Socialism remains a hugely popular idea among Western Millennials, but mention a specific example of socialism in the presence of a believer and you can be sure of a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth. “That’s not real socialism”, they cry. So what is it like to live under socialism and have Western hipsters tell you your experiences are wrong, or don't count?

Emma Revell, IEA Head of Public Affairs, is joined by three people with personal experience and academic interest in socialism, and specifically Venezuela's "Socialism of the 21st Century". Jesus Armas is a Venezuelan politician and activist, who has spent most of his life there, and who is currently in the process of setting up a libertarian think tank in country. Roberto White is British-Venezuelan student of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick, who lived in Venezuela from 2004 to 2010. Both are part of the IEA’s internship programme which you can find out more about on our website.

The third guest is Dr Kristian Niemietz, IEA Head of Political Economy, whose book “Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies” contains a chapter on the attitudes of Western intellectuals towards Venezuela’s socialist experiment.