Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Socialist Match

Jewish female, Democratic Socialist, seeks male companion to study Marx’s Capital with Secular anti-Zionist Jew…Extreme Capricorn. Interested in climate justice …Looking for someone to bug all the time.

What makes these personal ads different from all others? They’re listed through Red Yenta, a project of Mindy Isser and Marissa Brostoff, who met online under the shared goal of helping their fellow socialists, anarchists and Marxists find love. It’s not explicitly Jewish, but the listings have an Emma Goldman flavor to them. 

Using existing social media, they encourage participants to create alternate accounts, for safety and anonymity. Allowing members to explicitly state what kind of relationship they want helps attract “queer people, trans people, people who are poly or exploring nontraditional relationships,” says Isser. One obstacle? Numbers There may be more and more socialists, but are there enough to sustain the project? “We don’t really know what happens next,” says Brostoff.