The following was written for Bro. Daniel Yoder's class, Cultivating a Christian Mind. It was a philosophy class, but was vaguely renamed at some point due to the low interest level the students had in philosophy. Or so rumor has it. Regardless of the title's history, we were given a list of acceptable topics to write about for our term papers. My choice was then to write about a philosopher, and so my research on Karl Marx began. Enjoy.
Everything begins with a thought. In order to place this universe in existence, God spoke. But before those words came the thoughts. God played with ideas of worlds, peoples, and what would happen on those planets. As a Creator, those thoughts spurred God on to create this small world with its human infestation. Mankind is made in the image of the Creator, which allows him to think critically and curiously about the hypothetical. Karl Marx is one of those men whom God created and who also chose to dream about an ideal world. Marx may have rejected the Lord as his God, but the image of God embedded in mankind still shone through Marx’s dreams of a peaceful and hardworking society. Despite the numerous interpretations of Marx’s writings, his words had an indisputably large impact on the world, starting in the 19th century and continuing to this day.
Every action begins with a thought, and every philosopher begins as a child. In this case, that philosopher, Karl Marx, was born in Trier, Germany in 1818 (Sproul, 137). Though he was born to a Jewish family, Marx’s father converted to Lutheran Christianity for both social and and business reasons. This forged conversion “fueled Marx’s disillusionment with the role of religion in life” and ultimately caused Marx to view the church merely as a museum for housing Middle Aged relics (Sproul, 138).
As Marx aged, he desired to study philosophy and literature, but his father forced him into the study of law at the University of Bonn. Due to negligence of study at that school, he was enrolled at the Humbolt University in Berlin the next the school year. It was there that Marx began to get into the aesthetics philosophy of the Young Hegelians (Karl Marx). After finally applying himself and earning a doctorate at Humbolt, Marx moved to Paris with his wife in order to work with a fellow German revolutionary, Arnold Ruge (Karl Marx).
Within the first year of living in Paris, Marx met and befriended Friedrich Engels. This unexpected friendship changed Marx and guided his mind towards exploring economics and the working-class sphere. Both men were strong communists, and by 1845, Marx’s outspokenness exiled him to Brussels, where he renounced his Prussian nationality. Engels soon joined Marx in order to continue their work together. Over the next two years, Marx and Engels “developed their philosophy of communism and became the intellectual leaders of the working-class movement” (Marx Publishes Manifesto). The two men were then commissioned by an underground organization of German revolutionaries, named the "League of the Just", to write a manifesto defining the doctrines of the organization.
That statement, Marx’s most well-known piece of literature, was released in 1848. The Communist Manifesto was not full of new ideas, but was a conglomeration and dramatization of concepts that had been discussed among the revolutionaries. Marx viewed all struggle as stemming from economic differences between mankind. Therefore, in order to reduce conflict, there must be economic equality. Sproul describes Marx’s “ultimate goal” as ending “private ownership through the states ownership of the means of production” (146). Because state ownership would obliterate classes, this would create a “utopian order of classless society” (Sproul, 146).
Marx strove for a society of one class because he felt as though the bourgeoisie (owners of capital) had torn every occupation of its glory, turning workers in to wage-earning slaves (3). The factory workers were merely operating as a means to someone else’s gain (Sproul, 140). Though Marx viewed mankind as merely another piece of the machine, he still realized that mankind was made to be more than an object used by a higher class. Marx viewed mankind’s difference from animals as mankind’s ability to make “his own activity the object of his conscious will” (Sproul, 138). Labor then is a process between man and nature, and, through his labor, man survives (Sproul, 138).
In Marx’s eyes, a product’s value is based on the labor put into it rather than the overall quality of the product. This theory, called the Labor Theory of Value, ended up being a considerable failure for Marx (Sproul, 143-144). After all, if an apprentice takes three hours to create a shoddy garment and the master craftsman is able to make a similar, yet far more beautiful, garment in one hour, would not most people consider the latter better? But Marx’s statement would argue that the apprentice’s work was worth more because more time was devoted to the piece. It is easy to see why this theory was not a success when looking at how life works in reality instead of the hypothetical.
Marx’s publications did not always result in success, regardless what modern history would make one assume. His manifesto may have sparked a revolution in France within months of its release, but the spreading revolutions were soon squelched by the European bourgeoisie (Marx Publishes Manifesto). Due to the failure of small revolutions, Marx moved to London to outrun impending danger and carry on his work with Engels. Continuing in his communist mission, Marx helped form the International Workingmen’s Association in 1864 (Marx Publishes Manifesto).
