1. Essential
guidelines of communism/socialism according to Marx and Engels
In the Communist Manifesto
(1848) and other works, Marx and Engels stated:
1.
Historical
materialism
o
History is driven
by class struggle (slaves vs. masters, serfs vs. lords, proletariat vs.
bourgeoisie).
o
The economy (mode
of production) determines the social, political and cultural structure.
2.
Economic
determinism
o
Capitalism
contains internal contradictions that will inevitably lead to its collapse.
o
These
contradictions: concentration of wealth, relative impoverishment of the working
class, cyclical crises.
3.
Socialist
→ communist transition
o
The proletariat
takes political power.
o
The State becomes
a “dictatorship of the proletariat” (temporary control until classes
disappear).
o
Collective ownership
of the means of production.
o
Elimination of
capitalist private property (but not personal property).
4.
Communism
as the final stage
o
Classless,
stateless, production according to need, general abundance.
2. Why it is not “scientific”
as claimed
Marx and Engels considered their
theory to be “scientific” because:
·
They believed
they had discovered the universal laws of history.
·
They used
historical materialism as a method of prediction.
Shortcomings in scientificity :
1.
Non-falsifiability
o
A scientific theory
must be able to be refuted with facts.
o
Classical Marxism
tends to reinterpret every event to fit the "inevitability" of
revolution. If it doesn't occur, it's blamed on "false consciousness"
or "immature conditions."
2.
Unfulfilled
predictions
o
Marx predicted
proletarian revolutions in advanced industrialized countries (England,
Germany).
o
In practice, the
first revolutions occurred in backward countries (Russia, China).
3.
Limited
database
o
His analysis of
capitalism was based primarily on 19th-century England, ignoring the system's
capacity for reform (suffrage, unions, social security).
4.
Negligence
of non-economic factors
o
Culture,
religion, nationalism, and human psychology influence historical processes as
much as, or more than, economics.
o
This reduces the
predictive power of Marxism.
3. Structural flaws that
cause failure in practice
In
countries where it has been attempted to be implemented (USSR, Maoist China, Cuba, North Korea,
Venezuela), common problems arise:
1.
Concentration
of power in the State
o
By abolishing
private ownership of the means of production, the State assumes absolute
control.
o
This creates an
unchecked political and economic monopoly, generating corruption and
inefficient bureaucracy.
2.
Incentive
problem
o
Without private
ownership and competition, the incentive to innovate and produce beyond what is
allocated is reduced.
o
This leads to chronic
shortages and low quality in goods and services.
3.
Impossible
economic calculation (Mises
and Hayek theory)
o
Without prices
based on supply and demand, the state cannot efficiently calculate what to
produce, how much, and where to distribute.
o
The result:
excess of some goods and shortage of others.
4.
Political
repression
o
To maintain
the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” dissent is ultimately suppressed, as any
opposition is viewed as “bourgeois” or “counterrevolutionary.”
o
This creates
an authoritarian system and limits individual freedoms.
5.
Disjunction
with human nature
o
Communism assumes
that by eliminating classes, individuals will act in solidarity for the common
good.
o
In practice, selfishness,
nepotism and self-interest persist.
6.
Technological
stagnation
o
Innovation
requires risk and competition, but communist systems tend to standardize and
centralize, hindering progress (except in areas prioritized by the State, such
as the military industry).
4. Why it is not inevitable
·
Capitalism has
demonstrated its ability to adapt:
state regulation, social security, labor rights, progressive taxes.
·
Workers have
improved their quality of life without proletarian revolution.
·
Factors such as globalization,
technology, and expanding middle classes dilute the worker-bourgeoisie
conflict.
·
The
“inevitability” depended on capitalism becoming unbearable for the majority;
this did not happen in industrialized countries.
5. Conclusion
Marxist communism:
·
It is not
“scientific” in the strict sense because it does not comply with falsifiability
and its database was limited.
·
Its practical
application generates systemic problems of incentives, economic calculation,
and abuse of power.
·
It is not
inevitable because capitalism has shown flexibility and the class struggle has
not followed the expected pattern.
Theory vs. Reality of Marxist
Communism
|
Aspect |
Marx-Engels Theory |
Historical Reality |
Main Failure |
|
Origin of
the revolution |
It will occur in industrialized countries with a large proletariat
(e.g. England, Germany). |
The revolutions took place in backward and agricultural countries
(Russia 1917, China 1949, Cuba 1959). |
Prediction error: ignored political and cultural factors that facilitated
revolutions in non-industrialized economies. |
|
Working
class |
It will become impoverished and radicalized until it overthrows the
bourgeoisie. |
The working class in advanced capitalist countries improved their
standard of living with reforms and technology. |
He underestimated capitalism's capacity to adapt. |
|
Dictatorship
of the proletariat |
Temporary phase to eliminate classes; then the State will disappear. |
The State became stronger, more repressive and more permanent (USSR,
North Korea, Cuba). |
Contradiction: absolute power is not self-liquidating. |
|
Centralized
economy |
Rational planning will produce abundance and eliminate crises. |
Chronic shortages, queues, rationing, poor quality goods, corruption. |
Economic calculation problem without market prices. |
|
Human
motivation |
By eliminating exploitation, people will work for the common good. |
Loss of incentives, low productivity, minimal work to meet quotas. |
Ignore the persistence of personal interests and selfishness. |
|
Culture and
consciousness |
By changing the economic basis, social consciousness will shift
towards solidarity. |
Nationalism, religion, favoritism and corruption persist. |
Economic reductionism: not everything is determined by the economy. |
|
Technological
innovation |
Accelerated progress thanks to scientific planning. |
Limited and focused advances (military, aerospace), but backwardness
in consumer goods, computing, and medicine. |
Lack of competition and incentives to innovate. |
|
Final
destination (communism) |
Classless society, stateless, production according to needs. |
No country reached the communist stage; all remained in authoritarian socialism. |
Unrealized utopia; human and economic barriers. |
|
Inevitability |
Capitalism will fall due to its internal contradictions. |
Reformed, globalized, and more flexible capitalism; crises do not
cause total collapse. |
Failed prediction: ignored the resilience of the system. |
Marxism starts from an absolute
philosophical materialism, which means that:
·
It denies the
spiritual and the transcendent.
·
He asserts that
morality, conscience, and values are products of economic relations and
not objective realities established by a Creator.
·
He sees religion
as an “opium of the people” (according to Marx), something that lulls people to
sleep and maintains the status quo.
How atheism undermines the Marxist
system
1.
Without
transcendent purpose
o
If human life
does not have a purpose given by God, the ultimate meaning is reduced to the
material.
o
This makes it
easier for the “end to justify the means” (repression, violence) in the name of
a “future paradise.”
2.
Relative
morality
o
Since there is no
absolute moral law, values change according to the needs of the Party or the
State.
o
Justice ceases to
be an objective principle and becomes a political tool.
3.
Reductionist
vision of the human being
o
Man is seen only
as an economic-productive animal.
o
Essential
dimensions are ignored: spirituality, inner freedom, sense of sacrifice for
love, and the search for God.
4.
Impossibility
of true brotherhood
o
Marxism speaks
of “brotherhood,” but without a common Father (God), brotherhood remains an
ideological concept, not a lived reality.
o
This often
degenerates into cliques, infighting and purges.
Key Summary:
Marxism collapses because it attempts to construct a
"redemption" without a Redeemer. It replaces eternal hope with a
material promise that is never fulfilled, and by denying God's moral law, it
lacks an ethical foundation to curb corruption and the abuse of power.
Ideological rationalization to justify systematic
violence.
This follows a
common pattern in totalitarian ideologies:
1.
Dehumanizing biological metaphor: Comparing a system or group to a disease
(cancer, virus, plague) causes the activist's mind to stop perceiving people as
human beings, and to see them as "diseased tissue" or
"parasites" that must be eliminated.
2.
Artificial moral urgency: the idea is created that if we don't act now,
everything will perish; thus, any action—no matter how brutal—is presented as a
"necessary evil."
3.
Abolition of individual responsibility: the perpetrator is not seen
as a murderer, but as a “surgeon” or “soldier” in a cause larger than himself.
4.
False redemption: They believe their violence is redemptive and that
history will absolve them, because the end (socialism, communism, “liberation”)
supposedly justifies the means.
This type of reasoning is not unique to Marxism; it has also been used
by fascist regimes, religious fanaticism, and even
extreme nationalist movements. The key lies in the metaphor of the "sick body," which allows for
the erasure of individuality and the transformation of murder into
"treatment."
It is clear that this argument is basically an extreme utilitarian
justification mixed with a distorted medical metaphor.
In other words, they construct a mental framework where any atrocity
becomes “treatment” and any innocent victim is “necessary collateral damage.”
This reasoning has
several basic problems:
1.
Confusion between organizations and societies
o
A
human body is an organism with a single central consciousness and will.
o
A
society is made up of millions of individual consciences and wills.
o
It
is not legitimate to simply transfer a biological model to political life
because this ignores individual dignity and rights.
2.
Moral blindness
o
If
you define an entire group as “cancer” from the outset (the capitalist, the bourgeois,
the dissident), you no longer see them as human.
o
This
opens the door to dehumanization and justified extermination.
3.
The false dilemma of “all or nothing”
o
The
metaphor implies that either everything is radically removed or the patient
dies.
o
In
reality, in politics and economics there are gradual reforms, consensus, and
peaceful changes that do not involve massacres.
4.
Paradoxical effect
o
In
medicine, successful surgery saves lives.
o
In
politics, a “surgery” that wipes out innocent people destroys the very society
it seeks to save, generating more suffering and repression.
An ethical and logical
counterargument that debunks the Marxist metaphor of the “cancer-stricken body” and
demonstrates why it does not justify killing innocent people.
1. Logical
analysis: why the metaphor is false
·
Category error: A society is not a biological organism with a single central nervous
system; it is a community of people with individual consciousness and value.
·
False homogeneity: In a body, "good" and "bad"
cells are passive; in society, people have free will and can change, repent, or
contribute differently.
·
Real destructive effect: Eliminating healthy people (cells) in politics
destroys the human capital that sustains society, causing collapse rather than
healing.
2. Ethical
analysis: why the murder of innocent people cannot be justified
·
Principle of inviolability of human life: every human being possesses
intrinsic dignity and rights given by God (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 20:13).
·
Rejection of the “end justifies the means”: in Christian ethics, a good
goal does not sanctify immoral means (Romans 3:8: “let us not do evil that good
may come”).
·
Double injustice: killing innocent people in the name of a cause is
not only homicide, but it perverts justice, since it punishes the innocent.
3.
Conclusion
The cancer metaphor:
·
Dehumanizes the adversary.
·
It eliminates the moral principle of not harming innocents.
·
It fails because it destroys the very thing it claims to want to save.
From a historical and sociological perspective, ideologies, including
Marxism, can generate worldviews so rigid that they affect the perception of
reality, especially when they become dogmas rather than flexible analytical
frameworks.
When an ideology completely dominates a person's mind, they may:
·
Distorting reality to fit your worldview.
·
Justifying harmful behavior in the name of an ideal.
·
Dehumanize those who do not share their beliefs.
·
Losing
the ability to self-criticize and correct
mistakes.
This is not unique to Marxism; it has occurred with political,
religious, and nationalist systems. But in the case of Marxism, history shows
that in its applied version—especially in totalitarian communist regimes—it has
led to repression, censorship, and persecution, precisely because it demands
absolute ideological loyalty that blocks the objective perception of social and
human reality.
From the perspective of social psychology and
political science, the process by
which an individual becomes fully absorbed by an ideology such as Marxism (or
any other) usually includes several phases:
1.
Cognitive isolation
·
The
person begins to filter all information according
to the ideological framework he has adopted.
·
News,
historical data, and personal experiences that do not fit with the doctrine are
ignored or reinterpreted.
·
This
creates a mental bubble where
everything confirms the ideology.
2. Emotional reprogramming
·
The
ideological system redefines who is “the enemy” and
who is “the hero”.
·
feeling of moral superiority is generated : “We are on the right side of
history, they are not.”
·
Empathy
toward opponents diminishes, and aggression toward them becomes justified.
3. Language
control
·
Specific phrases, slogans and terms are adopted to shape thinking.
·
By changing language, the ability to think outside of ideology is
limited
(example: always using “oppressed people” vs. “citizens”).
4.
Elimination of self-criticism
·
The ideology is considered scientific and
perfect, so any failure is attributed to betrayals or external
enemies, never to defects in the system.
·
This
creates a kind of psychological immunity against doubt
5.
Radicalization
·
In extreme cases, the person comes to accept or promote
violence as a legitimate means to impose ideology.
·
It is considered that the ends (utopia) justify any means.
Why it becomes dangerous:
A mind structured this way doesn't process
reality as it is, but as ideology dictates it should be. This can lead
to justifying oppression, censorship, and even the physical elimination of
those who think differently, because they are seen as obstacles to the
"greater good."
One argument Marxists use to justify their murders and abuses is that they say or imagine that we should represent or think of humanity as a single body or a single person who is sick with cancer, and that cancer is capitalism. And in order to save the body, humanity at a general level, or the population of a country at a small level, it is necessary to remove the cancerous tumor (otherwise it continues to grow, causing the death of the person). To reach the site of the tumor, the surgeon must cut into the body and cut through the good cells, causing their death in the process. These good cells represent the innocent citizens or collateral damage of this process. In this way, they deceive themselves and have no conscience, which is why all the people who kill in their pursuit of socialism feel no guilt. They believe themselves to be redeemers and saviors of the world while they sow chaos and destroy everything in their path.
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