By 1878 Marx had abandoned practically every aspect of his work. His rock-ribbed self confidence had been shattered. Labor leaders ignored him, reformers ridiculed him. His words carried little weight, either at home or abroad.
Thus, his morale was at the breaking point when the toll of time struck down his only kindred spirit outside of Engels -- Frau Marx. This gentle, aristocratic and long-suffering companion died of cancer December 2, 1881. Thirteen months later, Marx's favorite daughter, Jenny, also suddenly died. Thereafter, Engels noted that Marx, the man, was as well as dead. He survived his daughter, Jenny, by only two brief months. On March 14, 1883, at 2:45 in the afternoon, he died while sitting alone in his chair.
Three days later six or seven persons followed the casket of Karl Marx to Highgate cemetery in London and there his one abiding friend, Friedrich Engels, read a funeral oration. It was the kind of oration Marx would liked to have heard. It granted him in death what Marx was never granted in life unequivocal tribute of glowing praise.
Epilogue
Thus ended the dynamic, turbulent and restless career of Karl Marx. By all standards it was a pathetic life, filled with burning ambition, constant frustration and continuous failure. Whether seen from the viewpoint of friend or foe, perhaps the real tragedy of Marx's life can be found in the fact that for some amazing reason he almost instinctively planted the seeds of self-destruction in any project he promoted.
One cannot pore over the almost endless products of his pen -- the weighty, complex books or the reams of sniping, feverish correspondence without feeling that Karl Marx projected into Communism the very essence of his own nature. His resentment of political authority expressed itself in a ringing cry for universal revolution. His refusal or inability to compete in a capitalistic economy wrung from him a vitriolic denunciation of that economy and a prophecy that its destruction was inexorably decreed. His deep sense of insecurity pushed him to create out of his own imagination a device for interpreting history which made progress inescapable and a Communist millennium unavoidable. His personal attitude toward religion, morals and competition in everyday existence led him to long for an age when men would have no religion, morals or competition in everyday existence. He wanted to live in a classless, stateless, noncompetitive society where there would be such lavish production of everything that men, by simply producing according to their apparent ability, would automatically receive a superabundance of all material needs.
Another characteristic of Marx which he shared with his intellectual off-spring -- Communism -- is that both must be viewed from a distance to be admired, even by friends. It is for this reason that biographers often treat Marx as though he were two persons. From a distance they might feel to admire his theories but upon close contact Marx becomes a different entity. Thus, Bakunin could call Marx the "supreme economic and socialist genius of our day" and then give the following evaluation of Marx, the man: "Marx is egotistical to the pitch of insanity....
"Marx loved his own person much more than he loved his friends and apostles, and no friendship could hold water against the slightest wound to his vanity.... Marx will never forgive a slight to his person. You must worship him, make an idol of him, if he is to love you in return; you must at least fear him if he is to tolerate you. He likes to surround himself with pygmies, with lackeys and flatterers. All the same, there are some remarkable men among his intimates. In general, however, one may say that in the circle of Marx's intimates there is very little brotherly frankness, but a great deal of machination and diplomacy. There is a sort of tacit struggle and a compromise between the self-loves of the various persons concerned; and where vanity is at work there is no longer place for brotherly feeling. Every one is on his guard, is afraid of being sacrificed, of being annihilated. Marx's circle is a sort of mutual admiration society. Marx is the chief distributor of honours, but is also the invariably perfidious and malicious, the never frank and open, inciter to the persecution of those whom he suspects, or who had the misfortune of failing to show all the veneration he expects. As soon as he has ordered a persecution there is no limit to the baseness and infamy of the method."
The acid of boiling intolerance which Marx frequently poured down on the heads of his followers may be partially explained by his own complete certainty that the theories he had concocted were infallible gems of cosmic truth. In his heyday of abounding strength Marx often bowled over his opposition with mountain-moving declarations of supreme self-confidence:
"Historical evolution is on your side," he shouted to his followers. "Capitalism, brought into being by the laws of historical evolution, will be destroyed by the inexorable working of these same laws. The bourgeoisie, the business manager of the capitalist system, appeared on the stage of history with that system, and must make its exit when that system walks off the stage. You, proletarians, keep capitalism going by your labour, and maintain the whole of bourgeois society by the fruits of your industry. But socialism will be a necessary organic outcome of capitalism, the essence of the latter being implied in the essence of the former. With the end of capitalism, comes the beginning of socialism as a logical consequence. You proletarians, as a class, being the incorporators of the forces and tendencies which will do away with capitalism, must necessarily make an end of the bourgeoisie. You merely need, as a class, to fulfill the evolution which your mission calls on you to fulfill. All you need is to will! History makes this as easy as possible for you. You need not hatch out any new ideas, make any plans, discover a future State. You need not 'dogmatically anticipate the world.' You need merely put your hands to the task which is awaiting you. The means by which you will do it are to be found in the unceasing, purposive, consistent fighting of the class struggle, whose crown will be the victory of the social revolution."
