Friends, it's become mighty fashionable in leftist circles to praise socialism and denigrate, well, capitalism, Christianity, Western Civilization, phallocentrism, cisgender ideology, the internal combustion engine -- you name it! Today I repost for your viewing pleasure a rebuttal to this progressive sentimentalism, and an argument for why Marxism is, at bottom, a dangerous, totalitarian creed. The author is none other than your favorite right-wing curmudgeon, John/Jack Stengel. Enjoy!
P.S. The title of this post is, coincidentally, the title of one of the first political articles I ever wrote...for my high school newspaper. I'm a confirmed anti-Marxist myself, but I acknowledge the fact that Marxists and neo-Marxists are capable of a certain subtlety, and they come in variety of flavors.
And now, on to Jack...
Here is why I hold to my view: No doubt many reform minded people (progressives if you will) were cynically used by totalitarian monsters to gain power in so many unfortunate lands. The newly empowered Bolsheviks were quickly perceived by some who had supported them, as deceitful and barbarian: Trotsky led the way in summarily savaging them though he could not prevent the desperate attempt by the Whites to save Russia in the Civil War.
I think some Marxist fundamentals obtain
widely on our left even among people of good will: eg the mechanical
perfectability of human nature and the belief in the inevitability of
that end; the ability of science to fully comprehend history and make
irrefutable predictions thereby of its "progress; the atavistic evil of
free enterprise due to its production of unequal results and freedom
defined as "freedom from. . . "rather than "freedom to. . . . "
True, most progressives probably know little of the 20th century's theretofore unimaginable suffering caused by Marxism in power and by imposition of Marxist principles. But I do not doubt the totalitarian intent, inspired by and amounting to neo Marxism, of people with real power today: eg. the Squad; those who control pathetically "progressive" Biden ; those who have reduced the American academy to a swamp of perversely antiintellectual, now apparently murderous, reflexive disdain and bigotry ( and they DO know Marxism and its record in power); corporate powers who pusillanimously succor the far left while Madame DeFarge knits and waits for them; disgracefully compromised partisan "journalists"and silly voluptuaries who dominate entertainment and delight in playing with social fire.
Mao, Stalin , Pol Pot and Castro had to pretend to be human for awhile at least. But I cannot think of any regime indoctrinated by any of a wide range of Marxist convictions having governed without brutality, repression and catastrophic mismanagement of the comprehensive centralized control of both public and "private" life they mandate. I think our country harbors an appallingly assertive neomarxist faction which does purpose totalitarian "fundamental transformation" and is disastrously trusted by many of good will.
The recent manifestation of open Jew hatred on our far left provides fair warning of their ESSENTIALLY vicious nature. Advocacy of that ancient subhuman belief and support for those who EVEN TODAY, intend to bring it to physically annihilating consummation, opens a window into their barbarian hearts. Of course, they would be similarly murderous towards any who doubt them, in a manner fully exemplified by Marxists in power already.
I think marxism is historically proven to be ineluctably totalitarian. It was famously said that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and Marxism in practice confirms this.
Yes. historically the American left has brought about some beneficial changes. It also gave us Eugene Debs, the "International Workers of the World", Harry Bridges , a union commie who tried to shut down the San Francisco docks in WWII, AOC, Ilhan Omar, a President who before he succumbed to the perks of office meant to "fundamentally transform" a nation already painfully evolved into a prosperous, democratic and justly intended country. I knew a loyal working guy who was convinced of the "necessity "of Stalinist Marxism in a UMW school in the 50s. Imagine the vindictive far left imposition Hillary would have visited on us had she filled those Scotus openings with devotees of the Marxist Critical Legal Studies school of legal intent. When I worked in the NY Corrections Dep't taxpayer money was used to mandate the placing in NY prisons' law libraries of books by the far left National Lawyers' Guild which advocated and gave instruction in "justified" resistance to law enforcement. Today's American left is dominated by people like that and their intent becomes more open with alarming rapidity.
