Daily Comics Digression #17: Superman is Not a Socialist

Daily Comics Digression #17: Superman is Not a Socialist

There's been a push by some people in comics to recast Superman as a card-carrying socialist. In his history of superheroes, Supergods, Grant Morrison tries to call him a hero for those who are downtrodden by big business tycoons. Because he defends the powerless against the powerful, he somehow supposedly represents Marxist ideas. I've always been frustrated by Morrison's misunderstanding of the character, and I'd like to offer a few thoughts of rebuttal.

1. Superman's background. As a farm boy from the Midwest, Clark Kent surely does not embody the typical Marxist revolutionary. He has a simple moral code, not one informed by the convoluted politics of power. Also, as a farm worker, Superman would have firsthand knowledge of the value of enjoying the fruits of your own personal labor and not having the government redistribute it. Rather than being a socialist, Superman's background seems to mark him as a blue collar, small business owner. The very idea that he'd be okay with having Ma Kent's assets controlled by anyone outside of the home is ridiculous.

2. Superman's job at the Daily Planet. When he goes to the city, Superman does hard hitting pieces as a journalist for the Daily Planet. Now on the surface, it may appear that being a journalist is a far cry from being a venture capitalist; but journalists still earn a paycheck while working for a business. Superman did not open a grassroots campaign office. In addition, Superman regularly competes with his fellow journalists, namely his love interest Lois Lane, in said marketplace. Although it's easy to see that Superman works against crony capitalism, there is no sense in the early stories that Superman represents an overthrow of free markets. If anything, his behavior shows that he has problem playing the game of capitalism and even using his powers in some cases to help him win. For example, take a look at all of the times Superman uses his powers to help him save the day and also get the winning story, leaving his mortal companions in the dust. If Superman were really a socialist, shouldn't he be taking a handicap in how he uses his powers in the workplace?

So just because he's throwing a car on the front of Action Comics #1, Morrison would have you believe that everyone's favorite superhero is basically tossing a symbol of the industrialized, capitalist military industrial complex. Nope. Americans are fine with breaking a few cars in the pursuit of justice, but that doesn't mean we want to subvert our self made system of self governance and hard earned labor.