In people’s perception, both revolutionaries and laypersons, Marxism has always been the theory of socialism and a call for revolution.  However, this is a misconception or even an urban myth regarding genuine, orthodox Marxism.  The false understanding of Marxism was implemented in our subconscious, first of all, by founders of Marxism themselves.  They exhibited profound inconsistency between the tenets of their theory and their political activities.  Secondly, Soviet propaganda replaced the true meaning of Marxism with its revisionist version, Marxism-Leninism.

DOWNLOAD OUR PRAYER GUIDE ON SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM:

View Comments (2)

First of all, Marxism is a theory of communism — the extreme and particular case of socialism, characterized by the complete socialization of property, complete collectivization of consciousness, worldwide economic planning, and wealth distribution according to any needs.  Socialism, as a rule, did not set itself such daunting tasks.  There are multiple approaches to socialism and just one theory of communism.  The doctrine of communism could neither encompass all ideas of the diverse socialist camp nor even be portrayed as the only accurate representation of socialist thoughts….

Originators of Marxism demonstrated far-reaching contradictions in their public activities and theoretical works, which could be considered somewhat paradoxical. The “Marx paradox” is as follows: on the one hand, Marx claimed the discovery of the laws of human societal development, but on the other hand, he was reluctant to use them in his daily life as a philosopher, sociologist, and economist. It is rather a strange situation, like Isaac Newton discovering the laws of motion and not using them in solving theoretical and everyday problems.

Such a paradox can be explained by the fact that Marx was a revolutionary activist first and a philosopher second, or rather he was a second-grade philosopher (his philosophical and economic provisions were entirely rebuffed by such prominent representatives of Austrian School of Economics as Böhm von Bawerk, Ludwig von Mises, Hans-Hermann Hoppe and falsified by experience). Marx started his anti-capitalism crusade long before he had crystallized his economic and philosophical doctrine. Only in more mature years did he begin following his theoretical tenets more rigorously. He considered the financial demands of socialists and trade unionists to be the obstacles that inhibited the evolution of capitalism and, thus, postponed the victory of communism.

When the modern Left (especially in the United States) argues that genuine Marxian socialism has not been realized yet in any country, including the Soviet Union, it is a bit right. However, leftists use this argument to prove that the socialist idea is not a dead end in the evolution of mankind, but is alive and striving. A failure of institutionalized socialist regimes is explained as a betrayal of great Marxian ideas by negligent intellectuals and practitioners of socialism of the past.
Neo-Marxists should have recognized that Marx actually betrayed himself first. In order to follow exact Marxian thoughts, the Left must overcome a Marxian paradox, enthusiastically be involved in restoring pure liberal capitalism, and patiently wait until developed capitalism wins in all countries. Then we will see what happens.

(Read more… Excerpts from Allen Gindler article on The American Thinker)