***
Thank you, Jack! Jack awaits your comments -- and mine, of course... Stay tuned!
RAY TO DR. WADDY AND JACK
ReplyDelete"Open Jew hatred on our far left"? That's mighty ironic, since many of the early Bolsheviks were Jewish, with Trotsky at the top of the list. This includes Communist leadership in other countries beyond what became the Soviet Union. I had a Jewish (he was originally from Austria) professor in college who pointed this out frequently. He also said he had been accused of being anti-Semitic for saying this, which he thought was hilarious. He was also a proud socialist himself.
RAY TO DR. WADDY AND JACK
ReplyDeleteMy main point is that I don't believe open Jew hatred is a product of our far (or near) Left. After all, Israel has a lot of Jews (from last I heard), who are Leftists, so by your "logic" maybe they are "self-hating" Jews?
Since you worked in the library system for all of those years, the answer to your obsession with Jew hatred as a product of the Left, might be to get ahold of "Toward The Final Solution, A History of European Racism" by George L. Moss.
And don't forget that the founder of modern Communism, Karl Marx came from a not very religious Jewish family who converted to Christianity before Marx was born. So was Marx secretly antiSemitic?
Ray, as you know, many people HAVE accused Marx of anti-Semitism -- and not without good reason. But I agree with your overall point that, historically, Jews have embraced the Left, and have been embraced by the Left, much more often than they have made common cause with the political right. What's more, I don't think there are very many American leftists who are anti-Semitic in any meaningful sense. If you watched or read the mainstream media, you would regard Israeli tactics in Gaza and the West Bank as one prolonged war crime, and thus you would become critical of Israeli policy and the Israeli government, without necessarily hating Jews and Judaism. In the end, quantifying anti-Semitism on the Left or on the right is hard. It's easy to conflate ALL criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, but it's also inaccurate and irresponsible. Remember, as vehemently as many conservatives believe the modern Left is anti-Semitic, many leftists believe that Trump, and conservatives, and Republicans are anti-Semitic. Their view is, of course, based on carefully chosen anecdotes, and ours, which is the mirror image of theirs, is based on similar questionable evidence, as far as I can tell.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO DR. WADDY
Delete"You're Right! And when you're right, you're right! And you're right!" (No pun intended).
All cornball humor aside, it is a fact that whenever someone criticizes Israel government policy, they are soon thereafter dismissed, castigated, and branded as antisemitic. Then of course The Holocaust comes up in conjunction with whatever the Palestinians do to Israel. In the case of October 7, 2023, some Israeli woman who was a hostage in that event, described here experience with Hamas as a Holocaust. Really! Such nonsense speaks for itself.
So Israel's retaliation for this outrage, is to kill at least 20 thousand Palestinians so far (if that count is reliable) in revenge for the death and captivity of a few hundred Israelis. Interestingly enough, is the fact that Evangelical Protestant Christians think that's okay because it gels with their beliefs in end time events.
At the end if the day, why does the U.S. have to support the Israelis or the Palestinians? That's the real question. What if the political states of Israel and Palestine did not even exist? This begs other questions.
Jack, I certainly agree that many facets of modern leftism are informed by the fundamentals of Marxism. I agree that many leftists ARE Marxists. But that's true mainly in the sense that they believe in the perfectability of human society via "scientific"/technocratic management, and an essentially Manichean construct dividing society into oppressors and oppressed. Those two ideas, however, can be, and are, pursued in wildly different ways, and with wildly different degrees of ruthlessness. You say no essentially Marxist regime has ever been anything other than brutal, repressive, and incompetent. Well, now, one might argue that every Western government in power today is largely Marxist in its social-cultural philosophy, if not necessarily in its economic philosophy, and most of those governments seem able to govern without killing millions or even inconveniencing their subjects in any particularly alarming way. Doesn't a lot of it come down to the SPEED with which one insists that "fundamental transformation" must proceed? If one is content to let the utopia form by a process of gradual evolution, well, then why should totalitarian oppression or violence be necessary? Seems to me that the NEW Marxists are usually pretty good at building their influence and insinuating their tentacles SLOWLY and PATIENTLY, no? In that sense, they seem like an entirely different breed than, say, Stalin or Pol Pot...
