Articles by Sidney Hook, Jan Narvesofi Paul Kurtz ISSN 0272-0701 SPRING 1983 VOL

Home , Hypatia (journal), Kate Mason Rowland, Leon (mathematician), Sidney Hook

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The Murder of Hypatia, by Ronald Mohar Hannah Arendt, by Richard Kostelanetz Also: Was Marx a Humanist? articles by Sidney Hook, Jan Narvesofi Paul Kurtz ISSN 0272-0701 SPRING 1983 VOL. 3, NO.2 Contents About This Issue

3 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This issue of FREE INQUIRY includes a section on James Madison and one THE FOUNDING FATHERS VERSUS on Karl Marx. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION James Madison, as framer of the 4 The Founding Fathers and Religious Liberty Robert S. Alley U.S. Constitution and proponent of 6 Madison's Legacy Endangered Edd Doerr the Bill of Rights, emphasized the 8 James Madison's Dream: A Secular Republic Robert A. Rutland principle of separation of church and state. Those who today argue that the ARTICLES Bible and the Judeo-Christian tradi- 12 The Murder of Hypatia of Alexandria Robert E. Mohar tion are the basis of the American 15 Hannah Arendt: The Modern Seer Richard Kostelanetz republic betray that principle. WAS KARL MARX A HUMANIST? The section on Karl Marx appears on the one-hundredth anniver- 20 Karl Marx versus the Communist Movement Sidney Hook sary of his death. It deals with the 29 Marxism: Hollow to the Core Jan Narveson question, "Was Marx a Humanist?" 36 The Religion of Marxism Paul Kurtz Paradoxically, Marxist countries VIEWPOINT deny the separation principle and seek to impose a single ideology upon 45 My Humanism Lester Mondale the entire society. It is they who have BOOKS established a state church and do not permit the free expression of con- 46 Capitalism Defended Antony Flew science, heresy, or dissent. 47 The New Fright-Peddlers Vern Bullough 'Those who believe in a secular 48 The Ethical Culture Movement Harold Beryl Levy republic emphasize the need for a COUNTERPOINT pluralistic democratic society in 51 Humanism and Politics which all points of view are allowed to flourish. Marxist religion repre- 53 CLASSIFIED sents a particular philosophical- economic point of view. Conservative 54 ON THE BARRICADES theists and totalitarian Marxists who attempt to establish a state church are thus similar in their attempt to inject a system of belief into politics. — Ens.

Editor: Paul Kurtz

Associate Editors: Gordon Stein; Lee Nisbet FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is pub- Contributing Editors: lished by The Council for Democratic Lionel Abel, author, critic, SUNY at Buffalo; Paul Beattie, president, Fellowship of Religious and Secular Humanism (CODESH, Inc.), a nonprofit corporation, 1203 Humanists; Jo-Ann Boydston, director, Dewey Center; Laurence Briskman, lecturer, Edinburgh University, Scotland; Kensington Avenue, Buffalo, N.Y. Albert Ellis, director, Institute for Rational Living; Roy P. Fairfield, social scientist, Union Graduate School; Joseph Fletcher, theologian, University of Virginia Medical 14215. Phone (716) 834-2921. Copy- School; right 1983 by CODESH, Inc. Antony Flew, philosopher, Reading University, England; Sidney Hook, professor emeritus of philosophy, NYU; Marvin Kohl, philosopher, State University College at Fredonia; Second-class postage paid at Buffalo and at additional mailing offices. Jean Kotkin, executive director, American Ethical Union; Gerald Larue, professor of archaeology and biblical history, USC; Ernest Nagel, professor emeritus of philosophy, Columbia University; Subscription rates: $14.00 for one year, $25.00 for two years, $32.00 for three Cable Neuhaus, correspondent; Howard Radest, director, Ethical Culture Schools; Robert years, $3.50 for single copies. Address Rimmer, author; M. L. Rosenthal, professor of English, New York University; William Ryan, free lance reporter, novelist; Svetozar Stojanovic, professor of philosophy, University of subscription orders, changes of address, and advertising to: FRII Belgrade; Thomas Szasz, psychiatrist, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse; V. M. Tarkunde, Supreme Court Judge, India; Richard Taylor, professor of philosophy, University of Rochester; INQUIRY, Box 5, Central Park Station, Sherwin Wine, founder, Society for Humanistic Judaism Buffalo, N.Y. 14215. Manuscripts, letters, and editorial in- Film Reviews: Hal Crowther; Poetry Editor.' Sally M. Call; Book Review Editor: Victor Culotta. quiries should be addressed to: The Editorial Associates: H. James Birx, Vern Bullough, James Martin-Diaz, Steven L. Mitchell, Editor, FREE INQUIRY, Box 5, Central Marvin Zimmerman. Park Station, Buffalo, N.Y. 14215. All manuscripts should be accompanied by Executive Director of CODESH, Inc.: Jean Millholland; Managing Editor: Richard Seymour. three additional copies and a stamped, addressed envelope. Opinions ex- Art Director: Gregory Lyde Vigrass; Copy Editor: Doris Doyle. pressed do not necessarily reflect the Editorial Staff.' Joellen Hawver, Barry Karr, J. Quentin Koren, Lynette Nisbet, Alfreda Pidgeon. views of the editors or publisher.

