Classical Christian Education and Karl Marx: Why Read the Communist Manifesto?

 This year, I have the privilege of teaching 9th grade Modern History at Grace Classical Christian Academy. This class, surveying the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation through the Post-World War II era, seeks to unravel the history and consequences of ideas, that we may know where they come from and to what end they lead. This is especially true when considering the rise of the Marxist philosophy in the nineteenth century.

I tell my students that the two most important works they will read in my class are the Constitution of the United States, spearheaded by James Madison, and The Communist Manifesto, by Fredrich Engels and Karl Marx. The former is significant for Modern History, because my students will come away from this class understanding the theological, moral, and political principles for the system of government we find in the foundational American documents. Make no mistake, America’s system of government could be considered the culmination of approximately 1500 years of thought as it pertains to morality and religion. Our founding documents, having influence from the Greeks and Romans, the Augustinian tradition, the Protestant Reformation, and English Puritanism, set forth a form of government deeply influenced by godly, biblical principles.

The second of those most significant works which my students read this year, The Communist Manifesto, is responsible for the attempt to bring to nothing the fruit of Western Civilization. Karl Marx, one of the authors of The Communist Manifesto, separated all of humanity into two economic classes, the bourgeois and proletariat. The bourgeois are the capitalist, wealthy class that own the means of production and the proletariat include the working class, oppressed by the powerful bourgeois class. Marx divides all of humanity into those that are economic oppressors and those that are economically oppressed, believing that capitalism is the great enemy of society. Marx envisioned and hoped for a day in which capitalism would be destroyed, private property abolished, religion (including Christianity) eradicated, and class distinctions dissipated. For Marx, the salvation of the human race is accomplished by a demolishing of capitalism and Western thought.

Very few Christians today are flirting with classical Marxism as an economic system of thought. Because of Marx’s incredibly atheistic worldview that sees the end of capitalism resulting in the eradication of all religion, most Christians are wise to reject it. However, an idea often referred to as neo-Marxism or cultural Marxism is gaining headway even among Christians today. This idea, influenced by the Italian communist, Antonio Gramsci, suggests that in order to bring about this economic change that Marx longed for, a cultural revolution/reformation must precede. Taking Marx’s division of all humanity into oppressed or oppressor classes/groups, this neo-Marxist thought desires to overthrow the so-called cultural “hegemony” that seeks to oppress these victimized groups through the means of social justice.

Whether we recognize it or not, cultural Marxism is all around us. The secular university as an institution tends to promote the idea that if you are white, you are not permitted to have a say in the conversation concerning racial justice and reconciliation because of your identity in the white class (which is assumed to be oppressive). If your child attends a secular university, I guarantee you they will be exposed to this godless philosophy. To make matters worse, more and more evangelical Christians are adopting this viewpoint on white privilege and racial reconciliation, meaning that your children will be encouraged to adopt this viewpoint even if they attend a Christian university or college. Even some Protestant and Reformed Christians are starting to view God’s natural design for the family (often termed “patriarchy”) as inherently oppressive to women and therefore something to be abolished. This is perfectly in line with Black Lives Matter, a movement that claims to advocate for racial justice in America, which has openly stated its desire to undermine and abolish the nuclear family.

Why does this matter for students attending Grace Classical Christian Academy? It matters because the architect behind neo-Marxism, Antonio Gramsci, stated, “socialism is precisely the religion that must kill Christianity.”[1] Seeing religion in general and especially Christianity as one of the tools of the oppressing class, the cultural Marxism of today also seeks to destroy not only Western Civilization, but also the foundation of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Marx wanted the abolition not only of private property, but also of private education, to be replaced by communal ownership of property and subsequently public, government education. This is nothing less than a desire to destroy the foundation of society and Western Civilization, the family.

Because GCCA is a Classical Christian School, we understand the greatness of learning and beauty that the Western world has produced, and are able to recognize the folly of the Marxist (whether cultural or classical) agenda and desire to deconstruct anything bearing the semblance of Western or Christian. We teach and encourage our students to apply 2 Corinthians 10:5 to their lives, destroying every argument and lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of Christ. Marxism is certainly not exempted from this biblical critique. Whether it’s classical Marxism, cultural Marxism, identity politics, critical theory, or intersectionality, our children must be taught to recognize such worldly foolishness and repudiate them using God’s two books – the book of nature and the book of Scripture – the truth of creation and that of redemption.

By: Benjamin Booth, GCCA Logic & Rhetoric Teacher

[1] Antonio Gramsci, “Audacia E Fede”, Avanti 22 (May 1916); Reprinted in Sotto La Mole: 1916-1929 (Turin: Einaudi, 1960) 148.