Bible Stories

Marxism is a set of beliefs, first elaborated by Karl Marx (1818-83), about how modern societies work and how basic oppressions can be eliminated from them. They are sometimes known as ’scientific socialism’. Marx‘ closest colleague,

Friedrich Engels (1820-95), once said that Marxism was derived from a mixture of German philosophy, English economic theory and French socialist politics.

Marx accepted the view of history taught by Georg Hegel (1770-1831), according to which conflicting forces are progressively drawn together until higher values emerge. But he claimed to turn the philosopher’s thought upside—down. Marx sought to show that conflict between social groups was due not so much to contradictory ideas as to ways of organizing production.

Under the capitalist mode of production, humanity had reached a peak of personal and social alienation. Capitalism meant that some members of society (the capitalist, wealth- owner or bourgeois class) extracted a profit (technically called ’surplus value’) from other members (the workers or proletariat). These latter suffered a double assault on their human dignity: they did not own the fruit of their labour, and they were bought and used by the capitalist like any other commodity.

If working people were to rediscover their true humanity, they must become managers of a production process planned in the interests of all, not objects manipulated by a few. There was only one way this could happen — capitalism must be destroyed. The system could not be patched up. A socialist system, in which the producers of wealth also became the owners, must arise in its place.

Marx believed capitalism was inevitably doomed. Increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of a few would create intolerable social tensions. A revolutionary movement was bound to arise, in favour of a just and equal society. Marx did not predict when this would happen, nor in detail what kind of society would emerge.

During this century some nations have undoubtedly seen material improvement as a result of Marxist revolutions, most notably China. But most Marxist states have evolved into rigid self-perpetuating bureaucracies. This has been more the result of Lenin’s (1870 -1924) doctrine of the Communist party than Marx‘ own teachings. Marx himself advocated a democracy, with power exercised at a local level.

`Opium of the people‘

Marxism has always been an uncompromising opponent of Christianity. It has accused the church of preaching a message of individual salvation and of a hope after death which, like opium, deadens the pain of oppression but does not cure it. Its traditional atheism is due to several factors:

• It rejects a God who seems to condone exploitation.
• Its rather crude view of nature and evolution excludes God.
• It holds that belief in God obstructs people from shaping their own lives and determining their own destinies.

Certainly Christianity holds no brief for capitalism. But the problem with Marxism is that it is not radical enough. Its basic weakness is its inadequate understanding of human nature. Marx believed that exploitation is primarily the result of the way production is organized. But he ignored the more fundamental cause — our sinfulness, and hence innate self-centredness and aggressive drive for power. He said that, by changing the economic system, the basic antagonism between classes could be done away with. But this meant closing his eyes to people’s natural selfishness.

The privilege, the corruption, the loss of motivation which continue to exist in Communist societies are strong evidence for the Christian view of human nature. Marxism is also confused when it assumes that an analysis of how society works today is an adequate basis for predicting how it will work tomorrow.

A truly free and fair society can dawn only when everyone is liberated from self-seeking. This can happen not through economic and political change— however drastic — nor by moral exhortation, but when men and women voluntarily respond to the gospel of new life in Jesus Christ. And it will only be complete with the coming again of Jesus to ‘make all things new’.

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