- Oct 31, 2012
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Since the dawn of time, man has struggled to find redemption from the pain and suffering and death in this present world, and through this struggle, various philosophies have arisen to try and find this redemption. There are religious philosophies that place God at the center of our redemption, and there are secular human philosophies that reject God entirely. Two of the most famous and influential secular philosophies were that of Karl Marx and Frederick Nietzsche. The philosophies of both Marx and Nietzsche have created their own gospels of redemption.
Marx is by far the most famous and influential secular philosopher. “Marx envisions a society that needs to be transformed from a stratified society to an egalitarian one.” The method of redemption is not a spiritual transformation. Instead, it is a transformation through materialism. The redemption of Marx can only be realized if the proletariat, or workers, provoke a revolution to restructure society in the name of equality and justice. “Julius Carlebach examines the claim that Marx was a ‘secular nineteenth-century version of an Old Testament prophet’, and concludes that Marx’s passionate devotion to the proletariat is a ‘displacement of the chosen people’ and that Communism is nothing more than a reconstruction of Judaism with Marx’s theories: The equality of men as a matter of right and not of grace. Justice as a matter of principle and not convenience. Reason based on learning as a virture and a duty, and this-worldliness which demanded the search for perfection on earth.” In short, the masses became their own deity, and in the glow of their redemption, they are enlightened and ennobled by their own divine purpose. In fact, Marx does not object to the ideals of religion as much as to the manipulations in the hands of the privileged classes, much like Christ standing up to the religious leaders and privileged classes of his day, and later crucified for it. But unlike Christ, Marx completely rejects the need for a God to find redemption from these oppressors. Instead, redemption will be achieved with world-wide socialism where everyone’s equal, but primarily equal through material equality which will bring about societal happiness and utopia. Marx’s redemption must be universal and not merely redemption on an individual basis. Either society as a whole is redeemed, or it is damned to an everlasting hell on earth, thus it must also be world wide. This is unlike Nietzsche who preached that redemption can be found on an individual basis, and is not held hostage by the universal masses.
Like Marx, Nietzsche sought to restore humans to their true divinity. This is because Nietzsche concluded that there are those who are not worthy of his enlightened message, as well as those unable to cognitively even grasp it. “Some human beings, Nietzsche holds, are nobler than others and should serve as models for humanity, and it is these free spirits who are able to overcome themselves and rise above the all-too-human mass”. In other words, redemption comes from a small group of spiritual elites, with Nietzsche, of course, leading the charge.
The philosophies of both Marx and Nietzsche were influential due to the fact that they helped form the basis of world governments. Two of the most famous world governments heavily influenced by them were the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Marx influenced both Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin as they preached redemption through the Soviet revolution of 1917. Conversely, Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime were heavily influenced by Nietzsche. This can be seen as Hitler and his elites did not come to be by revolution, but through the appointment of Hitler and the democratic votes that later elected other Nazis. They then stood out to the populace as the ideal model to be emulated. Luckily, the Nazi regime was later vanquished after world war 2 due to the evils it inflicted on the entire world, however, the Soviet regime remained and seemed to grow with more world wide Marxist influence.
It is understandable why the Nietzsche influenced Nazi model of government fell out of favor. It was both evil and corrupt and lost a major world war. But why did the Marx counterpart seem to flourish? Was it any less evil and corrupt? No if you consider that Stalin murdered millions more human beings than Hitler, and the fact that Marxism that later spread across the world in places like Red China and Cambodia oppressed and murdered hundreds of millions more. In fact, today those labeled a Nazi are automatically viewed world wide as a villain, however, those who call themselves Marxists seem to be revered the world over as on the cutting edge of enlightenment and social justice. Black Lives matter is one such organization that self identifies as Marxists as corporations all around the world sing their praise and pour millions of dollars into their organization. However, do they know that Marx himself was an ardent racist against blacks? In a letter Marx wrote to his friend Friedrich Engels in 1866, Marx writes that his black acquaintance Tremaux “proved that the common Negro type is the degenerate form of a much higher one”. So are the Marxists of today willing to ignore the pain and misery their ideology has inflicted upon mankind that is steeped in systemic racism so that they can try and attain his long term goal in mind of universal secular redemption, or are they simply unaware of it? It is hard to say. But the question must be asked, can redemption really be found in an ideology of Marxism that has already taken humanity to the lowest depths of hell?