2 It has always astonished me that theologians sometimes seize upon abstract principles dear to themselves and then follow LETTERS TO THE EDITOR them right down to their logical conclusions without the slightest heed to the misery they sometimes entail. Cardinal Newman comes to mind, with his fatuous suggestion that it Singer Responds to Bullough were informed of alternative sexuality classes would be better for the heavens to fall, and they might enroll in if they were uncomfor- the earth's population perish in deep Vern Bullough, in "A Dissenting View," table with mine. Such carefully guarded misery, than for one poor soul to tell a which follows my article, "My Ordeal at multiple options was the key factor in deliberate lie or steal a single farthing. That Long Beach" (FI, Winter 1982-83), criticizes repeated approval of my course by university idea, that the moral issue is somehow the teaching practices that I would also criticize. agents—before the attacks started. paramount one, is the constant theme of They do not resemble my practices. My professional background in sex- the Church Fathers—one thinks at once of Despite my use of the phrase "totally uality includes all of the usual self-education St. Augustine and Tertullian—and also, of self-disclosing," it is not true that I require of currently active sex professionals, plus the course, of the contemporary "moral ma- gay people to come out. By that phrase I following: (1) Several scientific articles in jority," as well as of a great many academic meant that students were to be frank and submission to or in revision for the Journal philosophers. They seem never to ask them- open in small group discussions about such of Sex Research. (2) Co-founder, associate selves: "What would be the actual result, topics as masturbation. Further, students editor, and editor of the journal Alternative over the generations, if our principles were had the option of submitting sensitive writ- Lifestyles. (3) Manuscript referee for the made laws?" Instead, they talk of moral ten assignments to my gay or feminist co- Journal of Sex Research. (4) Reviewer of principles or, worse yet, metaphysical ones. instructors rather than to me. sexuality texts for virtually all the major The comfort of these spares them the neces- Sexology is of course more than "wide- publishers in the area. (5) Author of popular sity of actually looking at the unpleasant eyed prurient voyeurism." Field trips con- articles on sexuality; author and producer of facts that sometimes do not blend well with stituted less than 10 percent of class or visual media for the National Sex Forum. (6) principles. assignment time. All were optional; none Active leadership for ten years in various There is no principle of religious ethics were required. No "participation" was re- national and local alternative-lifestyle that anyone knows to be true, though many quired on any of them. At least two instruc- groups, gay-rights groups, etc. are embraced by faith—often at great cost tors briefed the students and accompanied I have no apologies to make about my in terms of their actual consequences. them on sensitive field trips. Students were standing in the field of sexology. Likewise, Similarly, there is no principle of philoso- not encouraged to participate in unor- my students were asked to be analytic and phical ethics that anyone knows to be true, thodox sexuality on the field trips or at any conceptual about sex; that was their though philosophers, like everyone else, other time. primary mission, not "prurient observation." sometimes have strong feelings in this area. Students were permitted to write about Finally, Bullough is arguably correct in Marvin Kohl does not know that there is novel sexual experiences as part of an assign- asserting that my resignation was a strategic anything wrong with destroying a fertilized ment if they first consulted with me about error. I did not resign for strategic reasons, ovum, zygote, blastula, blastocyst, or fetus, their intentions and followed stringent however, but for personal ones: because my nor does labeling one of these "human" guidelines to avoid personal risk. It is not presence was endangering others, and be- alter anything. He writes of "moral true that this practice is uncommon or cause my mistakes in public relations were anguish," but of the several fine people I unethical. Optional written assignments on causing untold trouble and embarrassment know who have chosen abortion none has novel sexual behaviors such as mastur- to my colleagues. I was not personally com- felt the least trace of this, nor do 1 see how bation, pelvic self-exam, role reversal dates, fortable with continuing to be a source of anything would have been improved if they etc., are common in sexuality classes in this such disruption for so many others. For this had. region. Further, to deny students the op- reason, I have not regretted my resignation. Questions of a woman's control over portunity to examine in writing their own her own reproductive function, or of the sexual behaviors would be to deprive them Barry Singer right of the state to compel women in a free of a uniquely valuable experience. It would Long Beach, California society to bear misbegotten children, are be incongruous to instruct students in a sex- questions of public policy and law, not uality course that they never use their own Abortion and Public Policy abstract ethics. They are not going to be experiences as illustrations or as subject resolved by resort to religious and philo- matter in written assignments. And it would Marvin Kohl urges us not to lose sight of sophical principles, nor elevated by talk be a violation of their rights—students, too, the moral and metaphysical principles in- about moral anguish, but by taking a good have academic freedom to discuss and ana- volved in the abortion issue (FI, Winter look at the actual and predictable conse- lyze what they choose. 1982-83, p. 42). But if anything should be quences of policies proposed for adoption. Students were never "required" to do obvious by now, it is that it is precisely such These, unlike religious and philosophical anything uncomfortable. They were advised principles, whether coming from religion or moral principles, we can sometimes at least on three separate occasions about the philosophy, that have exacerbated this approximately know and foresee. possibly threatening nature of my class problem. Jeanne Caputo and I were trying, before they enrolled in it: once in the Bulletin in our brief discussion (FI, Fall 1982, p. 32) Richard Taylor and schedule of classes; once in a required to redirect attention to the overwhelming University of Rochester pre-enrollment personal interview with me; human suffering that the anti-abortionists' Rochester, New York and again on the first day of class. Students cruel crusade promises to yield. (continued on page 52)

