My Response to the Works of Karl Marx

Beware Marx:

Why should one study the works of Karl Marx? The reader either loves him or hates him. Dark and abstract are his ideas of dialectic materialism and the abolishment of family, classical education, religion and private property. The reasons to pursue a careful study include the following. Reading Marx reveals the antithesis of religion, which when studied gives greater understanding of one’s own belief just as the carpenter compares two boards to find the one that is straight. His ideas cause readers to ask questions, to argue, to reach deep inside themselves to understand their own beliefs and the effects of their choices. However dark and odious are his conceptions, he has greatly influenced most of the world’s modern politics and economics.

I wish to compare Marx’s ideas with some of the fundamental principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. The first is the divine directive to “put off the natural man.” The spiritual man must dominate the natural man through believing in and partaking of the Atonement. It is a journey of self-mastery in line with God’s moral code as a means of Eternal Life. In direct opposition, Marx professes world happiness when the natural man dominates the spiritual man, even to the point of destroying him. “The more man puts into God,” scorns Marx, “the less he retains in himself.” It is his goal to elevate man higher than God “The criticism of religion,” Marx writes, “ends in the teaching that man is the highest being for man, it ends, that is, with the categorical imperative to overthrow all conditions in which man is a debased, forsaken, contemptible being forced into servitude.” His view depended upon the working class, the proletariats, rising up to dominate the upper classes; to be prepared to revolt against the French aristocracy.

Another comparison is the task to remove human error and suffering. Marxism endeavors to take the place of the Savior’s divine role as Redeemer by fixing all the societal problems associated with affliction and sin. First it must remove all religion. If there are no moral codes there can be no sin. “Communists preach no morality at all,” profess Marx, “They do not put to people the moral demand: Love one another, be not egoists, etc.; on the contrary, they know very well that egoism, like sacrifice, is under specific conditions a necessary form of the individual’s struggle for survival.” If there is no capitalism or division of labor there is no exploitation. If there is no family, there can be no division of labor.

Finally, the Saints of the Latter Days are admonished to study the scriptures and their heritage in order to remember the many good things the Lord has done to bless his children. Marx attacks the study of history, as it is not relevant to a communist society. He seems to think that if there is no classical education there will be no remembrance of the rich history that reminds the masses of the right paths to take or how to think and act in every condition. Today our education spends much of the time teaching multi-culturalism instead of a balance of the rich history and heritage. It’s goal leans toward teaching the embarrassing and the degrading class struggles just as Marx dictated. We need a balance of all history. Remember William Wilberforce who, because he understood the degradation of the slaves, stood up as a hero for humankind. Remember Christopher Columbus who was "wrought upon by the spirit" to discover this land for the preparation of the Restoration of the gospel? Because of his voyage, we know from the annals of history and the Book of Mormon that the descendants of Nephi were to be scattered and afflicted, but that if they would return to his fold, they would be blessed beyond measure. I fear that if we forget the stories, the heroes and the Lord’s hand in all the annals of history, we will lose the greatest heritage, that of the great founding of our country. Preparing to usher in the Restoration of the Gospel, many great and common people were led to find and found this land with good government. We can keep this if we study and learn from all facets of history, not just the facet of class struggle.

Karl Marx

A Summary of his works:

Using Hegelian philosophy, English economics and French politics, Marx sets out to create the ultimate communist society. His dialectic materialism takes the contradictions of thought, namely a thesis and antithesis and forms a “higher truth” called a synthesis, which becomes the new thesis. It is now combined with an antithesis, which again produces a synthesis, which again becomes a new thesis. The process continues until the ultimate “truth” is found. In this way, according to Marx, we will eventually attain the perfect state, free of class struggle. “It is the return of man himself as a social [being],” writes Marx.

The enemy to communism is capitalism with its division of labor and its division of the classes into property owners and property-less workers. Marx describes how the laborer is separated from the products he creates, his labor-power and from nature. He is alienated from his potential to become a universal being and master the universe. Abolishing capitalism will require that private property, religion, family and classical education are abolished and replaced by “free, conscious, creative social activity, in which man is not dominated by need, envy, or the desire to possess.” (Eugene Kamenka)

Marx predicts that the proletariat will rise up against the bourgeoisie and overthrow the state, as was the attempt during the French Revolution, but that it would not fail as in the French Revolution. He feels that no leader could liberate the proletariat, but the proletariat itself; nor could any ideology replace the theological understanding or the empirical insight of the perfect society, communism.