By 1867, Marx further clarified the core beliefs of the communist theory in the first volume of Das Kapital (Marx Publishes Manifesto). Though Marx did not get the revolution he had dreamed of, by his death in 1884, communism had become a significant movement in Europe. It would not be till twenty-three years after Marx’s death that the world’s first successful communist revolution would take place in Russia.
Though he was not directly involved in the outcome of his works, Marx’s Communist Manifesto played a large part in WWI. He stated his basis for morality as that which advances communism (Yoder). That moralistic belief, combined with Marx’s encouragement of the working-class revolting, propelled incidences of mass killings. Since the standard for what would advance communism is objective, government leaders could literally get away with the murder of anyone who did not encourage their vision. Lenin even modified Marx’s beliefs in order to advance a mutated version of communism in Russia, which then spread to China (dictionary.com).
After the World Wars, the Cold War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall, many Westerners lost their fear of communism. Yes, there was still the acknowledgement that Marxism lurked in the circles of some intellectuals and communism still reigned supreme in a few countries, but the overall guard against Marxism was let down. Marxist ideas still run rampant today, however. Stuart Jefferies, in doing research for his article Return of Marxism, discussed Marx’s ideals with several college students. One of those college students interpreted Marx’s ideas as “a way of understanding what we’re going through now” (Jefferies, Stuart). The student also pointed out that the younger generation was not around when “Marxism was associated with the Soviet Union” and now her generation uses Marxism to understand that revolution is a process (Jefferies, Stuart).
Another interviewee for Jefferies’ paper, Professor Eric Hobsbawm agrees with Marx that the current state of Capitalism is inevitably going to fail, and he dreams of a post-capitalistic society that will morph into socialism. Hobsbawm, however, does not have faith that today’s society will be willing to struggle and fight as they must in order to achieve that idealistic future (Jefferies, Stuart). These modern minds inclined towards Marxism seem to be in agreement that the future of mankind “depend[s] on us and our readiness for struggle” (Jefferies, Stuart).
God acknowledges mankind will struggle, indeed, but not as Marxists intend to struggle. God wants mankind to fight against their own sinful desire for greed and power, and extend loving care. There will always be those in authority, those with more money, or those with more possessions. But God cares more about how those achievements are earned and what you do with those responsibilities than He does about everyone being of one class. Humanity was originally created to care for each other. Humans were created with different gifts and abilities, and because of those variances, some men will do the dirty work while others create the system of efficient work. Marx’s error when viewing Capitalism was refusing to acknowledge that the rich do not always have to exploit the poor in order to earn money (Sproul, 144). Graciously, God has created honest ways to gain riches in order to share those riches with people who are unable to work for themselves.
Throughout the years, Marx’s writings have been intermingled with other communistic beliefs, such as those of Lenin. People have become confused as to why Marx’s utopian dreams were not realized. Yes, God wants mankind to live in a perfect and peaceful society, but mankind messed that up. Marx forgot to account for the fallen nature of mankind and how man’s natural greed will cause him to want power. That thirst for power, unfortunately, is only one reason communism will never fully come to its blissful nature. Yet there remain those who seek that bliss in these days. Marx’s words may have began in the 19th century, but, despite numerous interpretations, they continue having an indisputably large impact on the world today.
Bibliography
DeKoster, Lester. Communism and the Christian Faith. Eerdmans, 1962.
Jeffries, Stuart. “Why Marxism Is on the Rise Again.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 July 2012, www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/04/the-return-of-ma
rxism.
“Karl Marx.” Virtue Ethics - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy, www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_marx.html.
“Marx Publishes Manifesto.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marx-publishes-manifesto.
Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party. New York Labor News, 1908.
“Marx's Philosophy Summary.” Philosophy & Philosophers, Philosophy & Philosophers, 16 Dec. 2012, www.the-philosophy.com/marx-philosophy.
Menand, Louis. “Karl Marx, Yesterday and Today.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 19 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/karl-marx-yesterday-a
nd-today.
Sproul, R. C. Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts That Shaped Our World. Crossway Books, 2018.
Yoder, Daniel. World Religions and Movements, 11 December 2018, Elnora Bible Institute. Microsoft PowerPoint presentation
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