The Holy Church of Marx
It is ironic, but in some ways there are parallels between Marxism and the various Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), the irony being that Marxism is a scientific ideology, not a belief/faith.
The most obvious similarity between the two is the sectarian factioning that has occurred in Marxism, as well as the previously mentioned faiths.
To analyze this factioning from a religious point of view, it would seem that Karl Marx is practically acknowledged as a "God" by all followers of Communism, and V.I. Lenin is recognized as the "Messiah" by most of the branches of Communism. However, the true dividing force in both Marxism and religion is that every splinter faction has it's own "Prophet".
To analyze this factioning from a scientific point of view, the basic principal stays the same. One faith splinters into many separate religions because of the desire for power. Under the guise of
"reforming the faith" or "returning to the true, traditional path" certain individuals branch off from the parent faith and form their own religious sect so that they can be the new leader. The same exact principal divides Marxism.
It is this sectarian way of thinking that tears the communist movement apart, and eventually leads to the demise of the movement. Say what you will about Soviet political hegemony, but there was a time when the socialist camp was mostly one unified force. Events such as the power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin, the Yugoslavian communists breaking away from the Soviet Union, and the great Sino-Soviet split, caused massive rifts in the global communist movement, and split the various nations/groups into smaller and smaller, separate spheres of influence.
On the other hand, the capitalist camp remained surprisingly unified through out the duration of the cold war. Alliances were made between old capitalist enemies against the forces of socialism. It was this unity among the capitalist camp that eventually assured their global supremacy. It was the divided state of the socialist camp that allowed the capitalists to defeat socialism one faction at a time.
Sectarian attitudes among Marxists is a poison on our entire movement. I do not accept the predictable sectarian arguments about how the rest of the communist movement refuses to cooperate with your faction, self righteous assertions that your faction is the only true practitioner of Marxism or the petty excuses about futile efforts to cooperate with others in the Marxist movement. The fact of the entire matter remains: The capitalist world is indivisible, and as long as the socialist camp lays in shambles, the society of communist man will never be realized.
The most obvious similarity between the two is the sectarian factioning that has occurred in Marxism, as well as the previously mentioned faiths.
To analyze this factioning from a religious point of view, it would seem that Karl Marx is practically acknowledged as a "God" by all followers of Communism, and V.I. Lenin is recognized as the "Messiah" by most of the branches of Communism. However, the true dividing force in both Marxism and religion is that every splinter faction has it's own "Prophet".
To analyze this factioning from a scientific point of view, the basic principal stays the same. One faith splinters into many separate religions because of the desire for power. Under the guise of
"reforming the faith" or "returning to the true, traditional path" certain individuals branch off from the parent faith and form their own religious sect so that they can be the new leader. The same exact principal divides Marxism.
It is this sectarian way of thinking that tears the communist movement apart, and eventually leads to the demise of the movement. Say what you will about Soviet political hegemony, but there was a time when the socialist camp was mostly one unified force. Events such as the power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin, the Yugoslavian communists breaking away from the Soviet Union, and the great Sino-Soviet split, caused massive rifts in the global communist movement, and split the various nations/groups into smaller and smaller, separate spheres of influence.
On the other hand, the capitalist camp remained surprisingly unified through out the duration of the cold war. Alliances were made between old capitalist enemies against the forces of socialism. It was this unity among the capitalist camp that eventually assured their global supremacy. It was the divided state of the socialist camp that allowed the capitalists to defeat socialism one faction at a time.
Sectarian attitudes among Marxists is a poison on our entire movement. I do not accept the predictable sectarian arguments about how the rest of the communist movement refuses to cooperate with your faction, self righteous assertions that your faction is the only true practitioner of Marxism or the petty excuses about futile efforts to cooperate with others in the Marxist movement. The fact of the entire matter remains: The capitalist world is indivisible, and as long as the socialist camp lays in shambles, the society of communist man will never be realized.
posted by RedJulie at 11:29 PM
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