When Marx died there was little to suggest to him in his closing hours that he yet would be remembered for the thing he had striven unsuccessfully to produce -- a genuine revolution. While Western Europe wrote off revolutionary violence as a mere phase of Nineteenth Century social reform, a great slumbering giant in Eastern Europe was about to be rudely awakened by Marx's revolutionary call to arms. This, of course, was Russia.
Before studying the revolution in Russia, we must turn to a brief review of the theories which Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels left as a legacy to the disciples of World Communism. In these theories may be found the explanation for many things in the Russian Revolution and in subsequent Communist activities which otherwise might be difficult or impossible to understand.
_____________________
1. Wilson, Edmund, To The Finland Station, pp. 217-218.
2. Ruhle, Otto, Karl Marx, pp. 209-308.
3. Wilson, Edmund, To The Finland Station, p. 115.
4. Ruhle, Otto, Karl Marx, pp. 383-384.
5. Ruhle, Otto, Karl Marx, pp. 157-158.
6. Ruhle, Otto, Karl Marx, pp. 202-204.
7. Ruhle, Otto, Karl Marx, pp. 248-249.
8. Ruhle, Otto, Karl Marx, pp. 262.
Chapter Two
The Appeal of Communism
"How could a great scientist or anyone with so much education fall for Communism?" During the past 20 years this question has echoed around the land with each fresh exposure of Red espionage. It has been amazing to many people to discover that Communism appeals to certain educated individuals because it includes an intriguing "philosophy of nature." In this philosophy Communism does seem to explain the origin and development of everything in existence -- life, planets, galaxies, evolution, and even human intelligence. To those who have not previously delved into philosophy these concepts sometimes prove infatuating and persuasive. Therefore, in this chapter we shall deal with them.
Perhaps this material may prove to be difficult reading. However, the theories of Communism will be far easier to digest in this brief, concentrated form than they would be if the student attempted to spend several months digging them out of far-flung, technical treatises in Communist literature.
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p; Every student should pursue his studies of Marxism until he has discovered the answers to such questions as these:
What is the Communist "law of opposites"? What is the "law of negation"? Explain the "law of transformation.
How does the Communist philosopher explain the origin of life? Does the universe have a designer or a purpose?
What is meant by the Communist concept that everything is the result of accumulated accident?
Does Communism have a god? What did Feuerbach say man's god really is? Who did Marx say must remake the world? How did Marx and Engels justify the use of violence?
What is the basic fallacy in the Communist "law of opposites"? What is the inherent fallacy in the "law of negation"? What is the weakness in the "law of transformation"?
The Case for Communism
The influence of Marx and Engels has continued in the earth, not simply because they were against so many things but primarily because they stood for something. In a word, they promised to satisfy humanity's two greatest needs: the need for universal peace and the need for universal prosperity.
The very fact that Communism offered a millennium for all the distracted, dissatisfied and unhappy people in the world assured it a hearing, not merely by under-privileged workers, but by many of the aristocracy, many of the wealthy, and many of the political and economic theorists.
When these people began hearing how Marx and Engels were going to achieve universal peace and universal prosperity they began dividing into clear-cut camps for or against Communism. One group insisted that Communism was worth a try in spite of the blood bath it would bring to humanity (after all, what is one more war if it is the gateway to permanent peace?). The other camp insisted that Communism is a complete repudiation of every decent human attribute. It would summarily forfeit all the gains which men have made through centuries of struggle.
What, then, is the case for Communism?
In this chapter we shall attempt to reduce Communist thought to its basic formula. The student will become immediately aware that Marx and Engels dealt with much more than violent revolution and Communist economics. In fact, they developed a framework of ideas designed to explain everything in existence. This philosophy is the pride and joy of every modern Communist intellectual and therefore deserves careful scrutiny.
The Communist Philosophy of Nature
To begin with, the basic Communist idea is that everything in existence can be explained by one thing -- matter. Beyond matter there is nothing. Matter is the total explanation for atoms, solar systems, plants, animals, man, psychic consciousness, human intelligence and all other aspects of life. Communist philosophy maintains that if science can get to know all there is to know about matter, we will then know all there is to know about everything.1 Communism has therefore assigned to science the monumental task of making man totally omniscient -- of knowing all truth -- but has limited the investigation to one reality -- matter. Matter is conclusively accepted as the beginning and the end of all reality.
