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Authors: W. Cleon Skousen
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supposed to be accomplished during the Communist "Dictatorship of the Proletariat"?
Why do the Communists say "socialism" is only a temporary stage of human progress?
How did they propose to develop a civilization which would consist of a classless, stateless society?
The Communist Interpretation of History
Today very few people have had occasion to sit down with a professional Communist and listen to his views. Should such an occasion arise the student would receive the immediate impression that a Communist has a reverential regard for the record of man's past. This is because Marx and Engels thought their studies of the past had led them to discover an "inexorable law" which runs through all history like a bright red thread. They further believed that by tracing this thread it is possible to predict with positive assurance the pattern of man's progress in the future.
What did Marx and Engels discover during their study of history? First of all they decided that self-preservation is the supreme instinct in man and therefore his whole pattern of human conduct must have been governed by an attempt to wrest the necessities of life from nature. It is a dialectical process -- man against nature. This led them to a monumental conclusion: all historical developments are the result of "Economic Determinism" -- man's effort to survive. They said that everything men do -- whether it is organizing a government, establishing laws, supporting a particular moral code or practicing religion -- is merely the result of his desire to protect whatever mode of production he is currently using to secure the necessities of life. Furthermore, they believed that if some revolutionary force changes the mode of production, the dominant class will immediately set about to create a different type of society designed to protect the new economic order.
"Does it require deep intuition to comprehend that man's ideas, views and conception, in one word, man's consciousness , changes with every change in the conditions of material existence.... What else does the history of ideas prove than that intellectual production changes in character in proportion as material production is changed?" 1
To appreciate their point of view, it is necessary to understand Marx and Engels' mechanistic conception of the way the human mind works. They said that after the brain receives impressions from the outside world, it automatically moves the individual to take action (this is their Activist Theory). They did not believe knowledge could be acquired without motivating the owner to do something about it. For example, when men became aware that slavery was a satisfactory way to produce crops, construct buildings and enjoy various kinds of services, this knowledge moved the dominant class to create a society which protected the interest of the slave owners. And in modern times Marx and Engels believed that the bourgeois or property class have done the same thing by instinctively creating a society to protect their capitalistic interests. As they said to the bourgeois in the Communist Manifesto :
"Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence (system of law) is but the will of your class, made into law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of existence of your class." 2
From this it will be seen that Marx and Engels did not believe that men could arbitrarily choose any one of several forms of society but only that one which promotes the prevailing mode of production. The very nature of man's materialistic make-up requires him to do this. "Are men free to choose this or that form of society? By no means." 3 According to Marx the thing which we call "free will" is nothing more nor less than an awareness of the impelling forces which move an individual to action; in taking action he is not free to
Why do the Communists say "socialism" is only a temporary stage of human progress?
How did they propose to develop a civilization which would consist of a classless, stateless society?
The Communist Interpretation of History
Today very few people have had occasion to sit down with a professional Communist and listen to his views. Should such an occasion arise the student would receive the immediate impression that a Communist has a reverential regard for the record of man's past. This is because Marx and Engels thought their studies of the past had led them to discover an "inexorable law" which runs through all history like a bright red thread. They further believed that by tracing this thread it is possible to predict with positive assurance the pattern of man's progress in the future.
What did Marx and Engels discover during their study of history? First of all they decided that self-preservation is the supreme instinct in man and therefore his whole pattern of human conduct must have been governed by an attempt to wrest the necessities of life from nature. It is a dialectical process -- man against nature. This led them to a monumental conclusion: all historical developments are the result of "Economic Determinism" -- man's effort to survive. They said that everything men do -- whether it is organizing a government, establishing laws, supporting a particular moral code or practicing religion -- is merely the result of his desire to protect whatever mode of production he is currently using to secure the necessities of life. Furthermore, they believed that if some revolutionary force changes the mode of production, the dominant class will immediately set about to create a different type of society designed to protect the new economic order.
"Does it require deep intuition to comprehend that man's ideas, views and conception, in one word, man's consciousness , changes with every change in the conditions of material existence.... What else does the history of ideas prove than that intellectual production changes in character in proportion as material production is changed?" 1
To appreciate their point of view, it is necessary to understand Marx and Engels' mechanistic conception of the way the human mind works. They said that after the brain receives impressions from the outside world, it automatically moves the individual to take action (this is their Activist Theory). They did not believe knowledge could be acquired without motivating the owner to do something about it. For example, when men became aware that slavery was a satisfactory way to produce crops, construct buildings and enjoy various kinds of services, this knowledge moved the dominant class to create a society which protected the interest of the slave owners. And in modern times Marx and Engels believed that the bourgeois or property class have done the same thing by instinctively creating a society to protect their capitalistic interests. As they said to the bourgeois in the Communist Manifesto :
"Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence (system of law) is but the will of your class, made into law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of existence of your class." 2
From this it will be seen that Marx and Engels did not believe that men could arbitrarily choose any one of several forms of society but only that one which promotes the prevailing mode of production. The very nature of man's materialistic make-up requires him to do this. "Are men free to choose this or that form of society? By no means." 3 According to Marx the thing which we call "free will" is nothing more nor less than an awareness of the impelling forces which move an individual to action; in taking action he is not free to
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