Canadian academic Jordan Peterson warns that socialism is so appealing to young people because they are “unbelievably ignorant” about the history of the 20th century.

During an event hosted by The Heritage Foundation this week, the clinical psychologist and best-selling author said that millennials are embracing far-left ideology because they weren’t taught about its disastrous outcomes at school.

“People are unbelievably ignorant of history,” said Peterson. “What young people know about 20th-century history is nonexistent, especially about the history of the radical left. How would you know? They are never taught about it so why would they be concerned about it?”

Why does the radical left pose such a serious threat to young people today? Watch @jordanbpeterson's response. pic.twitter.com/IAqEFo5xp5 — Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) April 4, 2019

He also explained that the simplistic socialist notion of caring for as many people as possible was very alluring for people who had an emotional view of humanity.

Young people are “emotionally drawn to the ideals of socialism, say, or the left, because it draws its fundamental motivational source from a kind of primary compassion, and that is always there in human beings,” said Peterson.

Peterson also blamed the “unholy marriage of the postmodern nihilism with this Marxist utopian notion” for the breakdown in social and family unity, a process which has produced an “absolute catastrophe”.

A major poll last year found that the majority of US millennials would prefer to live under socialism than capitalism.