Communist philosophy then sets forth to answer three questions: What is the origin of energy or motion in nature?
What causes galaxies, solar systems, planets, animals and all kingdoms of nature to constantly increase their numerical quantity?
What is the origin of life, the origin of species and the origin of consciousness and mind?
Marx and Engels answered all of these questions with their three laws of matter:
The Law of Opposites -- Marx and Engels started with the observation that everything in existence is a combination or unity of opposites.2 Electricity is characterized by a positive and negative charge. Atoms consist of protons and electrons which are unified but contradictory forces. Each organic body has qualities of attraction and repulsion. Even human beings find through introspection that they are a unity of opposite qualities -- selfishness and altruism, courage and cowardice, social traits and anti-social traits, humbleness and pride, masculinity and femininity. The Communist conclusion is that everything in existence "contains two mutually incompatible and exclusive but nevertheless equally essential and indispensable parts or aspects."3
Now the Communist concept is that this unity of opposites in nature is the thing which makes each entity auto-dynamic and provides the constant motivation for movement and change. This idea was borrowed from Georg Wilhelm Hegel (1770-1831) who said: "Contradiction (in nature) is the root of all motion and of all life."4
This, then, introduces us to the first basic observation of Communist dialectics. The word "dialectics" has a very special meaning to Communists. It represents the idea of conflict in nature. The beginning student of Communist philosophy can better understand the meaning of dialectics if he substitutes the word "conflict" each time "dialectics" appears.
So at this point the student is expected to understand that each thing in the universe is in a state of motion because it is a parcel made up of opposite forces which are struggling within it. This brings us to the second law of matter.
The Law of Negation -- Having accounted for the origin of motion and energy in the universe, the Communist writers then set about to account for the tendency in nature to constantly increase the numerical quantity of all things. They decided that each entity tends to negate itself in order to reproduce itself in greater quantity. Engels cited the case of the barley seed which, in its natural state, germinates and out of its own death or negation produces a plant. The plant in turn grows to maturity and is itself negated after bearing many barley seeds. Thus, all nature is constantly expanding through dying. The elements of opposition which produce conflict in each thing and give it motion also tend to negate the thing itself; but out of this dynamic process of dying the energy is released to expand and produce many more entities of the same kind.5
Having accounted for numerical increase in the universe, the Communist philosophers then set about to account for all the different creations in nature.
The Law of Transformation -- This law states that a continuous quantitative development by a particular class often results in a "leap" in nature whereby a completely new form or entity is produced.6 Consider, for example, the case of the paraffin hydrocarbons:
"Chemistry testifies to the fact that methane is composed of one atom of carbon and four atoms of hydrogen. Now, if we add to methane another atom of carbon and two more atoms of hydrogen (a mere quantitative increase since these are the elements already composing the methane) we get an entirely new chemical substance called ethane. If we add another atom of carbon and two more atoms of hydrogen to the ethane, we get propane, an entirely different chemical substance. Another quantitative addition of an atom of carbon and two atoms of hydrogen results in a fourth chemical substance, butane. And still another quantitative addition of an atom of carbon and two more atoms of hydrogen results in a fifth chemical substance, pentane."7
The Marxist philosophers immediately concluded that this is the clue to the "Creative Power" in nature. Matter is not only auto-dynamic and inclined to increase itself numerically, but through quantitative accumulations it is also inherently capable of "leaps" to new forms and new levels of reality.
Marx and Engels now felt they had not only found an explanation for the "origin of species," but that they had discovered a thrilling explanation for the greatest mystery of all: What is Life?
The Origin of Life, Consciousness and Mind
On the basis of this principle the Communist philosophers decided that the phenomenon of life was the product of one of these leaps. Engels stated that the complex chemical structure of matter evolved until albuminous substance was formed, and from this albuminous substance life emerged. In fact, he insisted that just as you cannot have matter without motion, so also you cannot have albumin without life. It is an inherent characteristic of albumin -- a higher form of motion in nature.8
Engels also suggested that as soon as life emerged spontaneously from albuminous substance, it was bound to increase in complexity. Dialectical Materialism is an evol
utionary philosophy. However, the Communist does not believe that new forms in nature are the result of gradual change but that quantitative multiplication builds up the momentum for a "leap" in nature which produces a change or a new specie.
The Communist believes that incidental to one of these leaps, the phenomenon of consciousness emerged. The creature became aware of the forces which were playing upon it. Then at an even higher level another form of life appeared with the emerging capacity to work with these impressions -- to arrange them in associations -- and thus mind emerged as an intelligent, self-knowing, self-determining quality in matter. However, matter is primary, mind is secondary. Where there is no matter there is no mind -- therefore, there can be no soul, no immortality, no God.