Spring 1983 3 James Madison

Robert S. Alley

Historians remind us that the English who Williams effected a system that became the in the Convention. The proposal was allow- settled in Jamestown in 1607 quickly con- sterling example of church-state separation. ed to die. Quite clearly the delegates, men structed a church and soon established the The suggestion of the foregoing, the of reason, recognized that a solution to Church of England in Virginia. The church- existence of at least three significant groups their problems lay with them alone. Clinton state relationship that was created made life active in the debates of the eighteenth cen- Rossiter is correct: "The Convention of intolerable for Roman Catholics and tury, was affirmed by American church 1787 was highly rationalist and even secular Quakers and uncomfortable for all Protes- historian Sidney Mead in 1953. in spirit."2 tant dissenters. In the following century Looking back to the Declaration of In- James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, The struggle for religious freedom during dependence, Jefferson's references to supported by Christian "pietists," overcame the last quarter of the eighteenth century "Creator" and "Divine Providence" stem the religious establishment and incorpor- provided the kind of practical issue on from a deistic philosophy that categorically which rationalists and sectarian-pietists ated religious liberty permanently in Virginia could and did unite, in spite of underlying rejected the incredible stories in the Bible, in 1786. theological differences, in opposition to including the claim of deity for Jesus. Jef- Again, historians remind us that in "right wing" traditionalists., ferson edited his own 46-page version of the 1630 Puritans arriving in Massachusetts New Testament "by cutting verse by verse covenanted together to establish "God's Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance" out of the present book, and arranging the New Israel" in America. Their "city upon a and Jefferson's "Act for Establishing Relig- matter which is evidently his (Jesus') and hill" was a beacon of intolerance of all dis- ious Freedom" were both centered in rational- which is as easily distinguished as diamonds sent, constructed on the biblical model of ism. Likewise the Declaration of Indepen- in a dunghill." As a founding father Jeffer- theocracy elaborated in Ezekiel. Life was dence and the Constitution proclaimed a son repaired to no biblical view of civil made impossible for Quakers, Roman Cath- secular state. government. Indeed, the biblical view, to olics, Separatists, and free thinkers. The It is therefore disheartening to read the extent it can be determined, is consistent Bible was the text for this experiment in gov- Senate Joint Resolution 165 authorizing with the church-state affiliation in the ernment and, while time tempered the rigid President Reagan to proclaim 1983 the Virginia colony and the theocracy in col- intolerance, not until the nineteenth century "Year of the Bible." This act is historically onial Massachusetts. was religious freedom effectively realized in and conceptually a grievous error, com- None of this is intended to denigrate Massachusetts, achieved by a coalition of pounded by the use of flagrant religious the Christian communions active in the "sectarian-pietists" and rationalists. language. eighteenth century. It is to suggest that the Finally, historians tell us of Roger As to fact, there is absolutely no Great Awakening developed a "sectarian- Williams founding Rhode Island, which evidence that biblical teachings inspired pietism" that discovered practical, not "admitted no reservations" respecting concepts of civil government that are con- biblical, reasons to support rationalists like religious liberty. All consciences were tained in our Declaration of Independence Madison and Jefferson in the struggle respected. Williams's concept of govern- and the Constitution. Apart from the against an established church. It would be ment was not biblical, but rational, based religious test for office discussion, the only irony indeed if that cooperation were used upon his understanding of the nature of mention of religion during the Constitu- to re-create a religious establishment. religion. A devout man, he was convinced tional Convention appears to have been a Historian Franklin Littell has offered an ex- that his theological convictions gave him no suggestion by Benjamin Franklin, made cellent description of the fruit of those right to impose upon others his own defini- after the Convention had been in session eighteenth-century efforts. tions. Combining rationalism and piety for more than forty days, that the delegates America is a land where a high value of "implore the assistance of Heaven" by religion and a bold trust in liberty freed opening each session with prayers. The idea Robert Alley is professor of humanities both church and government to fulfill was advanced during a particularly difficult at the University of Richmond and the their true destinies ... Secular govern- disagreement. Alexander Hamilton worried author of Revolt Against the Faithful. ment is a far finer human invention than that the public reaction would be adverse the sacral governments of an earlier epoch since such action might suggest dissension of human affairs.

