“The Captive Mind is about much more than politics. On the surface, it seems to be about politics and communism, an explanation of why Eastern European intellectuals embraced communism . There are many deeper meanings. This is a very complex work. This is a work of literature, not of politics .”

Those are the insightful words of professor Andrzej Karcz at a 2001 seminar. He was explaining how the book The Captive Mind by the great Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz is so relevant today.

The book was published 70 years ago, in 1953, but it reveals that leftism, at its heart, is not a political system but a psychological and spiritual one. Most leftists are desperately unhappy people who want to control others. As one reviewer of The Captive Mind put it: “Milosz points out that some of the most sensitive and intelligent people are actually sadistic bullies who look down on contented people who enjoy life. And want to create a ‘new man’ by force or coercion.” Bingo.

The Captive Mind remains such a unique work because it examines not only the insane bureaucracy of communism but why artists and writers embraced the evil system. Why would intelligent and sensitive creators buy this garbage? Some wanted career opportunities, some were drawn to extremism on both the Right and the Left, and many were just scared.

The most interesting type was one Milosz called “the disappointed lover.” The disappointed lover is ironic, sarcastic, and bitter that “the world has not lived up to their ideals.” They are the liberals who are just so tired and frustrated that democracies have not embraced transgender identity, shoplifting, and the censorship of unwelcome ideas. Why can’t we just get past late-stage capitalism and make everyone obey?

With this background, it’s easier to see why some artists fall for totalitarianism. In her recent book A State of Secrecy, Australian academic Alison Lewis noted that while Joseph Stalin often wanted to crush artists and writers and performers, the German Stasi saw them as allies: “The Stasi touched the life of virtually every writer in the country.”

In today’s America, we have Hollywood, playwrights, novelists, and entertainers such as Stephen Colbert. They gladly parrot what the state says and submit to being censored by “sensitivity readers.” It’s depressing that so many free-thinking artists, raised on experimental theater, challenging cinema, and punk rock (think Rage Against the Machine), so easily fold when offered the straitjacket of socialism.

One thing that many Stasi informers had in common was fatherlessness. In A State of Secrecy, Lewis observes: “The Stasi became masters at exploiting the vulnerability of those who lacked a father figure in their childhood. Stasi officers instinctively knew that many potential recruits were susceptible to an offer of a father substitute or an attachment figure. And if the offer was refused … the Stasi proved that its memory of past misdemeanors and transgressions was extraordinarily good.”

Resentment, fatherlessness, the undergrad “lover” disappointment that the world isn’t living up to one’s lofty adolescent expectations — this is the recipe for antifa and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Sadly, many of today’s radical leftists are artists, actors, musicians, and comedians, who historically are the most defiant figures. But now we have Chelsea Handler, the childless feminist who calls doing drugs in the morning happiness, who wanted to trade former President Donald Trump for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Some artists still have some resistance. Recently, the German artist Jess de Wahls, who almost had an exhibit canceled by the Left after transgender activists complained, compared the climate of today with life under the Stasi. “The idea of ‘wrong think’ is something that has, worryingly, returned to many aspects of the political spectrum and public discourse. And it’s increasing prevalence scares the [expletive] out of me,” she said.

These are sad and tragic words coming from an artist who should be able to create freely. Like too few these days, she demands a free mind, not a captive one.

Mark Judge is an award-winning journalist and the author of  The Devil's Triangle: Mark Judge vs. the New American Stasi . He is also the author of God and Man at Georgetown Prep, Damn Senators, and A Tremor of Bliss.