NATASHA LOVE BRONFMAN

With the red scare now in America, few people understand what being a communist meant to most of us. For radical revolutionaries like us, communism meant a society where the community—the entire community—was in charge and not just the Czar and the rich aristocracy. Where there was fairness of and equality of opportunity for all. Where the laws were made by the people’s elected representatives, and applied equally to all. Where there was a social safety net so that people would not live in economic fear of old age or unemployment. Where people had dignity just by virtue of being a citizen and above all, where there were basic freedoms for all. The communists said that was what they wanted, and in Europe no one else did. The Czar’s secret police and the newspapers called anyone who was against the Czar a communist. So we thought of ourselves as communists. Issues like state control of industry and the economic theories about capitalism and its weaknesses were of no concern to most of us. It was only after the Bolsheviks seized control of Russia that communism stood for a particular economic ideology to the detriment of all the other issues. But it was the other issues for which most of us identified with the communists. In America, we found that a large number of people believed what we did and they were not communists. But even in America, in the South they called any of us who were opposed to segregation, Communists, just like the Czar’s people.

When my husband and I had to escape from Czarist Russia with a price on our head [in 1905], we had utopian dreams of what Russia might become under a communist government with the Czar deposed but never really thought we would live to see it. But I did live to see my utopian dream come to reality. But it was not Russia. It is America, here and now. There is not a single thing that we revolutionists hoped for, that has not come to pass in America—the greatest country in human history.

Of course we were communists. The Czar’s Secret Police and the newspapers said anyone who was against the Czar was a communist. So we were. Most of us revolutionaries in the early 1900s were young and had little idea of who Karl Marx was, much less his historical and economic theories. Communists wanted the people to be free and control the government and not the Czar. Today we call that democracy. Communism became something else in Russia..

The Russian Bolsheviks sold out most of the hopes of us early communists. The standard of living increased, and education and medicine improved finally after the 1917 Revolution, but the Russians today have as little freedom as we had under the Czar. That is the tragedy of Russia.

When my husband and I had to escape from Czarist Russia with a price on our head [in 1905], we had utopian dreams of what Russia might become under a communist government with the Czar deposed but never really thought we would live to see it. But I did live to see my utopian dream come to reality. But it was not Russia. It is America, here and now. There is not a single thing that we revolutionists hoped for, that has not come to pass in America—the greatest country in human history.

With the red scare now in America, few people understand what being a communist meant to most of us. For radical revolutionaries like us, communism meant a society where the community—the entire community—was in charge and not just the Czar and the rich aristocracy. Where there was fairness of and equality of opportunity for all. Where the laws were made by the people’s elected representatives, and applied equally to all. Where there was a social safety net so that people would not live in economic fear of old age or unemployment. Where people had dignity just by virtue of being a citizen and above all, where there were basic freedoms for all. The communists said that was what they wanted, and in Europe no one else did. The Czar’s secret police and the newspapers called anyone who was against the Czar a communist. So we thought of ourselves as communists. Issues like state control of industry and the economic theories about capitalism and its weaknesses were of no concern to most of us. It was only after the Bolsheviks seized control of Russia that communism stood for a particular economic ideology to the detriment of all the other issues. But it was the other issues for which most of us identified with the communists. In America, we found that a large number of people believed what we did and they were not communists. But even in America, in the South they called any of us who were opposed to segregation, Communists, just like the Czar’s people.

The Russian Bolsheviks sold out most of the hopes of us early communists. The standard of living increased, and education and medicine improved finally after the 1917 Revolution, but the Russians today have as little freedom as we had under the Czar. That is the tragedy of Russia.

Of course we were communists. The Czar’s Secret Police and the newspapers said anyone who was against the Czar was a communist. So we were. Most of us revolutionaries in the early 1900s were young and had little idea of who Karl Marx was, much less his historical and economic theories. Communists wanted the people to be free and control the government and not the Czar. Today we call that democracy. Communism became something else in Russia..