Karl Marx to Change the Way We Learn From History

I am reading Karl Marx works form my university class and am amazed at the parallels between his ideas and what is happening in our nation and world:

Although much of the world believes Marxism, do we realize that his ideas attempt to take over the Savior’s Divine Role. “The criticism of religion,” says Marx in 1844, “ends in the teaching that man is the highest being for man, it ends, that is, with the categorical imperative to overthrow all conditions in which man is a debased, forsaken, contemptible being forced into servitude.” In these words, Marx is planning on reducing all afflictions of mankind by eventually setting up communism. The Atonement of Christ redeems mankind from their sin and afflictions and it is only through him on the condition that we believe and keep his commandments and covenants. Our nation’s public education spends much of the time teaching multi-culturalism instead of the rich history and heritage. It’s goal is going towards teaching the embarrassing and the degrading class struggles just as Marx dictated. I fear that if we forget the stories, the heroes and the Lord’s hand in all the annals of history, we will lose the greatest heritage, that of the great founding of our country. Preparing to usher in the Restoration of the Gospel, many great and common people were led to find and found this land with good government. We can keep this if we study and learn from all facets of history, not just the facet of class struggle.

Book Review: Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

A Brief Summary:

The natural processes of a successful economy are found in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Although two hundred plus years old, Smith focuses on significantly profound and pertinent principles for any age. Stressing that regulations tend to limit prosperity and production, his extensive research of history and economics proves that a free market is an effective system in producing a wealthy nation. “The object of political economy of every country is to increase the riches and power of the country,” writes Smith. He proposes that wealth is built on labor, savings and investment. His labor theory of value regards “labor [as the] the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities [and that] the real price of everything is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.” Unlike our nation’s current course of consuming, Smith declares that saving is the sure path to wealth. He observes that, “Parsimony, and not industry is the immediate cause of the increase of capital.” Importantly, he measures the wealthiest nations as those who have a surplus to invest or to increase production. His main theme throughout is that great fortunes are made through a long life of industry, frugality, and careful saving.

My Response to Smith's Wealth of Nations:

Lamentably our country is in financial trouble. The future looks bleak as we contemplate the consequences of consumer and national debt, deflation of currency and an increase of government intervention and regulations. A close look at society will reveal that individuals as a majority are heavily in debt. What is the solution to this downward financial spiral? Do our societal choices mimic individual choices?

God, as a standard of what is right and wrong sets moral principles for promoting human happiness and progress. When those principles are followed, happiness and progress abounds. But the opposite is true that misery and decline follow when wrong choices are made. For example, a prodigal, who does not live within his means, destroys his capital and that of others. His idleness and prodigality encroaches upon the industry and capital of his progenitors. If a great number in a society follow his immoral example then society is in a state of debt and moral decline. Adam Smith states in his book, Wealth of Nations, that if prodigality is not compensated by frugality the path will lead to an impoverished country. Individuals must change if the society is to change. Change must come from the bottom up.

Supposing that Adam Smith is correct, I propose that the solution to our economic woes begin with individuals who are hard working and frugal, who save for a rainy day and who invest surplus income. Individually achieving these four principles will have a great affect in improving our nation’s economy. Smith affirms, “As capital of an individual can be increased only by what he saves from his annual revenue or his annual gains, so the capital for a society, which is the same with that of all the individuals who compose it, can be increased only in the same manner.” Sorry John Maynard Keynes, your philosophy of spending, debt and deflation of money has historically proven to send a nation to its ruin.

Smith explains that the principle of saving regularly is a natural expression of bettering oneself and that the greater the fortune, the greater ability to improve individual, familial and societal conditions provided that the individual is a moral person. “Capitals are increased by parsimony, and diminished by prodigality and misconduct,” writes Smith. Wealth is not built upon spending and consuming, but upon sound principles of careful investing, saving, frugality and parsimoniously living. If Smith’s principles are practiced, the nation’s downward spiral can be reversed.