4 Littell concludes that secular government is ments as a screen for making the state an concerned citizens should protect our pan- limited in claims, removed from ecclesias- engine of dogma, Madison's words of 1785 theon of eighteenth-century radicals from tical conspiracies, and freed "to govern civil become current. historical distortion that would provide a affairs, no more and no less." platform for unrestrained experiments on The richness of America's philosophical We maintain therefore that in matters of our liberties. It may well be time once more heritage includes profound religious think- Religion, no man's right is abridged by the for a new coalition of humanists and ra- ers, brilliant humanists, and dedicated institution of civil society and that Religion tional Christians to assert itself against rationalists. In the eighteenth century a is wholly exempt from its cognizance. those who cower before the world they fortuitous coalition provided a free church claim God created, who fear the world's and a secular government. It offered an ex- The "Year of the Bible" effectively people they claim God created in his image. citing environment in which the religious "degrades from the equal rank of citizen, all Such an informed coalition can easily with- institutions often have been proffered those whose opinions in Religion do not stand imposition of human doctrines and opportunity, not frequently seized, to exer- bend to those of the legislative authority."4 can look with anticipation to an uncharted cise a prophetic voice in the name of truth The "Year of the Bible" is an offense to future in a humane and secular state with and justice. Likewise, the state is encour- millions of Christians who have been ex- free religion. aged to seek rational justification for its hilarated by the high road of voluntaryism policies, rather than retreat into pious in religion, not to mention those citizens Notes pronouncements and a national messian- who have experienced the open and fair ex- ism. Cast against this heritage, the "Year of change of ideas with persons of different 1. Sidney Mead, "American Protestantism the Bible" is a retrogression, conceptually at persuasions, just because of congressional During the Revolutionary Epoch," reprinted in odds with the spirit of free inquiry as well as neutrality in matters religious. Religion in American History, ed. by John M. the intentions of the framers of the Consti- Our freedoms are at risk if we allow the Mulder and John F. Wilson (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1978). tution. As the Joint Resolution moves us sacralization of the state. While it is prob- 2. Clinton Rossiter, 1787: The Grand Con- one step toward a type of national dogma, ably true that the "Year of the Bible" is vention (New York: Macmillan, 1966). sadly the emotional character of the issue, largely meaningless political posturing, its 3. Franklin Littell, "Religious Liberty in a its political "sensitivity," has caused other- symbolism is important and reminds of the Pluralistic Society," in Journal of Church and wise rational men and women to capitulate oft quoted words of Madison that "it is pro- State, Autumn 1966. to those who arrogate to themselves exclu- per to take alarm at the first experiment on 4. James Madison, "Memorial and Remon- sive right to interpret history and the Bible, our liberties." strance Against Religious Assessments," 1785. a claim that we dare not allow to go un- If, as seems evident, a fundamentalist 5. A paraphrase of a comment by John challenged. is someone who worships a dead radical, 5 Holt. • By whose authority do Congress and the President of the United States call the Bible the "Word of God"? Itself a religious statement, it is a label that many Christian scholars reject as an offense to reason and faith. By what right do Congress and the president call for the nation to renew its "knowledge and faith in God"? What God? The God of Moses? The God in Jesus? For which faith has the legislature become mis- sionary? Or again, by what right does my government, that can "make no law respecting an establishment of religion" call for na- } tional study of the "Holy Scriptures"? Those who have foisted this travesty of American tradition have done a severe dis- service. At best the "Year of the Bible" is meaningless political rhetoric, a mockery of religion and state alike; at worst, it reflects an agenda of change contradictory to constitutional guarantees. James Madison Memorial Committee America is a secular state, recognizing crimes, not sins. It is a state in which A national committee is being formed to honor James Madison, the fourth presi- humanist and Christian and Jew and dent of the United States. This new group, being organized by Robert Alley, will Muslim and secularist and rationalist have seek to have Montpelier, Madison's Virginia home, declared a National Historic existed in good harmony, far better than Landmark. anywhere else in the world. We have en- Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan will introduce legislation in the Senate to dured for two centuries; we have continued make this possible. One of the goals of the committee is to enlist citizen support. to grow in our appreciation of the great For further details, write to Professor Alley, Box 187, University of Richmond, heritage of religious freedom. As we see Richmond, Va. 23173. among us attempts to use pious preach-

