Here is a challenge for those who like solving mysteries—the case of the disappearing Marxists. You will have heard that Eric Foner is not a Marxist, and no academic historians admit to being Marxists. Neo-Marxists are not real Marxists, and cultural Marxism does not exist. Indeed, we are to believe, there are no Marxists in America today.

The Marxists have come a long way from a time when, not having any power, they mounted the barricades and insisted that everyone must recognize that they exist. Now that they run most institutions, they all deny being Marxists.

American universities were historically regarded as hostile to Marxism, largely due to a widespread cultural preference for individual liberty and private property. Americans seemed to be singularly uninterested in transforming their country into a communist utopia, with relatively few Marxists in American colleges.

This absence struck a German socialist, Werner Sombart, a colleague of Max Weber. Sombart, who never traveled to the States, wrote in 1906 the classic book on the subject, Why is There No Socialism in the United States? … He believed the American worker “emotionally” had a “share in capitalism.” In fact, “he loves it.” Moreover, the ethos of equality and democracy gave respect to the worker, unlike in Europe where he was stigmatized. In America, “he carries his head high, walks with a lissome stride and is open and cheerful in his expression as any member of the middle class.” Finally, the relative prosperity of the American worker doomed Marxism. In a sentence that would be endlessly quoted, Sombart declared: “All Socialist utopias come to nothing on roast beef and apple pie.”

This absence struck a German socialist, Werner Sombart, a colleague of Max Weber. Sombart, who never traveled to the States, wrote in 1906 the classic book on the subject, Why is There No Socialism in the United States?

He believed the American worker “emotionally” had a “share in capitalism.” In fact, “he loves it.” Moreover, the ethos of equality and democracy gave respect to the worker, unlike in Europe where he was stigmatized. In America, “he carries his head high, walks with a lissome stride and is open and cheerful in his expression as any member of the middle class.” Finally, the relative prosperity of the American worker doomed Marxism. In a sentence that would be endlessly quoted, Sombart declared: “All Socialist utopias come to nothing on roast beef and apple pie.”

By 1949, Albert Einstein was promoting socialism and the planned economy as the path to peace and economic progress. He criticized capitalism for being individualistic and for its “profit motive.” He wrote:

Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future. … I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the........

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