More than four-in-ten U.S. millennials would prefer to live under socialism than capitalism, according to a new survey by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

When given the choice to pick a preferred system of government, 44 percent of millennials responded that they would rather live in a socialist country while another seven percent opted for a communist state. Capitalism, on the other hand, was preferred by 42 percent of millennial respondents, with the remaining 14 percent split evenly between fascism and communism.

"Communism isn’t back: It never left. We simply forgot about it."

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According to the study, pro-socialist sentiment is much higher among millennials when compared to the rest of the country, noting that 59 percent of Americans say they would rather reside in a capitalist country, with only 35 percent of respondents signaling a preference for a socialist state.

Millennials were also about twice as likely as the general population to say they would prefer living in a fascist or communist country, with about seven percent choosing each option.

“The percentage of Millennials who would prefer socialism to capitalism is a full ten points higher than that of the general population,” the foundation observed in its report. “It seems that the majority of America’s largest generation would prefer to live in a socialist or communist society than in a free enterprise system that respects the rule of law, private property, and limited government.”

The survey also found that millennials, along with most other Americans, “either don’t know the definition of communism or misidentify it.”

Just 29 percent of millennials, for instance, correctly identified the definition of “communism,” compared to 31 percent who confused it with “socialism.” Similarly, 33 percent of millennial respondents were able to match “socialism” to its definition, while 22 percent thought the definition referred to communism.

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Consistent with the other findings, the survey also revealed that millennials are least opposed to communist ideology when compared to other age groups.

Only 36 percent of millennials said that they held a very unfavorable opinion of communism—15 points lower than the next-closest cohort—and while a majority of respondents from every other generation said they would be “insulted” to be called a communist, just 44 percent of millennials expressed a similar aversion.

“Communism isn’t back: It never left,” VCMF concludes ominously. “We simply forgot about it. And as it rears its ugly head once more, openly and shamelessly, we seem far less prepared to meet the challenge in this century as we did in the last.”

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