COMMUNIST HOLLYWOOD: Black Widow actor says he doesn’t know how anyone ‘could disagree with socialist ideology’

Actor David Harbour plays the Red Guardian in the new film Black Widow, a character whom Bustle describes as “the communist Captain America.”

In a July 3 interview with The Guardian, the former Stranger Things star expressed statements sympathetic to the cause of his Black Widow character, who has KARL and MARX tattooed on his knuckles. Harbour said, “I don’t know that there’s anyone who could disagree with socialist ideology. If you work at Starbucks and you make the coffee, then you should own it. You’re the one making the coffee!”

He went on to say that his goal for society is not quite as extreme as his character’s: “The idea of a kindergarten-type society where we share things is my ideal society; as opposed to this world where we’re hunting and killing and destroying for our own personal hoarding, our own personal greed.”

Harbour did admit, however, that these systems haven’t produced their intended results: “But the fact is that the implementation of these things has led to some of the deepest fascism in our society, so people assume that ‘communism’ means ‘fascism’ to a certain degree. That’s a terrible thing.” The Washington Post estimates that over the last century, communist states have killed as many as 100 million people.

Currently in Cuba, citizens are calling for the resignation of President Miguel Diaz-Canel and protesting against the communist government. These demonstrations are the largest since the early 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed and no longer supported the country. As Independent reports, the caloric intake of the average Cuban fell from 2,600 in the 1980s to under 1,500 by 1993. To this day, government rationing produces long bread lines, gas lines, and food shortages among other issues (The Federalist).  

Nevertheless, support for socialism is growing among young people. According to a Pew Research report from 2019, 50 percent of those ages 18-29 have a very or somewhat positive impression of socialism, and 52 percent have a very or somewhat positive impression of capitalism. A 2020 CBSN Originals documentary, “Speaking Frankly” dives into the rise in interest in socialism.

Jabari Brisport, a Brooklyn teacher, said, “The democratic socialist movement is being driven by millennials, zoomers, young people. Younger people are interested in socialism because we can see so clearly the failings of capitalism.” But an activist with Young Americans Against Socialism, Maria Fernanda Bello, disagrees. She explains, “Socialists are always going to promise you free tuition, free health care, free everything, but they will never promise you freedom” (CBS News).