Teen Vogue: A Glossy Socialist Training Pamphlet

When Hamas began their terror onslaught in Israel on October 7, shocking statements from early observers foreshadowed some of what later became rallying cries across university campuses: Free Palestinians from the colonizers.

An example was Najma Sharif, a writer for Teen Vogue, who posted on X (formerly Twitter) a since-deleted jab at those still trying to make sense of what was happening in Israel.

The Free Press reported:

On Saturday, as the raping and murdering and kidnapping were happening in Israel, Najma Sharif, a writer for Soho House magazine and Teen Vogue, posted on X: “What did y’all think decolonization meant? vibes? papers? essays? losers.”

So far, Sharif’s post has been liked 100,000 times and reposted nearly 23,000 times—by, among others, The Washington Post’s global opinions editor, Karen Attiah.

Teen Vogue’s Hard Left Turn

While Sharif was by no means the only high-profile individual to express support for Palestinians—who elected Hamas to lead them in 2016—her post highlighted the radical left turn the fashion magazine has taken in recent years. This has likely horrified those who still believed it was simply a glossy teen fashion mag that teen and college-aged women could use to find tips on current jean trends and nail polish.

Welcome to the new Teen Vogue, a magazine that tries to blend its capitalism with what Columbia Journalism Review noted in a September 2021 article is a decidedly “socialist bent.”

Along with the Teen Vogue articles extolling the virtues of Karl Marx targeted toward young women, that same CJR article gives us this gem about what was going on behind the scenes at Teen Vogue:

Last year, when the site published a glowing article about how Facebook was “helping ensure the integrity of the 2020 election,” without a byline, and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, shared the piece on social media, the story began trending; as it turned out, the article was a paid advertisement—and most of the staff had no clue.

Capital Research Center has covered at length how “Zuck Bucks” helped tilt the 2020 election, enabling Joe Biden to defeat Donald Trump. But this exposure of Teen Vogue’s position on the Hamas terrorist incursion into Israel is something new, although not entirely surprising.

Training Radical Socialists

Many of the most virulent anti-Israel statements have come from people who associate with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a group InfluenceWatch notes “wants to abolish the U.S. Senate and have state control of the means of production.” Or as a founder of the DSA’s chapter in West Virginia explained to NPR, “You know we don’t just want to improve capitalism, we will ultimately want to get rid of it.”

That tracks with Teen Vogue’s radical new direction. In 2021, the website featured an article titled, “The Democratic Socialists of America Can Mobilize Gen Z’ers Like Me”

I’m a 17-year-old socialist. For my generation, a fascist presidential administration, pandemic, economic collapse, and a historic uprising for Black lives have shaped our worldview. These defining events and movements have caused Gen Z to become more disillusioned with capitalism and the white-supremacist, bourgeois state than older generations. As the youngest delegate at this week’s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) National Convention, I urge members of my generation to mobilize toward building a socialist future.

More recently, the magazine has engaged in a near training program for young women on how to support labor unions and properly partake in protests. A search for “organizing” on their site yields more than a few anti-capitalist polemics. One in particular addressed the Hollywood writers strike and “the dos and don’ts of the picket line”:

So what is a “scab”? A scab is a worker who crosses a picket line in violation of a planned work stoppage or strike and it’s the most contemptuous term that could be leveled against you within the labor movement.

Do Women Prefer Socialism?

A 2019 Axios poll found that 55 percent of women prefer socialism. And from the many, many videos floating around, it’s easy to see a large number of women among the activist ranks supporting labor strikes, climate change propaganda, Black Lives Matter chaos, and now Israel as “colonizers.”

It’s worth asking if women are just uniquely susceptible to socialism or if they’re being targeted and trained. If it’s the latter, Teen Vogue is doing its best to capture them while they’re still young.