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Sea levels are rising, the poor are struggling, and an epidemic of mass shootings continues to claim lives across the country. But rather than making any of these issues a top priority, Florida officials have decided to open up yet another front in the culture wars. This time theyre playing an old card: the Red Scare.

On May 9, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signedHouse Bill 395, which requires public schools to observe Victims of Communism Day each year on November 9. It also mandates that high school students learn about the abuses of leftwing dictators for at least forty-five minutes every year.

It would be a mistake to see this simply as an effort to educate young people about historical figures. Instead, it is an attempt to indoctrinate students into viewing all forms of socialism as inherently totalitarian and dangerous. [B]ased on the economic philosophies of Karl Marx, the law declares, communism has proven incompatible with the ideals of liberty, prosperity, and dignity of human life.

This comes at a moment when socialist ideas are becoming increasingly popular among young people, something reactionary politicians clearly want to push back against. For instance, DeSantis recentlycastigatedGustavo Petro, Colombias democratically elected leftist President, andcriticizedunnamed college students who he thinks have an affinity for communist symbols. Likewise, Republican state Representative David Borrero, a co-sponsor of HB 395,citingpolling data on the growing affinity for leftist ideas among younger generations.

Florida now requires schools to observe "Victims of Communism Day" and to teach about the abuses of leftwing dictators for at least forty-fiveminutes every academicyear.

This new anti-communism law is part of a broader crusade to censure members of the LGBTQ+ community and prevent anti-racist education from being taught in public schools. In an apparent effort to gin up his rightwing base, DeSantis has been laser-focused on hot-button culture war issues lately. He is seeking re-election in November, but also is astrong contenderfor the Republican presidential ticket in 2024.

HB 395 was preceded in Florida by the Stop WOKE Act, which bans schools and workplaces from talking about racism in any way that makes others uncomfortable, and the Dont Say Gay bill, which outlaws the discussion of gender or sexual identity in elementary school classrooms. DeSantis also signed into law a fifteen-weekabortion banlast April.

In Florida, it seems, history is repeating itself. In the 1950s, anti-communist rhetoric was an important element of opposition to the civil rights movement, asThe Daily Beasts Kelly Weillnoted. Similarly, the Lavender Scare, a campaign from the 1940s through the 1960s to purge LGBTQ+ workers from federal government jobs, led the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee to publish an infamous anti-homosexuality propaganda booklet in 1964 known as the Purple Pamphlet. Senator Joseph McCarthy, Republican of Wisconsin, andothers in the U.S. Senatealso saw this as an opportunity to continue McCarthys reign of terror by falselylinkingcommunism with homosexuality.

HB 395 is an attack on public education and on teachers ability to teach, Spencer Beswick, a Ph.D. candidate in history at Cornell University, tellsThe Progressive. This is just one more instance of an actual authoritarian, rightwing movement thats trying to remake history and what students learn. Its situated in a long tradition of anti-communism in the United States.

The American South, Florida included, is definitely a hostile place for leftists, adds Evan Caldwell, co-chair of the Young Democratic Socialists of America at the University of Central Florida. Florida Republicans have to focus on whipping up a frenzy and forcing out these bills that direct attention away from the billions of dollars theyre shipping off to various corporations and wealthy individuals out of the hands of the working class.

The left and the Democratic Socialists of America are a big tent. Most seem to be social democrats, democratic socialists, anarchists, libertarian socialists, democratic confederalists, and others. None of this broad spectrum of views is mentioned in HB 395.

Despite this, Caldwell doesnt think the new law will stop young people from seeing the injustices of capitalism and coming together to take action. The way we get out of this situation is to organize, he says.

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