Spring 1983 5 trine takes the mechanistic, reductionist, materalist view that a blob of protoplasm with some DNA is the equivalent of a nurtured human person. —The campaign, dispersed around the Madison's Legacy Endangered country in far-flung communities and school districts, to replace the core of science teaching with the unscientific fundamentalist notion of "scientific creationism," to censor textbooks and school librar- ies, and to block teaching about human sex- ABI uality. —Such abuses as payment of legislative chaplains (which Madison denounced), congressional and presidential proclamations of a religious nature (which Madison Edd Doerr and Jefferson objected to), Postal Service decisions to honor certain religious ideas and personages, and government use of re- Religious, intellectual, and personal liberty which the ayatollah on the other coast, ligious agencies for carrying out govern- in a pluralistic secular democracy: that is Jerry Falwell, adds, "The church should be ment functions (which use of "religion as an the legacy of James Madison, Father of the a disciplined, charging army.... Christians, engine of Civil policy" Madison condemned United States Constitution and the Bill of like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions." as an "unhallowed perversion of the means Rights and primary architect, aided by Catholic fundamentalist law professor of salvation"). Thomas Jefferson, of the church-state Charles Rice goes on to say that there must —The brazen effort, led nominally by separation arrangement that has enabled be an "external moral interpreter ... out- Senator John East, to render the Bill of our country to enjoy more religious side the government and the people" to Rights inoperative against state and local freedom and interfaith harmony than any whom American legislators and judges can government by means of legislative "repeal" other society past or present. look for guidance not only on religious of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Bill of History has amply demonstrated the matters but also on all moral matters, and Rights applied only against the federal validity of the reasoning of Madison's land- that interpreter must be the pope. government, but this generally left citizens mark "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Madison, in his "Memorial and Re- without adequate protection against state Religious Assessments," which ought to be . monstrance," declared that implementing and local government. This situation was studied and taken to heart by every genera- such ideas would "erect a spiritual tyranny remedied after the Civil War with the pass- tion, and the incomparable value of the on the ruins of Civil authority" or "uphold ing and ratification of the Fourteenth church-state separation principle as the key the thrones of political tyranny," and "in no Amendment. Unfortunately, the Supreme guarantor of the most basic liberties of all instance have [ecclesiastical establishments] Court immediately sabotaged and refused citizens. Our church-state arrangement is been seen the guardians of the liberties of to implement the clear intent of the Four- the standard used by democrats and civil the people." teenth's framers, and it was not until after libertarians the world over to measure Among the efforts for the "piecemeal World War I that the Court began piece- religious liberty. Yet this arrangement has repeal of the Bill