I was born as the Berlin Wall fell. 'Socialist' millennials should learn about the USSR. Socialism didn't work in the Soviet Union. On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that's an important reminder to today's millennials.

Jon Hartley | Opinion contributor

Show Caption Hide Caption Berlin Wall 30 years later: 'Tear down this wall' prompted peace In 1987, Ronald Reagan challenged Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" during a June 1987 speech near the Berlin Wall.

I was born on Nov. 11, 1989, as the Berlin Wall was being torn down, marking the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. Shortly after, the USSR economy crumbled in the 1990s which ultimately led to its dissolution, in what then appeared to be a rejection of a repressive regime and collective economic planning (the wall was perniciously built to keep USSR citizens from leaving). Exactly 30 years later, however, amid the rising popularity of presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, nearly half of Democrats in my generation, the so-called millennials, describe themselves as "socialist."

I would argue that this is largely because my generation has no memory of the Soviet Union, the "evil empire." For instance, in a 2016 survey conducted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation found that 18% of millennials are completely unfamiliar with Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator who was responsible for the deaths of millions of his own citizens.

Too many of us are ignorant of the important anti-communist legacies of Presidents John F. Kennedy ("Ich bin ein Berliner"), Ronald Reagan ("Tear down this wall") and George H.W. Bush ("We know what's right: freedom is right"), who weren't fighting a single country but rather a collectivist ideology at home and abroad that was spreading across the globe.

As planned economies kept many in poverty, people forget how much anti-communism was a bipartisan and unifying movement in American political life in the 20th century, unity that has long since faded amid today's polarized political life.

Socialism's modern defenders

Self-described "democratic socialists" today argue that their vision of collectivism is different. Many fail to realize what the actual definition of "socialism" is: when the government controls the means of production.

The Nordic countries' health care systems lauded by Warren and Sanders are not models of Utopian socialism as many proclaim. Former Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen spoke at Harvard in 2015 rebutting Sanders' socialist characterization of Denmark, proclaiming "Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy," adding it has "an expanded welfare state." Sweden and other Nordic countries have even cut down the the size of their welfare states in recent years.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's crumbling planned socialist economy (where many of the country's industries are nationalized) could be best described as socialism where government truly controls the means of production.

As the developed world continues to prosper in the post-Berlin Wall world, it would be a mistake to believe that real planned economy socialism couldn't happen in the United States or elsewhere in the developed world amid misplaced fever over growing income inequality. The Green New Deal espoused by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others, seeks to end commercial air travel, allows the government to cut many other aspects of private industry, and increase government spending by trillions. This would almost certainly put the U.S. on a so-called "Road to Serfdom," as economist Friedrick Hayek coined it.

It can happen anywhere: Venezuela was my home, and socialism destroyed it. Slowly, it will destroy America, too.

Hayek's "fatal conceit" argued that no government planner could possibly have all the information required to optimally plan an economy. This holds true today, even despite the rise of big data and the limited ability to track individuals and their exact preferences.

Every country has a breaking point

There are also the material dangers of ever-expanding public debt, especially in the U.S., where there seems to be no political solution to end our growing unfunded liabilities. There will be a breaking point when paying off the interest on the debt consumes all government tax revenue. Then, governments are forced to either default or print money, causing inflation. The U.S. will not be an exception, and ultimately millennials will pay for debt incurred today through taxation or lower benefits.

Makeing the same mistakes over and over: 30 years after the Berlin Wall's collapse, Americans don't understand communism's dangers

The rise of Communist China and that government's utter lack of political freedom could perhaps be a turning point and a wake-up call to my generation on the pitfalls of collectivist ideologies. Perhaps China will become perceived as the new "evil empire" as the ongoing violence toward Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters and detainment of Uighur Muslims shocks the world, including many millennials.

At the same rate, China's economic success is another important lesson to millennials, demonstrating how free market reforms have brought hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens out of poverty. Why would one aim to reverse the tide of economic freedom that has brought so many out of poverty across the world?

As Milton Friedman famously said, "Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." It's long past time to reignite that belief in my generation.

Jon Hartley is a Masters candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Follow him on Twitter: @jon_hartley_