Writing at the conservative National Review, Bobby Miller sounds the alarm bells about “Marxist influence” on the contemporary right. But what does he mean? Are there people with socially or culturally right-wing views calling for workers control of the means of production? Or endorsing Karl Marx’s theory of history?

Of course not. On the vast majority of economic issues, the paleoconservative “populists” Miller is so worried about are well to the right of the corporate wing of the Democratic Party. Some of them might be skeptical to one degree or another of free trade agreements or foreign policy adventurism, but good luck finding one who supports Medicare for All or wants to make it easier for workers to organize unions. They certainly don’t want to end private ownership of economic enterprises.

While this kind of misuse of the word “Marxism” to denote even the tiniest deviations from the Right’s free-market consensus is amusing, it’s also more than a little sad. Marxism — the real kind — is a powerful tool for understanding how capitalism works and how the working-class majority can act together to create a better society. We should strive to build a socialist movement powerful enough that when the National Review writers lose sleep about “Marxism,” they’re at least worried about the real thing.