Marx is by far the most famous and influential secular philosopher. “Marx envisions a society that needs to be transformed from a stratified society to an egalitarian one.” The method of redemption is not a spiritual transformation. Instead, it is a transformation through materialism. The redemption of Marx can only be realized if the proletariat, or workers, provoke a revolution to restructure society in the name of equality and justice. “Julius Carlebach examines the claim that Marx was a ‘secular nineteenth-century version of an Old Testament prophet’, and concludes that Marx’s passionate devotion to the proletariat is a ‘displacement of the chosen people’ and that Communism is nothing more than a reconstruction of Judaism with Marx’s theories: The equality of men as a matter of right and not of grace. Justice as a matter of principle and not convenience. Reason based on learning as a virture and a duty, and this-worldliness which demanded the search for perfection on earth.” In short, the masses became their own deity, and in the glow of their redemption, they are enlightened and ennobled by their own divine purpose. In fact, Marx does not object to the ideals of religion as much as to the manipulations in the hands of the privileged classes, much like Christ standing up to the religious leaders and privileged classes of his day, and later crucified for it. But unlike Christ, Marx completely rejects the need for a God to find redemption from these oppressors. Instead, redemption will be achieved with world-wide socialism where everyone’s equal, but primarily equal through material equality which will bring about societal happiness and utopia. Marx’s redemption must be universal and not merely redemption on an individual basis. Either society as a whole is redeemed, or it is damned to an everlasting hell on earth, thus it must also be world wide. This is unlike Nietzsche who preached that redemption can be found on an individual basis, and is not held hostage by the universal masses.
Like Marx, Nietzsche sought to restore humans to their true divinity. This is because Nietzsche concluded that there are those who are not worthy of his enlightened message, as well as those unable to cognitively even grasp it. “Some human beings, Nietzsche holds, are nobler than others and should serve as models for humanity, and it is these free spirits who are able to overcome themselves and rise above the all-too-human mass”. In other words, redemption comes from a small group of spiritual elites, with Nietzsche, of course, leading the charge.
The philosophies of both Marx and Nietzsche were influential due to the fact that they helped form the basis of world governments. Two of the most famous world governments heavily influenced by them were the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Marx influenced both Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin as they preached redemption through the Soviet revolution of 1917. Conversely, Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime were heavily influenced by Nietzsche. This can be seen as Hitler and his elites did not come to be by revolution, but through the appointment of Hitler and the democratic votes that later elected other Nazis. They then stood out to the populace as the ideal model to be emulated. Luckily, the Nazi regime was later vanquished after world war 2 due to the evils it inflicted on the entire world, however, the Soviet regime remained and seemed to grow with more world wide Marxist influence.
It is understandable why the Nietzsche influenced Nazi model of government fell out of favor. It was both evil and corrupt and lost a major world war. But why did the Marx counterpart seem to flourish? Was it any less evil and corrupt? No if you consider that Stalin murdered millions more human beings than Hitler, and the fact that Marxism that later spread across the world in places like Red China and Cambodia oppressed and murdered hundreds of millions more. In fact, today those labeled a Nazi are automatically viewed world wide as a villain, however, those who call themselves Marxists seem to be revered the world over as on the cutting edge of enlightenment and social justice. Black Lives matter is one such organization that self identifies as Marxists as corporations all around the world sing their praise and pour millions of dollars into their organization. However, do they know that Marx himself was an ardent racist against blacks? In a letter Marx wrote to his friend Friedrich Engels in 1866, Marx writes that his black acquaintance Tremaux “proved that the common Negro type is the degenerate form of a much higher one”. So are the Marxists of today willing to ignore the pain and misery their ideology has inflicted upon mankind that is steeped in systemic racism so that they can try and attain his long term goal in mind of universal secular redemption, or are they simply unaware of it? It is hard to say. But the question must be asked, can redemption really be found in an ideology of Marxism that has already taken humanity to the lowest depths of hell?
