This second reference to Marx was more alarming than the first. Whenever my parents said that ‘so-and-so was a Marxist’ or that ‘so-and-so is still a Marxist’, what they meant was anything from ‘so-and-so is stupid’ to ‘one ought not to trust them’ to ‘so-and-so is a criminal.’ Being called a Marxist was never meant as praise.
