Debunking Communism // The False ‘Oppressor-Oppressed' Dichotomy

Part I of our Debunking Communism series, click here for Part II.

Flawed From the Start

The Communist Manifesto can be dismissed almost out of hand right at the outset. One of its earliest premises sums up the entirety of history as oppressor vs. oppressed.¹ This premise is so weak, it’s astounding to me this philosophy ever gained enough ground that it should have had the power to extinguish over 100 million lives, except for the fact that it is incredibly useful to the powerful in establishing authoritarian dictatorships.

It’s refutation, and it’s quite simple, is this - consider the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. For those who are unfamiliar with the story, here is a brief synopsis. A servant is in debt to his king. He is unable to pay, and his king threatens to sell him and his family into indentured servitude and liquidate his possessions, in order to pay off the debt. When the servant begs him for mercy, the king agrees, and forgives the debt. The unforgiving servant immediately and hypocritically goes off and shakes down someone who owes him a tiny amount, orders of magnitude less than his own now-forgiven debt, and has him thrown into prison when he can’t pay it.

Now, through a communist lens, the king who threatens to sell his servant and his servant’s family into slavery, and liquidate his property in order that his servant’s debt may be repaid, is clearly the oppressor. The king holds all the power, all the wealth, and this bourgeoisie tyrant must be brought down, no?

And yet, plot twist - when the servant begs for an extension, the king pities him, and beyond simply extending the term of the loan, he forgives the debt entirely, and sends the servant on his way. If this king is to fit inside the little box marked “Oppressor” that the communists would attempt to fit him into, he is certainly making it difficult.

And now we begin to follow the servant. Having just had his entire debt forgiven, what does he do? He finds himself the poor soul who owes him the tiniest fraction of what he owed the king, and assaults him, demanding he be paid what is owed him immediately. When the poor soul with the hands around his neck pleadingly admits he cannot afford to repay the debt, the unforgiving servant has him thrown in prison.

So who is oppressor, who is oppressed? Our not-so-trusty communist lens completely belies our moral instinct when looking at this parable. In the Marxist interpretation, Rich King Bad, Poor Servant Good. Bourgeoisie Bad, Proletariat Good, right? We are humbly and poignantly reminded here by Christ that humanity can not be so simply categorized.

This false dichotomy proposed by communism is a frankly childlike oversimplification of human history. For here is the truth. We are all Oppressor. We are all Oppressed. The cyclical machinations of existence afford us all plenty of opportunity for both, regardless of class, race, socio-economic status, or whatever other flimsy fakeitudes the division-mongering Marxists would use to foment foundation-less outrage.

And so, before we are more than a few paragraphs in to this disaster-for-humanity of a manifesto, we find one of it’s chief pillars can’t hold up to an ounce of reality - it’s no wonder all of its attempts look like the aftermath of a party attended by Samson.

Footnotes:

1. from The Communist Manifesto, Chapter 1