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy and Ray from Jack: Very plausible points all. But Marx once wrote that Jews were a problem which must be eliminated. I'll find the quote and cite it. Jews fared very badly in Soviet Russia and today's campus demonstrators are plainly far left: what hate could be more pronounced and confirmed than daring to call for a reprised "Final Solution"? That its advocate was not not mobbed by his fellows strongly suggests their sympathy for this execrable urging.. No, I have long since been convinced of the Jew hatred of the international far left and these demonstrations have bolstered that belief. Its not only the threat they pose to Jews and Israel but the subhuman viciousness they manifest in such supremely evil expression and which, in power, they would surely visit on all of us. Dr. Waddy, the New left attempted revolution in the US and was rebuffed. Their "love" quickly turned to Altamont, praise of the Manson family and the Symbionese Liberation Army as the badasses inevitably took over. You are right, they then chose to go "establishment" and corrupt from within with a patience which appears to be wearing thin now after some almost 60 years of unhip restraint. Should they achieve complete power they would, I expect, wield it with vindictive cruelty. In an advanced country you need not send dissenters to a neoGulag (although some antiamerican leftists have advocated building one in the Southwest) in order to ruin their lives. Their lawfare onslaught on DJT and perhaps soon, all of the America who see him as their champion (as I do) may be but the opening salvo in a smothering legal and governmental barrage aimed at us.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteIn your quest to prove that Jews are victims of Leftist Ideology, keep in mind that long before Marx, the Jews in Europe were considered to be one of the primary enemies of Christianity by both The Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially in Russia. When Protestantism showed up with Martin Luther in the 16th Century, he made some scathing comments about them, which I suspect were embedded in the German psyche.
Ray from Jack: Much of what I know about murderous Jew hatred in Europe comes from Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and from Ideology of Death ( a history of the appalling 19th and 20th century power of it in Germany). Nonetheless, I have never been able to comprehend the reasons for its terrible ferocity and durability; the book you cited may help and I will obtain it. Ideology of Death's author opines that Lutheranism may have insulated Germany (as it were) from the 17th and 18th century Enlightenment which mitigated some of Christianity's faults like counterintuitive condemnation of Jews for Christ's death ,which divinely purposeful act Christianity also holds to be its redemption from the terrible wages of sin.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteA lot of the European attitudes toward the Jews through the centuries had to do with their refusal to convert to Christianity. It was always useful to use them as scapegoats for a variety of disasters such as famine, epidemics and so on.
However, on a cheerful note, I want you to know that the only country during the Holocaust to save all of its Jews was BULGARIA, during which the Eastern Orthodox Church played a prominent role, and the courageous general population of that country. This is ironic, since Bulgaria was a forced ally of Germany.
Sadly, countries like The Netherlands actively cooperated with The Nazis (SS) in getting rid of all of its Jews. Also, Norway could have saved all of its Jews (only 800 as I recall) and did not do so.
The top collaborators with the Nazis were The Ukrainians (where the Holocaust started) who enthusiastically cooperated with the SS/SD in rounding up Jews, and later volunteered to provide the guards for the Death Camps in Poland.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteA lot of what passes for Anti-Jewish, or Anti-Semite these days stems from Replacement Theology as practiced by some Christian denominations, and is popular with some New Fundamentalist Baptist Churches. In that regard, Faithful Word Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona preaches that message. It's an interpretation of certain scriptures which claim that God is done with the Jews, whose only choice is to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Messiah. The pastor there is Steven Anderson who covers this approach in two of his sermons titled "The Jews and Their Lies" which I believe can be found at his church website or on a site called "Pastor Anderson All the Preaching" blog.
