CHAPTER 2 The Marxian Faith Communists believe there ex ists one method, one tool, one key which opens to man the riddles of human life-and one alone. Its awkward name is Dialectical Materialism. However intelligent and knowledgeable men may be, unless they possess and use this key all intelligence and all other knowledge avail nothing. With it one may, provided his thought and will are strong, discern the "curve of history"—always and everywhere conditioned by economic forces-and thus be able to fit himself meaningfully into his destiny. Without it, all is sound and fury, signifying nothing. No dedication to high ideals, no love of man for his fellow man can take its place or change its working. Karl Marx, the father of Dialectical Materialism, was none too exact in defining its basic features. Since his time Communists and non-Communists alike have compounded the original confusion until today the experts disagree and most others shrug and ignore it—or have never heard of it. Disagreement among the experts, probably inevitable, is not too serious. But that an elementary understanding of this concept is almost wholly lacking among average citizens is not only deplorable, it is dangerous, and may be fatal. However much the Western world in general, and Americans in particular, may wish to the Devil the whole business of Communist ideology the fact remains that it shapes a large part of the world today and indirectly influences the rest. The leaders of Communist Russia, unlike their counterparts in the nonCommunist world, study deeply and know thoroughly the philosophy which underlies their way of life, and they scru pulously and strictly apply it. From time to time, it is true, interpretations vary; but the principle holds even when interpretations differ. Superimposed on our ignorance of Dialectical Materialism is a careless and casual subscription to broad, and often untrue or only partly true, generalizations on the Russian world. One of these generalizations is that Communism is a religion. From here it is easy and fairly common to form superficial judgments as to what are the proper reactions and counterdevelopments. All too often, as a consequence, they turn out to be not proper at all, and the world scene becomes more unclear and perplexing. The following expositions seek to answer, simply and yet accurately, these questions: Is Communism a religion? And, what is Dialectical Materialism? The author of the first selection is Michael T. Florinsky, internationally known scholar whose understanding and integrity are universally acknowledged. The selection is taken from his WORLD REVOLUTION AND THE U.S.S.R. FROM Michael T. Florinsky WORLD REVOLUTION AND THE U.S.S.R. THE bewildering spectacle of Holy Russia suddenly embracing the materialistic teaching of Marx and the missionary zeal which undoubtedly animates many of the disciples of Lenin has lead numerous authors writing on Soviet conditions to describe communism as a religion. This statement, like so many other broad generalizations, may be either true or misleading: it all depends on the exact meaning which we choose to give to the word religion. The assertion itself is usually based on a rather unwarranted assumption that, hitherto, the Russian people have always been devout adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church. It seems extremely doubtful whether this statement could be ade quately proved, and the remarkable ease with which the Soviet Government succeeded [in its early years] in stamping out religious practices within the borders of the U.S.S.R. would suggest the necessity of greater caution than is displayed by most writers when pronouncing upon the religious feelings of both Russia's peasantry and Russia's educated classes. If we use religion in the ordinary sense of the term, meaning "human recognition of superhuman controlling power, and especially of a personal God entitled to obedience and the effect of such recognition on conduct and mental attitude," to quote the definition of the Oxford Dictionary, it will appear at once that the comparison is not valid. The communist teaching is primarily a materialistic doctrine from which any idea of superhuman control or, much more, of a personal God is rigidly excluded and, indeed, branded as vulgar superstition. The sphere of action of communism ends where the real sphere of religion begins; at that mysterious but inevitable boundary which every human being has to cross, that line which separates our earthly existence from what is beyond. Communism can win the sincere and wholehearted support of multitudes by promising them a better existence, one from which the inequality, misery, unhappiness, and debasement which we find everywhere in the capitalist world will be eliminated. But it can do nothing to meet that irresistible urge which has it in its power to bring men and women willingly to abandon the comforts, satisfactions, and joys of this world in order to achieve what they believe to be eternal salvation. The materialistic doctrine of Marx and Lenin and the teaching of the churches appeal therefore to entirely different human emotions; and in this deeper and more fundamental aspect the two have nothing in common. Viewed, however, from a different angle and in its more superficial aspects, the comparison of communism with religion is both justifiable and useful. Like most intellectual movements with a broad social appeal, especially movements controlled by small but well-organized groups with large means at their disposal, the Russian Communist Party has been eminently successful in spreading its teaching and inspiring at least some of its followers with a missionary zeal which compares not unfavorably with that of the early Christians. It displayed a militant spirit and an intolerance towards all who did not share its gospel which will compare with the most outstanding examples offered by religious struggles. It chastised the heretics in its ranks with a ruthless savagery which may be likened, without fear of exaggeration, to that of the Roman Inquisition, although here again the ultimate motives are very different: In disposing of the undesirable and erring members of the Party, communists are concerned with the advancement of their purely secular purposes, while the ultimate aim of the Inquisition was the salvation of the souls of the very men and women they sent to the stake. Like the monastic orders, the Russian Communist Party seeks to impose upon its members a severe discipline with a view to controlling not only their behavior but also their way of thinking. In all these respects, no doubt, communism and religion have a great deal in common. But this would be largely true of any popular social movement, as, for instance, to take a familiar example, that of Prohibition in the United States. There is, however, one aspect of the present situation in the Soviet Union which seems to indicate a particularly close kinship between communism and religion. This is a truly religious cult which has grown up, and which now enshrines the memory and work of Lenin, the great leader of the Bolshevik revolution. It would be dangerous to draw definite conclusions from those lone lines of people who wait for hours to file by his tomb in the Red Square. There is no way of determining whether the motives of these communist pilgrims are similar to those of Russian peasants of pre-revolution days who journeyed hundreds of miles to visit a holy icon in an ancient monastery, or whether the psychology involved is more like that of some contemporary crowd in New York or London which maintains a long vigil and endures great discomfort to obtain a glimpse of Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, or some heavyweight champion of the world. One must remember that there are no movie stars in U.S.S.R., and that the life of the ordinary Soviet citizen is very drab. But if the popular attitude toward the memory of Lenin and its outward manifestations are open to more than one interpreta |