I am well-aware that many of the U.S. Jewish Communists of the 1930s-40s-50s were immigrants from Czarist Russia and its history of pogroms. This propelled a lot of Russian Jews to support the Russian revolution (e.g. Trotsky). So, I can understand how some immigrants from Russian in that period might be anti-Czarist. But one can be anti-Czarist without being a Communist (e.g. Kerensky).
It is now 2004...almost a century since those with memories of pogroms immigrated. Their ancestors have become among the most affluent and influential in the entire nation. Capitalism and the freedom of America has made that possible. Yet, descendants of these immigrants still cling to the Left. I just don't get it.
Oops. I said "ancestors." I meant "descendents."
The Left is a sliding scale that goes from mild socialism and a desire for "social justice" all the way to the extreme end, communism.