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The Elephant in the Room: Communists at Harvard

Some students can't even hang their USSR-era Communist flags without feeling attacked.

It is not easy being a Communist at Harvard, surrounded by a sea of liberals and abandoned by the tradition of a school once called the “Kremlin on the Charles.” Fear of judgment and misinterpretation causes many Communist students to remain quiet on their political beliefs, or even to align themselves with Massachusetts liberals to appear less radical.     

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Upon arriving back on campus at the end of summer recess, Valerie Lenyn, ’16 expressed that she had been feeling extremely guilty for quite some time. “You see, this summer I took a paid internship at J.P. Morgan. I made more than $20 an hour. Over the course of the summer, I earned over $7,000, more than all of my friends combined,” Lenyn admitted. Why was this cause for such intense feelings of guilt? “I’m a communist,” Lenyn explained. “A hard-bred communist. I’m against all that America and Harvard stands for and the value they place on paid summer internships and fancy investment jobs. I think that the whole system needs to be done away with. The government should just assign everyone a job and a flat salary. End of story.”

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Lenyn’s experience is unfortunately all too common at Harvard. Richard Nixon once called Harvard the “Kremlin on the Charles,” and Cambridge is popularly known as a “People’s Republic.” But to the chagrin of Lenyn and so many others, this legacy is quite overblown. Many students feel that if they open up about their beliefs, they will be ostracized. So they keep their views to themselves, often posing as socialists or even simply as “extremely far left.”

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A rather obvious question that remains: is the typical Communist at Harvard even that far left?

“Oh most definitely,” proclaimed one student. “Some people laugh when they hear that there are Communists at Harvard. They picture people similar in views to Bernie Sanders or Ralph Nader.” The student chuckled as he mulled over the “absurdity” of such comparisons.

“But that’s not to say we can’t also appeal to the right at Harvard!” says Joey Tahlin ’16, the leader of the Kid’s Communist Group of Boston, or KGB. “Most of us are proud to oppose gay marriage and other policies that are quickly becoming basic human rights in the U.S. We even have a few conservative members who believe we don’t need to redistribute all the wealth in America!” However, Tahlin admitted that, “For the most part we support a total overthrow of both the current government and free-market system.”

No matter how clear their views are, many students still feel self-conscious about being a Communist at the College. “I remember one day I suggested that we scrap the UC, fire Dean Khurana, and give President Faust complete control over the College,” recalls one student. “It would streamline decision-making and improve efficiency! But I was met by violent protest not only from UC members, but avid followers of Dean Khurana’s flourishing Instagram account.” Leona Trotsky ’19, explained how upon suggesting the redistribution of Harvard’s $36.4 billion endowment to the poor in the Greater Boston Area, she was publicly denounced by the HCCG and thrown “major shade” from members of the Africa Business and Investment Club.

Administrators at the school are sympathetic toward this so-called Communist plight, and Dean Khurana has expressed “unfathomable sadness that such an integral part of our school feels repressed and unwelcome to share their views.” Yet despite the obstacles posed by the general student body, Tahlin adamantly believes that Communists can still find a way to let their voices be heard. He maintains that, “It’s on us—we have to, as Communists, prove that our party may be full of racists and homophobes, but that ultimately our system is the best system for America’s future.”

© 2016
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