Jocelyn Gunter

In the pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, authors Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels spell out the beliefs, motives, and hopes of the Communist party. Communism, in its essence, is the abolition of social class, freedoms, and private property. The goal of the Communist party is to have the proletarians or the lower class overthrow the bourgeois or upper class. The Communists believe the lower class is oppressed by the upper class and it is time for the lower class to say no more and become free from the bourgeoisie.

Communists believe once the lower class is free, the proletarians will be in charge and rid societies of social structures and social classes that have plagued the world since Roman days and before. Communists want to equal the playing field by throwing away social classes. They want to control the flow of everything, including private property and inheritance. Communists believe private property should return to the government after a person passes on, instead of it being passed on to the heirs of the dead person. Communists want to do the same with inheritance. This way everyone has the same equal opportunity for everything and no one man is inheriting a huge amount of land or money. In Communism, not only is everything “equal” but also money is shared. Money is taken from the wealthy or hard working people and given to the poor. It’s like a large scale version of Robin Hood. It also gives no incentive to the people to work or try their best to accomplish something because they are spoon fed by the government and don’t have to try for anything. Communism is basically the opposite of the glorified American dream.

Communism not only wants to rid society of classes and freedom, it also wants to rid society of religion, family, education as it is currently, countries, nationality, eternal truths, and all morality. The want to abolish religion, family, eternal truths, and all morality should be a red flag right away to Christians and dissuade them from this type of social structure. Christians should be careful of Communism because it directly goes against what Christians believe. Christians believe religion is an important part of life, all morality and eternal truths are from God and are necessary in life to live like Christ, and family is a God-ordained thing created by Him and vital to our essence. Humans crave relationships, and family is the most important relationship after God. Communism wishes to destroy all of that, so Christians should strongly disagree with Communism. Communism takes away vital parts of human life, parts that make up who we are as humans.

Communism is a nice idea, but it only works on paper. First, the proletariat overthrow of the bourgeoisie does not end oppression. The proletarians may not be oppressed anymore, but they become the people they despised. They become the bourgeois. They become the oppressor. The bourgeois becomes the oppressed. This doesn’t end anything. The cycle of oppressed and oppressor only continues and only the roles have changed. Communism wants to throw off the past, but they are just continuing it. The lower class people of feudalism pushed their way into the bourgeois and became the bourgeois and another people group filled in the empty place and the cycle continued. In the same way, what the Communists wish to do is just continuing the cycle.

Second, something as large as every country switching class roles through revolutions would take much time and, in many cases, turn into chaos and anarchy. Revolutions can take many years to complete the goal. Economies would fail because of the turmoil and war and spending going into the revolutions. The whole world would be in chaos because of the failing economies, therefore the economic structure of the world would fail also. Countries would shut down, limiting the resources being exported and imported into the country, depriving the country’s people along with the rest of the world. Along with the world economy being shut down, countries could spin out of control amidst a revolution and go into anarchy. The lack of a leader and control in the country could really run a nation into the ground. Overthrowing another class through revolution may seem easy, but it is easier said than done. Then again, it seems Communism wishes to ruin the world through a worldwide social upheaval. Changing social structures and styles of government takes time and money, which a lot of countries do not have. Communism only seems to take place in countries with revolutions, which is why they want social upheavals to occur, so Communism can take root. John F. Kennedy said, concerning Communism, “Communism has never come into power in a country that was not disrupted by war, corruption, or both.” Communism is only a good theory, but it is has many, many faults. Any form of government has faults, but Communism is the faultiest because its beliefs and hopes only work in theory. Proof of this is countries like Russia, where the people are oppressed and controlled by the government. They have no freedom and, until recently, have been very behind the rest of the world economically and technologically.

Finally, Communism believes in equality among everyone. All wealth is shared among the people of the nation. Property will be socially or commonly owned, given, and shared by the government, not a private person. Production will not be privately owned, but socially shared. Everything would be shared and controlled by the government. The wealthy’s money would be shared with the poor. Hard working people would lose their money to those who are lazy and don’t work. The world and its people being equal is a nice idea, but the world would need to be a perfect place. The problem with this idea is the world is far from perfect, and because of sinful nature, there is no equality and people are constantly fighting for equality. Jesse Ventura said concerning the ideas of Communism, “The Communism of Karl Marx would probably be actually the best for everybody as a whole. But what he didn’t figure into was human nature, and that’s what corrupts it.” Sinful nature makes the idea of perfect equality and the world in harmony an impossible idea. Only when Christ returns with the New Jerusalem and sets up His thousand-year reign could something like the world being equal and perfect be possible. Sin nature means people make wrong choices, are imperfect, and struggle with being in harmony with one another. That is why there are wars and evil things and people, and why Communism just doesn’t work in the present age.

Communism sounds like a good idea, but that is as far as it goes. Communism doesn’t survive or work off the pages of this pamphlet. Communism destroys fundamental structures and beliefs. As Christians, we cannot accept Communism because it wishes to take away many things we hold dear and are vital to what we believe and hold as true. As the world, we cannot accept Communism now or ever because it is controlling, could put the world in more chaos than it is now, and it takes away rights we hold as true and God-given. Communism does not have a place in the present age or really in any age. Communism is very relevant and present today in the world, and the world needs to rebel against because it is not good for society, the economy, and the world as a whole. Christians and all people, in the United States or not, should listen to the words of Emanuel Celler: “Communism feeds on aggression, hatred, and the imprisonment of men’s minds and souls. This shall not take root in the United States.” Communism should not be allowed to take root and destroy our beliefs, rights, hopes, and dreams, because Communism is only good on paper.

Bibliography

“Quotes on Communism.” QuotesGram. Quotes Gram. Web. 12 Dec. 2015.