CHRISTIANITY AND COMMUNISM:
TWO RELIGIONS IN SEARCH OF MAN’S REALITY
By DAVID REAGAN

We often think of Christianity and Communism as being diametrically opposed to each other. In reality, the two movements have many similarities, for Communism, like Christianity, is a religion. Both have their sacred scriptures and their prophets, saints and missionaries. Both are infused with a messianic spirit which points toward the ultimate redemption of man. Both even have their God, the God of Communism being the inevitable will of history.

Of course, these similarities are rather superficial in nature, but in one respect, at least, both movements are substantially alike --- both are rooted in a spirit of humanitarianism. Both Karl Marx and Jesus of Nazareth were moved to compassion by the suffering of the masses.

The depth of compassion which characterized the humble carpenter from Galilee is well known to all peoples, Christian and non-Christian alike. The Gospels speak repeatedly of His concern for the multitudes of common people and for those individuals in particular who were desperate, despondent, and derelict. Jesus loved the masses. He healed them, He fed them, He spiritually nourished them, and He comforted them with words of compassion: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Karl Marx was also a man of great sensitivity who was moved to compassion by the miserable plight of the masses. He was shocked and sickened by the suffering of his world-the mid-1800’s, the age of the Industrial Revolution. He was repulsed by the slums and filth and exploitation, by man’s inhumanity to man. Writing with phrases ringing with righteous indignation, he described the horrors of laissez-faire capitalism in graphic terms and denounced them bitterly:

Masses of laborers, crowded into the factory, are organized like soldiers. As privates of the industrial army they are placed under the command of a perfect hierarchy of officers and sergeants. Not only are they slaves of the bourgeois class, and the bourgeois state: they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overseer, and above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself. The more openly this despotism proclaims gain to be its end and aim the more petty, the more hateful and the more embittering it is . . .

Differences of age and sex have no longer any distinctive social validity for the working class. All are instruments of labor.

No sooner has the laborer received his wages in cash, for the moment escaping exploitation by the manufacturer, than he is set upon by the other portions of the bourgeoisie, the landlord, the shopkeeper, the pawnbroker, etc.

The stinging tone of Marx may differ drastically from the soothing words of Jesus, but the compassionate motivation of each was remarkably similar. Furthermore, it should be remembered that Jesus also bitterly denounced those whose lives were devoid of love and concern for their fellowman, calling them “blind fools” and “miserable frauds” and likening them to “white-washed tombs filled with dead men’s bones.”

No, Christianity and Communism do not differ in the wellspring of their fundamental motivation, for both are humanitarian in impulse. The crucial difference emerges in the solutions which they propose for the human condition, solutions which are shaped by their concept of the nature of man.

The Christian concept of man is paradoxical, for it is both inspiring and pessimistic. Man on the one hand is pictured as the noblest of creatures due to his rationality and spirituality. But on the other hand, man is presented as fallible and thus incapable of perfection. Man is, therefore, destined to live in sorrow and suffering. The explanation of this paradoxical situation rests in the fact that man has rebelled against God. This rebellion has resulted in spiritual death and the consequent triumph of man’s selfishness, arrogance, and pride.

The Christian solution to this tragic situation is the reconciliation of man to God through faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Not only will such faith open the door to a perfect life of happiness in the hereafter, but equally important (and often overlooked), it will serve as the basis for a rich and meaningful life in the present. In other words, Christianity is not just an other-world religion. It has relevance to life today, for true faith in Jesus will lead one to a life of love, and love is precisely the power which can alleviate the human condition. In short, the Christian sees the root of suffering in the sin of the human heart, and thus he urges that the heart of man must be transformed.

Marxism contains a much more optimistic view of man, for man is pictured as being capable of perfection. This difference is due to a different concept of the source of human misery. Whereas the Christian locates the source of evil in man due to his separation from God, the Marxist dismisses God and locates the source of evil instead in man’s separation from reality. In other words, evil is rooted not in man but in the economic system of exploitation whereby man has been separated from the fruits of his labor.

Accordingly, the Marxist advocates that the solution to suffering is to be found in the reconciliation of man to the fruits of his labor through the socialization of the economy. This, in turn, will lead to the destruction of all economic classes and their exploitation of one another. At this point, man will be transformed, societal conflict will end, government will wither away, and the millennium will arrive.

The fundamental fallacy of Marxism is to be found in its central concept that a restructuring of the economic system will result in the transformation of the nature of man from selfishness to selflessness. This thesis simply is not true. The history of the implementation of Marxism stands as stark testimony to the fact that communist leaders have proved to be as selfish and ruthless as the non-Communist dictators that they have replaced --- in fact, even more so.

This is the powerful message of The New Class, the most significant book published on Communism since the Manifesto of Marx. Written by Milovan Djilas, the former Vice President of Yugoslavia under the Tito regime, the book lays bare the corruption of Communism in practice.

Djilas points out that because of the basic humanitarianism of Marxist theory, “. . . a Communist movement always begins as one of the highest idealism and most selfless sacrifice, attracting into its ranks the most gifted. the bravest, and even the most noble intellects of the nation . . . Everywhere, Communism begins as an aspiration toward a beautiful ideal society:” However, Djilas emphasizes that this is true only while the movement is young, before it has tasted the fruits of power. Once the movement begins its struggle for power, its immoral means become a corrupting influence whereby the search for power as a means to a higher end is transformed into a search for power as an end in itself. As Djilas graphically describes it:

Through moral crises, through political intrigues and insinuations, mutual calumniation, unreasoning hatred and barbaric encounters, through debauchery and intellectual decadence, the movement slowly climbs, crushing groups and individuals, discarding the superfluous, forging its core and its dogma, its morals and psychology, atmosphere, and manner of work . . .

The wonderful human characteristics of an isolated movement are slowly transformed into the intolerant and Pharisaical morals of a privileged caste. . . the former heroes . . . become self-centered cowards without ideas or comrades, willing to renounce everything --- honor, name, truth, and morals --- in order to keep their place in the ruling class and the hierarchical circle.

As these words indicate, the major transformation of man which the implementation of Marxism has wrought is the tragic one whereby man is degraded to the level of an animal, for the practice of Communism has led to a denial of the very aspects of man’s nature which constitute his uniqueness. The Marxists have demeaned the rationality of their subjects by imprisoning them in an intellectual dungeon of forced conformity. In like manner, they have denied the spirituality of man by demanding that he reject God and surrender his complete allegiance to the State.

The problem with Marxist humanitarianism is that it has narrowly concerned itself only with the needs of the physical body. Yet, as Jesus so poignantly put it, “Man cannot live by bread alone:’ Nor did the Lord intend this statement to mean that man could live by love alone! Jesus was concerned about the whole of man. His mission on earth was primarily spiritual in nature, but He supplemented His spiritual message by feeding and healing the masses. The Lord fully realized the importance of man’s physical needs, and thus in His model prayer He prayed first that His Father would provide His children with their “daily bread.”

True Christianity is not simply concerned with life after death. True Christianity is a revolutionary movement with a radical impact on life in the present, for it demands a fundamental change in the character of man. True Christianity calls for man to love his fellow man, and the implementation of this concept would revolutionize the world more radically than the wildest dreams of any Marxist. — Austin College, Sherman, Texas