Communist chic

{{short description|Elements of popular culture based on Communist symbols}}

File:Revolution-fh-2014.JPG event in France in 2014.]]

Communist chic are elements of popular culture such as fashion and commodities based on communist symbols and other things associated with Marxism, Leninism, socialism and communism.{{cite news|url=http://archive.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/articles/2006/04/30/communist_chic/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214064810/http://archive.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/articles/2006/04/30/communist_chic/|archive-date=December 14, 2018|title=Communist chic|last=Jacoby|first=Jeff|date=April 30, 2006|work=The Boston Globe|accessdate=December 10, 2018|author-link=Jeff Jacoby (columnist)}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.weeklystandard.com/john-wilson/communist-chic |title=Communist Chic: Hoisting a few to the ghost of Stalin |access-date=January 5, 2019 |magazine=The Weekly Standard |location=Washington, D.C. |first=John |last=Wilson |date=February 15, 1999 |archive-date=January 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105145320/https://www.weeklystandard.com/john-wilson/communist-chic |url-status=dead }} Typical examples are T-shirts and other memorabilia with Alberto Korda's iconic photo of Che Guevara.

Journalists Christine Esche and Rosa Mossiah argue that in former communist countries, Communist chic originates from disappointment in capitalist society.{{cite web |url=https://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledge_detail/lost-and-found-communism-nostalgia-and-communist-chic-among-polands-old-and-young-generations/ |title=Lost and Found: Communism Nostalgia and Communist Chic |access-date=September 3, 2021 |publisher=Humanity in Action |date=September 2010 |first1=Christine |last1=Esche |first2=Rosa Katharina |last2=Mossiah |first3=Sandra |last3=Topalska |archive-date=September 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902230732/https://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledge_detail/lost-and-found-communism-nostalgia-and-communist-chic-among-polands-old-and-young-generations/ |url-status=live }}

The trend gained some momentum with the 150th anniversary of The Communist Manifesto in 1998. A 'Modern Edition' was released in New York City that year, and style expert Simon Doonan viewed the book as a desirable fashion accessory regardless of its contents. He argues "People are forgetting the Gulag and Stalin and the negative imagery ... it could be time for it to come back as pure style."{{cite magazine |first=Virginia |last=Heffernan |title=Commie Chic |date=February 23, 1998 |magazine=New York |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/features/2269/ |access-date=September 9, 2021 |archive-date=February 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228043705/https://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/features/2269/ |url-status=live }}