I can’t believe we’re still talking about “The Communist Manifesto” 177 years after Karl Marx published it. Not because this theoretical framework has repeatedly failed empirical testing – it has – but because the manifesto was simply a Communist League pamphlet of action written by Marx and his friend Friedrich Engels over a few weeks in late 1847 and early 1848. The famously unkept Marx was a prolific writer who died stateless in 1883, but it’s primarily this one pamphlet that continues to make him a household name.
What’s so captivating about communism and its little brother, socialism?
I can understand if Marxist theory is viewed as a compassionate (the left loves this word) collective framework for equal redistribution of resources throughout society. But at this point in human history, Marx’s theories have been disproven repeatedly via the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy, National Socialist Germany, Maoist China, Khmer Rouge Cambodia, Kim Dynasty North Korea, Hugo Chavez’s Venezuelan nightmare, and the currently failing social welfare states of Europe, to name a few.
To better understand what the Democratic Socialists of America are pitching, we must start with “The Communist Manifesto.” In this work, Marx focuses on the class struggle. He replaces the Estates of the Realm terminology of previous centuries – the First Estate (clergy), Second Estate (nobility), and Third Estate (peasants and middle class) – with the conflict between the working class (proletariat) – providing necessary labor – and the middle class (bourgeoisie) that controls the means of production. In the manifesto, Marx argues that if the working class alone would unite, they could create a classless society of communal property and equal outcomes.
According to Marx, the Communist League that he was promoting was perfectly suited to lead this revolution to eliminate private property and class distinctions. It wouldn’t be easy, but Marx outlined a blurry revolutionary design to achieve this utopian collective society: 1) primitive communism, 2) feudalism, 3) capitalism, 4) socialism, and finally, 5) communism. Notice, in this multistage design, socialism and communism are morally superior to capitalism because they no longer exploit the worker.
Fortunately for us, the majority of the world’s workers rejected Marx and chose not to fight for the false utopia peddled by the communists.
Unfortunately for us, empirical failures haven’t dissuaded contemporary Marxists from selling and reselling disproven snake oil. Instead, they modify the theory to suit their agendas, rebranding behind topics such as climate change, defining new class struggles such as the oppressed versus the oppressors, all while continuing to espouse false utopias as part of their relentless political insurgencies.
Don’t take my word for it. Go to the website of the Democratic Socialists of America and see what they say. You’ll discover that they’re “the largest socialist organization in the United States,” and that they believe “working people should run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few.” Yes, nearly two centuries after Marx’s manifesto, the Democratic Socialists of America are advocating for all workers to unite behind the political revolution started by Bernie Sanders.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s strategy includes adding the term democratic to socialist to obscure the revolution they intend to continue. In the two-party system of the United States, this allows them ballot access through the Democratic Party, which leverages readily available ideological voters who assume anyone with a Democrat designation beside their name on a ballot is morally superior to their Republican opponent.
Third parties have used techniques like this to gain ballot access. In Alabama, other parties have also captured the anti-Republican vote by running candidates in elections where there isn’t a Democrat candidate. In this example, third parties work hard to acquire the necessary signatures to gain one-time ballot access. Then, if their candidates do well enough in the election, they earn ballot access for the next election. That’s why it’s important for voters to be careful when they evaluate candidates, because there are all kinds of surreptitious techniques employed to gain and retain political power.
So, if you’re a fan of private property, beware of a socialist in sheep’s clothing, because a Democratic socialist that needs a revolution to remake American society is still a socialist.
Dr. Tobias Vogt von Heselholt (shortened to “Vote”) is a retired U.S. Army officer, former professor, author, and elected member of the Alabama Republican Executive Committee. For more, see his author page at amazon.com.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please email your name and contact information to [email protected].
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