Editing Jorge Luis Borges (section)

===Anti-communism===
Borges recurrently declared himself a "[[Herbert Spencer|Spencerian]] anarchist who believes in the individual and not in the State" due to his father's influence.<ref>{{cite book | last = Yudin | first = Florence | title = Nightglow: Borges' Poetics of Blindness|publisher=Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca|location=City|year=1997|isbn=84-7299-385-X|page=31}}</ref><ref name="Bell-Villada 1981 13">{{cite book|last=Bell-Villada|first=Gene|title=Borges and His Fiction|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill|year=1981|isbn=0-8078-1458-X|page=13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Yudin|first=Florence|title=Nightglow: Borges' Poetics of Blindness|publisher=Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca|location=City|year=1997|isbn=84-7299-385-X|page=31}}</ref> In an interview with [[Richard Burgin (writer)|Richard Burgin]] during the late 1960s, Borges described himself as a "mild" adherent of [[classical liberalism]]. He further recalled that his [[opposition to communism]] and to [[Marxism]] was absorbed in his childhood, stating: "Well, I have been brought up to think that the individual should be strong and the State should be weak. I couldn't be enthusiastic about theories where the State is more important than the individual."<ref>Burgin (1968). p. 104.</ref> After the overthrow via coup d'état of President [[Juan Domingo Perón]] in 1955, Borges supported efforts to purge Argentina's Government of Peronists and dismantle the former President's welfare state. He was enraged that the [[Communist Party of Argentina]] opposed these measures and sharply criticized them in lectures and in print. Borges's opposition to the Party in this matter ultimately led to a permanent rift with his longtime lover, Argentine Communist [[Estela Canto]].{{sfn|Williamson|2004|p=332–333}}

In a 1956 interview given to ''El Hogar'', Borges stated that communists "are in favor of totalitarian regimes and systematically combat freedom of thought, oblivious of the fact that the principal victims of dictatorships are, precisely, intelligence and culture."{{sfn|Williamson|2004|p=334}} He elaborated: "Many people are in favor of dictatorships because they allow them to avoid thinking for themselves. Everything is presented to them ready-made. There are even agencies of the State that supply them with opinions, passwords, slogans, and even idols to exalt or cast down according to the prevailing wind or in keeping with the directives of the thinking heads of the [[one-party state|single party]]."{{sfn|Williamson|2004|p=334–335}}

In later years, Borges frequently expressed contempt for Marxist and communist authors, poets, and intellectuals. In an interview with Burgin, Borges referred to Chilean poet [[Pablo Neruda]] as "a very fine poet" but a "very mean man" for unconditionally supporting the Soviet Union and demonizing the United States. Borges commented about Neruda, "Now he knows that's rubbish."<ref>Burgin (1968) pp. 95–96</ref> In the same interview, Borges also criticized famed poet and playwright [[Federico García Lorca]], who was abducted by [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalist]] soldiers and executed without trial during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. In Borges's opinion, Lorca's poetry and plays, when examined against his tragic death, appeared better than they actually were.<ref>Burgin (1969), pages 93–95.</ref>