Part I of our Communism for Kids! series, subscribe for Part II.

“In a way, the world−view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.”

- George Orwell, 1984

Flawed From the Start

The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx, can be dismissed almost out of hand right at the outset. Bold words, you might think, but I was honestly astounded at how weak are some of the premises in this murderous drivel, right at the foundation. I’ve entitled this series Communism for Kids, because the reasoning employed by Marx here is legitimately childlike, in my humble opinion, and I’ll endeavour to show how. I write as a layman, but as it’s been said many a time, “Communism is an idea so dumb only an intellectual would fall for it.”

Over the next few articles, we’re going to break down some of the pillars of the Manifesto, attacking them one by one, hopefully with results somewhat resembling Biblical Samson’s tumultuous end.

This false dichotomy proposed by communism is a frankly childlike oversimplification of human history. There is no clearcut Oppressor, no clearcut Oppressed.

Many wonder why conservatives seem to go on and on about communism - a quick look at history, and a follow-up look at the parallels in our current politics, can tell you why. Communism may be responsible for more human evil and loss of life than even Nazism, but that realization is not broadly reflected in society or academia. If you’d like a look at the absolute depravity of this ideology (and its embryo form, Socialism), I recommend listening to The Anti-Humans, an episode of the Martyrmade Podcast with Darryl Cooper. WARNING: This episode is not for the faint of heart. It’s an honest and brutal look at communism’s philosophical roots, and the acts of pure horror that are borne as its fruit. It’s one of the darkest and most revolting things I’ve ever listened to, yet it should be mandatory listening for these College Comrades running around singing communism’s praises.

Would society tolerate it if these types were preaching Nazism? Absolutely not, and rightly so. It’s time we learned enough history to realize that Communism deserves the same treatment.

Now let’s debunk this nonsense.

Oppressor vs. Oppressed?

Refuting this idea is quite simple - 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 the poor man thrown into prison when he can’t pay it.

Now, through a communist lens, the king who threatens to sell his servant (along with his family) into slavery, and liquidate his servant’s property to cover the debt owed to him, is clearly the oppressor. The king holds all the power, all the wealth, and this bourgeoisie tyrant must be brought down, no?

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.

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” as the communists would like him to, 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 back immediately. When the poor soul 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. From a Marxist perspective, you would expect Rich King Bad, Poor Servant Good, no? Bourgeoisie Bad, Proletariat Good, right? Rather, the exact opposite is true. With humility, we should recognize what Christ is poignantly pointing out - humanity can not be so simply categorized.

This false dichotomy proposed by communism is a frankly childlike oversimplification of human history. There is no clearcut Oppressor, no clearcut Oppressed.

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. “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.

   Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.” - The Communist Manifesto, Chapter 1