Soviet History Lecture: The Philosophical Background of Communism

Soviet History Lecture: The Philosophical Background of Communism

This is part of a series on Soviet History.

I. Introduction

Objectives

Briefly define Communism as a political, historical, and economic ideology advocating for a :classless society with collective ownership of the means of production.

Key question: "What were the ideas that inspired Communism?"

1. ancient philosophy
2. modern philosophy
3. modern politics
4. competing theories of history and historical progress
5. competing views on economics
6. competing views on religion and faith

Goals of the Lecture:

1. Explore the philosophical roots of communism.
2. Explain the influence of key thinkers, especially Marx and Engels.
3. How do these ideas co-exist and contrast with Christianity?
4. Discuss the tensions between theory and practice, especially from the Soviet Union, through China, to today.

II. Origins of Communism

A. Ancient and Early Modern Ideas

Plato's "Republic": The idea of a communal society where private property is limited for the ruling class.

B. Christianity

Christian Communalism: Early Christian communities practiced forms of shared property (Acts 4:32).

C. Renaissance and Utopian Socialism

Thomas More’s "Utopia" (1516): An imagined society with no private property.

D. Industrialization E. The Socialists

Charles Fourier and Robert Owen: Advocated for small, cooperative communities without social classes.

F. The Critique by Marx and Engels:

Called utopian socialists "idealistic" for not being rooted in historical materialism.

III. Marxist Foundations of Communism

A. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

• Key Works: The Communist Manifesto (1848), Das Kapital (1867).
• Historical Materialism:**
• Definition: History is driven by material economic forces and class struggle.
• Stages of societal development: Primitive Communism → Feudalism → Capitalism → Socialism → Communism.
• Critique of Capitalism:
• Capitalism creates alienation (workers are disconnected from the fruits of their labor).
• Surplus value is exploited by the bourgeoisie (capitalist class).
• Class Struggle:
• "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." (Communist Manifesto)
• Proletariat (working class) vs. Bourgeoisie (capitalist class).

B. The Communist Vision:

• Abolition of private property.
• "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
• The "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" is the transitional period where the workers are in control of the state and able to displace the power of the powerful.
• Power would be deconstructed and handed back to the people.
• A Stateless, classless society as the end goal of communism.

IV. Key Philosophical Influences on Marxism

A. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)

• Dialectical Method: History unfolds through a process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.
• Marx's adaptation: Dialectical Materialism (applying Hegel’s dialectic to material conditions rather than ideas).

B. Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872)

• Materialism: Emphasized that material existence, not divine or spiritual forces, shapes human experience.
• Marx's critique: Religion is the "opiate of the masses," serving to distract the oppressed from their material conditions.

C. Influence of Enlightenment Thinkers:

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Belief in human equality and critique of private property as a source of inequality ("Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.").

V. Tensions Between Theory and Practice

A. Ideal vs. Reality

• Marx believed in a "scientific" basis for communism, but later implementations (e.g., Leninist and Stalinist models) diverged from Marx’s vision.
• How Lenin adapted Marxism to suit Russia’s unique conditions (a largely agrarian society rather than a fully industrialized one).
• The incredible and insufferable arrogance of many proponents of socialism and Communism prevented them from seeing or admitting any problems or flaws in the systems. They used psychological tactics, sophistry, and verbal aggression to silence their critics, instead of learning from them.

B. Failed Assumptions about Economics

• Labor and time do not define value.
• Credit and debt are useful tools in market economies.
• A coercive and corrupt political environment creates substantial economic problems.
• Capitalism and market economics are an empirically-proven superior way to bring people out of poverty.

C. Failed Assumptions about Psychology

• Man is a spiritual being, and religion serves more than a simple entertainment purpose.
• Forced equality breeds resentments and anger, not joy at being equally miserable.
• Historical progress does not happen as a result of economic classes clashing with one another.
• Materialism is not a sufficient answer for all of man's problems.
• Absolute power is most often taken by tyrants, who refuse to give it up, and consolidate more of it, and abuse people. The type of people attracted to limitless power are the type who should never have it.

D. Failed Assumptions about History

• These political systems were not possible without extreme coercion, force, and ultimately violence and murder.
• The power vacuum caused by eliminating the rich and religion served to leave the populations open to abuse from the state, which had then become accountable to no one but itself.
• There has not been a progression to Socialism or Communism, there is no historical inevitability.

E. Questions for Reflection:

• Why did Marx’s vision lead to authoritarian regimes in practice?
• Can a classless society ever exist without coercion?

VI. Conclusion

A. Summary of Key Points:

• Communism is grounded in historical materialism, class struggle, and the rejection of private property.
• Complete hostility to religion, but especially Christianity.
• Influenced by Hegel’s dialectic, Feuerbach’s materialism, and Enlightenment ideals of equality.
• Tensions exist between the theoretical ideals of communism and the realities of its implementation.

B. Discussion:

• Encourage questions and reflection on how the philosophical underpinnings of communism compare to other political ideologies.
• Why are some of the negative empirical characteristics of Communism so commonly found in the practical manifestations of Communism?
• How does Communist theory contrast with Market-Based economies, and other systems?
• Communist theory popularizes the term "Capitalism" to simplify their objections to their perceived opponents. Is that analysis correct or incorrect, and why?

VII. Key Reading

Plato's "The Republic" Especially Book V, concerning communal arrangements among the guardian class.

• "These women shall be common to all these men, and no one shall cohabit with any woman privately; the children too shall be common, and neither parent shall know his own child nor child his parent."
• "The greatest good for a state is that which binds it together and makes it one."
• "When one of the citizens suffers or rejoices, the whole city shares his feelings."
• "None of them shall possess private property except what is wholly necessary."
• "There is no pursuit relating to the administration of a state that belongs to a woman because she is a woman, or to a man because he is a man."

Christianity, The Holy Bible

• Acts 2:44–45
• Acts 4:32–35

Useful as examples of early Christian communalism.

Thomas More's "Utopia" A major precursor to later socialist thought.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's "The Communist Manifesto" Essential reading. Short and accessible.

Karl Marx, "Das Kapital," Volume I.

Friedrich Engels, "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" Particularly valuable because Engels explains how Marxists distinguished themselves from earlier socialists.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's "The Philosophy of History"

Ludwig Feuerbach's "The Essence of Christianity" Important for understanding Marx's materialism and criticism of religion. Feuerbach argued that man creates God, that religion represents humanity's own alienated self-consciousness, and that human beings are fundamentally social creatures whose fulfillment is found in their relations with one another. Meaning and redemption, therefore, are to be sought within humanity itself rather than in the supernatural. These ideas provided a crucial philosophical bridge between Hegelian idealism and the humanistic Marxism of the 1840s.

• "The consciousness of God is the self-consciousness of man; the knowledge of God is the self-knowledge of man."
• "The secret of theology is anthropology."
• "Religion is the first, but indirect, self-consciousness of man."
• "Man—this is the mystery of religion—projects his being into objectivity, and then again makes himself an object to this projected image of himself thus converted into a subject."
• "Reason, love and power of will are perfections of man."