of Rights" are these: meal to correct its error. Between 1920 and been partially undermined and is under in- —The campaign, headed nominally by 1950 the Court applied the whole Bill of creasing attack by sectarian special interests President Reagan, to amend the Constitu- Rights to state and local government and weak-kneed politicians eager to reap tion to authorize government sponsored or through the "due process" and "liberty" what they imagine to be a harvest of sec- mandated group prayer in public schools. clauses of the Fourteenth. The Radical tarian bloc votes. As Edward L. Ericson The school-prayer zealots would have Right has always tried to undermine the put it in his 1982 book, American Freedom government usurp the role of churches and Fourteenth. Senator East's so-called "Judi- and the Radical Right, "The most powerful, families, in which they seem to have little cial Reform" bill is just the latest and bold- best financed, and most elaborately organ- faith, and force religion into a narrow, est attempt to radically limit the application ized drive for the piecemeal repeal of the mindless, fundamentalist mold. of the Bill of Rights by denying federal Bill of Rights is now under way." —The drive, headed again nominally courts jurisdiction over cases alleging state Moral Majority guru and California by the president, to tax all citizens for the or local government violations. fundamentalist ayatollah Tim LaHaye has support of sectarian private schools As Madison wrote, "It is proper to take this to say: "The only individuals who can through the machinery of tuition tax-credits alarm at the first experiments on our liber- lead the moral majority ... are the millions or vouchers. Tens of millions of dollars of ties" in what Tom Paine would surely have of church people. However, they will not state and federal tax funds are already flow- called "these times that try men's [and follow politicians; they respond only to the ing to sectarian schools through clever legal women's] souls." Everyone—everyone— leadership of their pastor-shepherds." To loopholes and/or programs so tricky as to who values freedom must get involved in defy easy court challenge. the defense of the Bill of Rights and the —The sectarian crusade to amend the Madisonian principle of separation of Edd Doerr is executive director of the Voice Constitution to chain all women to the church and state. of Reason. theological position that personhood begins No deus ex machina will save us. We at conception. Curiously, this religious doc- must save ourselves. •

6 ua Religion in American Politics

A Special Symposium Commemorating the Birthday of President James Madison Sponsored by FREE INQUIRY Magazine Wednesday, March 16, 1983 at the NATIONAL PRESS CLUB in Washington, D.C.

Schedule of Events

9:30 A.M. - 12:00 P.M. James Madison, the Founding Fathers, and the Constitution The Secular Roots of the American Political System Chair Paul Kurtz, Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo; Editor, FREE INQUIRY Magazine Speakers Robert Rutland, Professor of History, University of Virginia, and editor of The Madison Papers Henry Steele Commager, Professor of History, Amherst College Daniel J. Boorstin, Historian Richard Morris, Professor of History, Columbia University Discussant: Michael Novak, American Enterprise Institute

12:15 P. M. - 1:30 P.M. Luncheon Speaker: Sen. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.

