The foundational mistake Karl Marx made was atheism, his denial of the Eternal Being from whom all things ultimately flow and exist. He swallowed Darwin’s naturalistic material philosophy whole hog, and that theory still dominates American academia and intellectual thought. And, “if there is no God, then everything is permitted” (Sartre). The implications of this have been enormous in America, incalculable. No moral absolutes exist. Nothing—abortion, transgenderism, child mutilation, not even slavery or incest in their historical “stage” (Engels)—nothing can be condemned EXCEPT a denial of the transitory nature of morality and historical change. The greatest enemy of humanity is God and those who believe in moral absolutes. This is Marxism and the current Democratic Party in America.
“My object,” Marx said, “is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.” “Communism begins where atheism begins.” Thus, as per my first column in this series, to Marx and his followers, history is a dialectical process, always changing, with each “stage” necessary to lead to the next, with the ultimate result being the Golden Age of Communism. More on Marxist morality subsequently.
2. Marx and private property. A major pillar of Marxism is that private property, according to the “Communist Manifesto,” must be abolished. It is one of the passing “stages” of history, an interlude between primitive barbarism and the golden age of communism. He is totally wrong, historically.
Since communism argues for egalitarianism (equality) and eventual freedom for all, private property, which (Marxists believe) is the greatest cause of inequality, must be eliminated. Government redistribution of income programs are Marxist to the core, though Marx didn’t invent the idea of the abolition of private property.
But Marx’s idea of history (including “scientific socialism”) was that private property was just one “stage” in history between ancient, primitive communism and the perfect age of freedom to come. This is utterly unhistorical. Property has always been inherent in mankind and protected. Tribes, families, or individuals owned land in the most primitive societies. People possessed livestock, and commerce and capital were in the hands of individuals. It has ever been so. Private property has not been “historically transient,” but a permanent feature of social life.
Laws were designed to protect private property, the most famous being in the law of Moses, “Thou shalt not steal.” This obviously implies the private ownership of property, and that the law exists to protect it. The abolition of private property might lead to equality (it won’t), but it will not lead to freedom because equality can only be maintained by force. This is a major reason why communism failed in the 20th century. Peasants were determined to keep their land. Countless millions died, in the name of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, based upon this faulty theory of history that private property was a transitory “stage” on the road to the glorious age of Utopianism.
Private property rights are the very cornerstone of individual liberty. The liberties of the people can only be secure when property rights are firmly guaranteed and protected by law against the state. Recognition by the state of the rights of its subjects and citizens to their belongings is an acknowledgment of limitations on state power; property protected by courts means the state is bound by law. The goal of Marxism, the abolition of property, leads to the abolition of freedom and legality and all limitations on state power. But no limitations on state power is exactly what Marxists want. And if there are no restrictions on government power, then obviously the liberties of the people are in grave danger. Who will protect them from despots?
Vladimir Lenin made this lust for power abundantly clear. He desired a “power [that] is limited by nothing, by no laws, that is restrained by absolutely no rules, that rests directly on coercion.” Coercion is not freedom, folks. But that is communism, at least it has been in the 20th and 21st centuries. It still is in China. Remember, I lived there for ten years. The people there have no “natural rights” freedom, no protection from government. “Allowed” freedom is no freedom at all; it’s slavery, because “allowed” freedom can be revoked at any time. Now, Lenin did think the condition he described would be temporary, and eventually the coercive state would wither away. Marxism argues that government is a tool of the “bourgeois” (capitalist) to oppress the “proletariat” (workers) and would disappear during the ”golden age” of freedom and equality. But that “golden age” certainly never appeared in the 20th century. Maybe 500 years from now, as a Chinese friend recently told me.
Only private property and the free market can respond to the shifting moods of an economy, and only the hope of enrichment will motivate people to exert themselves beyond their immediate needs. Why should a person work hard unless he will reap the rewards of his labors? Thus, without the incentives of private property and the free market, goods and services will not expand or be offered, economic growth will be stifled, and people will remain lethargic and poor. What are the enticements under Marxism? “Do it or be shot”?
Again, 20th century communist societies made this abundantly obvious. Interference in private property in agriculture disrupted traditional food producing procedures and caused famines in many communist countries—USSR, China, North Korea, Ethiopia, Cambodia. Countless millions died from man-made starvation. Under communism, with the abolition of private property, all people become employees of the state, thus dependent upon the state, thereby destroying freedom.
Nationalization of productive resources makes every citizen a slave of the government. And since Marx viewed capitalism as global, the socialist revolution must also be global. The current “globalist” movement is totally rooted in Marxism, but directed by a new cadre of Leninists and Maoists—Obama, Gates, Schwab, the elite Left. And capitalist America has always been the greatest enemy.
But this can only happen by force, not freedom. The Democratic Party.
More to come.
Check my substack mklewis929.substack.com for recent articles on the Republicans caving again, Nikki’s tyranny, the politicization of science, a podcast on Rising Barbarism: Why?, and other things. Follow me on Twitter: @thailandmkl. Read my western novels, Whitewater , River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon.