable portion of their liberal voting base has exposed a deep identity crisis among the American left. This was evidenced by Biden’s sudden hedging of his unequivocal support for Israel, with the president saying last week that “conditions” on aid to Israel – in other words, a concession to the voices claiming that Israel is at least partly responsible for Hamas’s attack – are a “worthwhile thought.”

Jewish-Americans, whom Biden won by 38 points in 2020, have understandably been outraged by the deep anti-Israel sentiment among leftists.

New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg observed shortly after Hamas’s attack that “many progressive Jews have been profoundly shaken by the way some on the left are treating the terrorist mass murder of civilians as noble acts of anti-colonialist resistance.”

Democrat strategist Hank Sheinkopf has also warned that the left’s support for Hamas is “absolutely wrong-headed” and will “tank the Democrats” in future elections.

But this growing rift within the Democrat Party and the American left more broadly is not new – it is merely another manifestation of the divide that emerged in the 1930s and continued to fester throughout the Cold War amid the rise of communism and Soviet sympathies in the United States.

When confronted with evidence of Stalin’s purges and horrific atrocities, 20th century leftists, like their successors today when it comes to Hamas, denied and excused the brutality in the name of their twisted dogma.

Journalist Eugene Lyons wrote in 1937 how, after traveling to Russia, he was invited to lunch with the editorial staff of the leftist publication “The New Republic” to share what he had seen. But when he told the truth about Stalin’s famine and “a few other unpleasantnesses,” a “chill” came over the group, and he knew that he was “guilty of the most heinous offense: puncturing noble delusions.”

The blind loyalty to communist ideology continued even as evidence of Stalin’s orders to kill hundreds of thousands of people became undeniable.

In the words of Whittaker Chambers, a Soviet agent who defected and became a key critic of communism, every communist consented to Stalin’s violence. “What man can call himself a communist who has not accepted the fact that terror is an instrument of policy?” he asked.

In their 1998 book The Soviet World of American Communism, eminent historians Harvey Klehr and John Haynes wrote that all institutions of the American left had been influenced and infiltrated by the Communist Party of the United States, which owed complete allegiance to Moscow. “To pretend otherwise is to misunderstand and distort the history of American Communism,” they wrote.

American communists and Soviet sympathizers – who found their ideological home in the Democrat Party – were largely forced underground by the prevailing public sentiment during the Cold War. But this affinity for Marxist-socialist ideology was never fully extinguished and has remained latent within ideological left.

Americans and the world are now witnessing a re-emergence of this same ideology, rebranded as a sort of cultural Marxism. Instead of preaching hatred and division between economic classes, today’s cultural Marxists divide society along racial and ethnic lines, teaching that one’s skin color and national origin automatically make them an “oppressor” or “oppressed.” 

While communists in the 20th century justified Soviet atrocities by claiming that they were necessary in the name of “reason” and “progress,” cultural Marxists excuse Hamas’s violence by accusing Israel of being a “colonizer” and an “apartheid state.” Because Palestinians are non-white, they are the oppressed, and the true cultural Marxist will view any act by Hamas, no matter how grotesque, as justified.

Many well-meaning and moral Americans on the left have rightfully reacted with disgust and outrage to this sentiment. But they must also recognize that the divisions now emerging among the left are not new, but are in fact part of a much deeper problem inherent to liberal ideology itself.

Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.