Anderson has also made at least one film (of many he has made) claiming The Holocaust is exaggerated as far as numbers are concerned. You can imagine how many blacklists he is on. Ha! Anyway, lots of Holocaust books out there, so no worries that it really did happen.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteJust a note, but the "Dean" of Holocaust historians is Raul Hilberg. Every Holocaust historian since Hilberg's seminal work on The Holocaust, rides around on his shoulders.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: First, again I agree; criticism of Israel's assault on Hamas is not necessarily or definitively anti Jewish or even anti Israeli. But I think the demonstrations, as massively widespread, well funded , instantaneous and well organized as they are , are very indicative of intense, some murderous, antisemitism (as the term is popularly understood). Only one group has the power to accomplish these appalling shows of force: the antiamerican far left. On the right , such sentiment can only be found in the pitiful and powerless declared Nazis who sulk on the tawdry extremity, though some of the far left is obviously pleased to reprise Nazi convictions and intent.
ReplyDeleteRay from Jack: I disagree that Israel's purpose in this war is retaliation. I think it is resolved to annihilate Hamas to defend its national security. Since Hamas chooses to shelter with innocent Palestinians and would no doubt savage them if they resisted, it has been tragically necessary to engage Hamas in those "sanctuaries". They have Hamas surrounded in Rafah and to demand that they refrain from finishing the job is to expect the unthinkable of an Israel which has also, after all, suffered greatly. For the sake of civilization: "eretz yetzion Yrushalyim" (pardon my spelling), and death to Hamas. The only way to end this war and relieve the innocent everywhere is for Israel to win its sworn objective.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
ReplyDeleteDefine the word "retaliation" for me? Define the word "revenge" for me? If these two words don't fit what Israel is doing about Hamas since October 2023, then what situations do they fit? Also, where do you get the word "innocent" to describe Palestinians who SUPPORT other Palestinians, called Hamas in this case?
Bottom line is that after 75 years of terrorist BULLSHIT perpetrated by Arab and Iranian Muslims, retaliation and revenge are perfectly acceptable words to use in describing what Israel is doing, and perfectly justified in every sense of the word.
This current situation is not based on on October 7, 2023 alone, but on 20 years of constant rocket attacks from Gaza to Israel, killing many innocent Israelis over these two decades. In that respect, you need to start eliminating the word "innocent" from in front of the word Palestinians. Hamas is Palestine! Palestine is Hamas. Before that it was the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Enough is enough! Let the Palestinians go live in tents in the Sinai Peninsula.
Ray from Jack: Well taken points, yours: A "poll" said that 70% of, I think, Gazan Palestinians supported Hamas. But would they have been risking their lives to say otherwise? Hamas fighters are savages, animals! But then, perhaps the fact that 30% may not support Hamas may accredit the poll. Alot of variables at work; too many to support an apparent overgeneralization like "innocent" so I won't use it again.Retaliation is an effort to hurt someone or thing in a manner comparable to the wrong they have done. Revenge is a feeling of satisfaction from having retaliated meaningfully. No doubt both accrue to Israelis in fighting Hamas. But I think their essential purpose is ever not a shred less than to eradicate Hamas. If they could do it by flipping a switch and sending them to the phantom zone, I'm sure they would do it.
ReplyDeleteRay, Dr. Waddy et al from Jack: I could not locate the quote I attributed to Marx that he thought Jews a problem which should be eliminated. So I went on line. An article published by the Rosenberger Library of Judaica said"Marx is just one example of a long list of socialists for whom attacks on Jews and capitalists go hand in hand." In looking up Marx's essay on"On the Jewish Question" (a euphemism the Nazis found right handy)on Wikipedia I noted the following opinion: "Having thus figureatively equated 'practical Judaism' with 'huckstering and money' Marx concludes. . . ultimately it is mankind . . that needs to emancipate itself from ('practical') Judaism".
