Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 6 of The Last of Us.

This week's episode of The Last of Us, "Kin," shows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) still on the road three months after the intense action last seen in Kansas City. They have made it further west, eventually finding themselves in a commune set up in the town of Jackson, Wyoming where Joel's brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna), has forged a new life. As she shows them around the community, Tommy's wife, Maria (Rutina Wesley) discusses the way the town is run: "Everything you see in our town, greenhouses, livestock, all shared. Collective ownership," to which Joel replies, "So, communism."

It's a pretty straightforward definition of communism that The Last of Us offers. "This is a commune. We're communists," Maria states modestly. But, is it really that simple? Tommy is noticeably uncomfortable with the term, so much so that you could cut the tension with a... sickle. Here's the philosophical and historical context layered within this scene and why you can't help but expect something nefarious lurking behind Maria's idyllic town.

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Communism 101

The last of Us Rutina Wesley Maria Episode 6
Image via HBO

Philosophically speaking, communism is a sociopolitical ideology in which the wealth/resources created by a community are shared by that community as a whole. Furthermore, the community shares the responsibility for the production and cultivation of these goods. This renders any assets of the group the property of all, or as Maria states, collective ownership. In Jackson, this is everything from the school, movie theater, and greenhouses to the sheep, hydroelectric power, and even the Christmas tree ornaments. As just a philosophical theory, it really is that simple.

This all gets a bit muddled, however, when taken from a historical context. The theory of communism is often most associated with Karl Marx in the mid-1800s, although societies operating within a communist structure predate this having existed across the world from African tribes to Mesoamerican civilizations. However, Marx is credited with solidifying the philosophical framework of communism in a way that specifically delineated it in antithesis to other leading governmental theories. It was namely seen in contrast to both socialism, in which the community is responsible equally for the production of resources, but not the consumption, and capitalism, which honestly deserves an entire article of its own to untangle.

Let's just say, in The Last of Us, Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) had a pretty capitalist system in their dealings with allies. Tommy and Maria, on the other hand, do appear to exist within a truer framework of communism than any societal arrangement since the time of Marx, one in which an apparent harmony has been reached by the townspeople of Jackson. So, where does the discomfort felt by Tommy, and the viewer, originate?

The Seedy History of "Communism"

Gabriel Luna and Rutina Wesley in The Last of Us Episode 6
Image via HBO

Time and time again, throughout history, the term communism has been manipulated by various ruling elites to, in fact, perpetuate class systems and subdue violent uprising. As David Crosby puts it, "There has never been a communism that worked. They were all dictatorships or oligarchies, every single one." The politically minded musician of Crosby, Stills, and Nash wasn't wrong. Marx, himself, utilized the theory to evoke an uprising of the working class without putting into effect the ideals of equal ownership and collectivism. By the early 1900s, communism had distorted so much that other terms were necessary, like anarchism and utopia, to distinguish the unspoiled vision of a legitimate and just society operating without individual ownership. Even the modern, so-called communist republics of our current world, are actually clear examples of authoritarian rule.

By 2003, when the cordyceps outbreak takes place in The Last of Us, the term communism had also been weaponized by proponents of other democratic-adjacent systems, namely capitalism. While a true capitalist society is also idyllic, time and again, the underlying structures that allow capitalism to function have also been manipulated by those in power to sustain class inequity. Therefore, the truest threat to the wealth and power of the ruling elite in a capitalist community is the fundamental ideology of communism undermining the systems that keep them on top. This led to an intentional conflation of the terms communist and fascist as a way to fearmonger would-be dissidents. If the public fears extreme equality, then inequality is easier to sustain.

Communism's Place in 'The Last of Us'

The Last of Us Episode 6 Gabriel Luna Tommy Pedro Pascal Joel
Image via HBO

By the time of the outbreak, many Americans that would go on to fight the infected in The Last of Us likely only thought of the term communist as akin to ruthless dictatorship. After hearing the systems in place in Jackson, Joel says, "So, communism," to which Tommy's knee-jerk reaction is, "Nah. Nah, it ain't like that." His discomfort with the term pulls from over a century of distortion of the fundamental principles of communism, an idea that has never actually had a legitimate foothold in the modern world. In comparison, Ellie, who had never existed in the world pre-apocalypse reacts with an expression mirroring her earlier statement, "This place actually fuckin' works." Even with that reassurance, the viewer can't help but search for cracks within this utopian community. Are there any?

During her tour, Maria says that they began this settlement only seven years earlier. It's not hard to imagine that the tides could turn for Jackson. While there isn't much that sticks out like a sore thumb, a few moments do offer a glimpse towards a darker fate for the commune. In order to secure Ellie's eggplant coat, Maria says she traded something, which implies a layer of ownership that could grow to undermine the entire system. Furthermore, her advice to Ellie, "The only people who can betray us, are the ones we trust," begs whether the idealized world she exists within is just a facade. Lastly, the town is certainly growing in population, one that might be predominantly children. As this continues, resources could become more scarce, and it doesn't seem, at least from the demeanor of the kids featured, that the young are given too much of a voice. History is marred with examples of peaceful societies that flip on their head within a single generation. Jackson could just be the next in a long line of changing tides.

With only one day in the commune before heading south, it's unclear if we'll ever get a deeper look behind the gates of Jackson to see what lies in their fate, but with Joel out of commission, or potentially dead, we'll just have to wait and see if Ellie decides to turn back for aid from the gleaming jewel of the post-apocalyptic West. Or, maybe, we'll just have to wait for Season 2, for another glimpse at the most functional community The Last of Us has yet to offer.

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