Why Artists Lean Left

 

Cultural workers of the world unite!

Why are artists and writers always on the left?

I just figured it out. It’s the hope of no longer having to work at some pedestrian job like plucking chickens or negotiating contracts for a living. In the Marxist dream, the socialist/communist state, artists expect they will be supported while doing the work they choose.

For another this might be laziness. Not so for writers and artists. They are driven to do a job for which there is little demand. They already work without pay. And they would be happy living on a minimal salary, so long as they could do their work.

It is sadly a fantasy. Artists and writers do not do well in actual socialist economies. If they are good, they seem to find themselves in prison. Governments cannot understand art, but they know it is a danger to them. It looks subversive. Plato wanted to ban poets from his Republic.