ReplyDeleteRay, Dr. Waddy et Al from Jack: To continue: a 1984 article in the journal Commentary by one Paul Johnson refers to "the second part of Marx's essay as evidence of Marx's antisemitism". The MIddle East scholar Bernard Lewis describes Marx's essay as "one of the classics of antisemitic propaganda" . But Wikipedia also cited creditable disa greements as to the extent or intent of Marx's "doubts" about Jews. Most of these woke automatons desecrating once respected campuses probably know next to nothing about Marx but an intense strain of Jew hatred among them is blatant in some of them and tolerated by most of them. Neither this nor Marx's expressions confirm "antisemitism" as an indispensable part of Marxism, I must agree now but I believe history and these ongoing abominations on campus affirm that Marxism and sometimes murderous but always intense antipathy for Judaism and inhuman lack of empathy for Jews who have sought a homeland after indescribable travail, usually advance in company.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I wonder: we have witnessed much willingness by terrorists to commit suicide. Can it be that Hamas fully expected to be wiped out hard upon its onslaught on Oct. 7? Perhaps they think it will manifest international sympathy for them which will advance the cause of the extermination of the Jewish state. For Israel, Hamas' motive is dross, dust! Israel is unshakeablely resolved to erase this subhuman threat to their national life and is content to endure whatever presumptuous excoriation and betrayal is directed to it by ANYONE! I think the existential threat which is their daily fare is not fully comprehensible by any outside besieged Israel and world Judaism itself. Even the US is no longer quite the blessed haven it was for this highly civilized, terribly wronged people.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
ReplyDeleteBefore I sign off for the night (Central Daylight Time), I just want you to know that I appreciate and admire your sticking by your guns on issues. I mean that sincerely. Keep it up, as I am sure you will. Anyway, looks like Dr. Waddy, You and Me are the only ones commenting on the site. But three competent commenters are better than a fleet of lousy ones. Have a good week. Thanks for putting up with me, and especially when I get testy about stuff. I sure will be glad when this Israel/Palestine fiasco winds down, and The Ukraine and aby other mess you can think of.
Ray
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I think that we see both in Israel and Russia, nations terribly savaged in the past and equally and now unmoveably resolved to preserve their national security against perceived present and fundamental threats. Consider Pres. Lincoln's ironclad , unshakeable determination to save the Union. Or think of England under Churchill in 1940. Our foreign policy must be decisively informed by full comprehension of the hard, hard realities which obtain today in both catastrophic conflicts and refrain from trying to impose our will on countries convinced that their lives are at grave risk.
ReplyDeleteRay from Jack: I see I neglected to acknowledge your informative description of Replacement Theology as practiced some New Fundamentalist Baptist Churches. If one can classify it so, we would have to attribute this phenomenom to the very far right; certainly it appears to manifest much stronger influence than the powerless Nazis. Still, I think it does not approach the once again demonstrated massive organizational and proselytizing power of the far left in its unapologetic castigation of Judaism both here and in Israel.
ReplyDeleteRay, the Israelis have done an excellent job of selling Zionism (in various forms) to evangelicals in the U.S., but at bottom U.S. support of Israel reflects the political (and financial) strength of American Jews. In Congress, the pro-Israel lobby is known simply as "The Lobby". Enough said! That's why it's so interesting to me that the Palestinians even have a toehold in U.S. public opinion, especially on the Left. It's an new and intriguing development.
ReplyDeleteJack, the problem with citing that "Final Solution" sign and ascribing its genocidal hatred to all pro-Palestinian protestors, and even all leftists, is...well, obvious. One sign and one sign-waver do not a movement make. You think there might be a few Trump supporters waving around idiotic signage that would make you and me blush? I think so!!! What does that prove? Not much. If you want to paint the Left as a whole with the anti-Semitic brush, then find evidence that REAL anti-Semitism permeates the rank and file, or the leadership cadre, of the Left. I see no such evidence -- although to be fair I'm not looking nearly as hard as the news editors at Fox!
Ray makes a good point that almost every modern theological and ideological movement has had prominent adherents who were anti-Semites. That doesn't necessarily suggest anything about those movements in their current and popular forms, though.
As far as I know, Germany was very far from being the world H.Q. for anti-Semitism in the 19th and early 20th centuries. That distinction goes to Russia.
Ray is right that deciding who is "innocent" in the Middle East is no easy task! I would say that what Israel is up to in Gaza is partly revenge, but it's also deterrence. In that regard, the weak response to Iranian aggression suggests that Israel is venting its spleen on Rafah, and not Tehran, partly because Rafah is easy pickings. That choice may prove shortsighted, however.
Jack, Marx may have believed that humanity needed to liberate itself from Judaism, but he would have said the same of every theology AND ideology other than Marxism, so...?
Jack, I would shy from describing any humans (no matter how odious) as "subhuman", because that kind of talk can lead double-quick to more beastliness than you can shake a stick at.
Ray, we appreciate you and your insights too! Take that to the bank!
Jack, I agree that Israel sees its existence as threatened by the presence of Hamas in Gaza, and, while that may be hyperbolic, it's entirely understandable. If we (Americans) had been attacked on our own soil in a similar fashion, I shudder to think how we would have reacted!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Your caution about use of the term "subhuman" is creditable and I will refrain from using it. But I do think that those who willfully dismiss all sympathy and empathy , disdaining this essential of civilized humanity, are something less than fully human. I know the Nazis bandied the term untermensch (?)and that does it compelling discredit. I've used the term as a superlative and I'll think of another to describe such as Stalin and Pol Pot. Marx did lump Christianity and Judaism together as negatives; I don't know what he might have said about other faiths. Wasn't it his presumptuous disciple Lenin who said "religion is the opiate of the people". Re: the "Final Solution" sign: nothing could be more egregious than that but there is plenty of antiJewish expression and outright threat going on; Jews on campus confirm it. Where's the outrage on the left? Their silence is deafening. The left doesn't hesitate to attack whatever it doesn't like and they appear to be just fine with demonstrated antipathy to individual Jews and Judaism. It is intellectually unsound to conflate overt antisemitism and criticism of Israeli actions but the antiamerican left appears to be blithe to do so when it suits them.
ReplyDeleteJack, there's no doubt that the Left's sensitivity to "hate" and "intimidation" is entirely situational and discretionary. As I pointed out this week on the radio show, at best, when two "protected classes" clash, lefties are caught flat-footed. At worst, they cheer one side on to the detriment of the other (based on some neo-Marxist calculus that you and I will never understand). They also have a remarkable facility for NOT seeing what they prefer to ignore -- like violence and ugliness when practiced by their peers.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, as to the "subhuman" business, to me it describes people, not actions. Saying someone is "subhuman" is, historically at least, a way of cheapening their value as living beings, and of suggesting that they don't merit "rights" or even continued existence. Maybe there are people who don't merit either, but only after due process of law, in my opinion -- and doing away with them is more about protecting civilized people from the danger they pose, not about underlining their inferiority or their monstrosity.
And it was definitely Marx himself who talked about religion as the "opium of the people". To be fair to him, it often is!
Old fashioned doctrinaire Stalinist Marxism and. communism are . dead and buried . Biden, Bernie Sanders , AOC , Obama , the Clinton set al are no more communists than Pope Francis is a. Buddhist . There is nothin even remotely Marxist or communist. about the policies of the Democratic party .
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the Democrats don't even have a far left wing . They only appear far left to some people because the Republican party has gone so far to the right it is no longer conservative . It is. REGRESSIVE . Trump and the Republicans want to "take America back " - right back to the dark age !