1:30 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. The Bible and Politics Gerald Larue, Professor Emeritus of Biblical Archaeology, University of Southern California at Los Angeles Speakers Sam Ervin, Former U.S. Senator from North Carolina Leo Pfeffer, Professor of Constitutional Law, Long Island University: Special Counsel of the American Jewish Congress Robert Alley, Professor of Humanities, University of Richmond James M. Robinson, Professor of Religion and Director, Institute of Antiquities and Religion, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California Discussant: A. E. Dick Howard, Professor of Law, University of Virginia

The registration fee is $30.00 and includes the luncheon. For further details call Jean Millholland at FREE INQUIRY (716-834-2921).

Spring 1983 7 James Madison's Dream: A Secular Republic

Robert A. Rutland

Any clear-headed historian who reaches his ninetieth year in the mind-blight he witnessed in his native community. reasonably good health is going to be asked a lot of silly ques- After Madison took his cram course in classics at Prince- tions, as Dumas Malone found to be the case in 1982. But like ton so that he could earn the baccalaureate degree in barely all wise men, Malone was able to turn the tables when he re- more than two years, he worried about his future and even- phrased a mindless query about American history into a sen- tually returned to Montpelier to contemplate his career plans. sible one. The question as it finally came out: "What is the In the drafty halls of his father's plantation home Madison most fortunate aspect of American history?" The biographer heard the news from the neighborhood and wrote his college of Thomas Jefferson scarcely hesitated. "The fact that we friend (in the winter of 1773-74) of his hopes to travel north- became a nation and immediately separated church and state— ward in the spring. "I want again to breathe your free Air... . it has saved us from all the misery that has beset mankind I have indeed as good an Atmosphere at home as the Climate with inquisitions, internecine and civil wars, and other assorted will allow: but have nothing to brag of as to the State and Lib- ills," Malone said. "Jefferson's part in this is what he wanted erty of my Country," Madison confided. Poverty and luxury remembered, and it is certainly a great contribution to man- prevailed side by side, "among all sorts: Pride ignorance and kind." Reminded that Madison helped Jefferson push the Knavery among the Priesthood and Vice and Wickedness 1786 Statute on Religious Freedom through the Virginia legis- among the Laity." lature, Malone added: "Yes, of course Madison felt the same way—nearly all the Founding Fathers did." (In his homespun way, Professor Malone was making the same point that the This is bad enough But It is not the worst I have to tell you. English historian J. B. Bury struck in his That diabolical Hell conceived principle of persecution rages History of Freedom among some and to their eternal Infamy the Clergy can furnish and Thought, where he says the idea "that coercion of opin- their Quota of Imps for such business. This vexes me the most ion is a mistake ... is the most important [conclusion] ever of any thing whatever. There are at this [time] in the adjacent reached by men" [p. 6, 1957 edition]. The broad implications County not less than 5 or 6 well meaning men in close Gaol for of complete separation of church and state are weakened by publishing their religious Sentiments which in the main are the claims one hears that the Constitution is a logical offshoot very orthodox. of the Judeo-Christian ethic, or such a proclamation as the one recently passed by Congress and signed by President Confessing that he had "neither patience to hear talk or think Reagan declaring 1983 to be the "Year of the Bible.") of any thing relative to this matter, for I have squabbled and Such a testimonial from an eminent scholar reminds us scolded abused and ridiculed so long about it, [to so lit]tle that the shared wisdom of the Revolutionary generation not purpose that I am without common patience," Madison sug- only spread the blessings of liberty after 1776 but also spared gested that the only resource left was to "pray for Liberty of the American people much of the tragedy that has marked Conscience [to revive among us]."' mankind's story since Cain and Abel fell out. In James Madi- Many men who have seen twenty-two winters make state- son's case, the perceptions he gained as a Princeton graduate ments that they later amend or repudiate, but James Madison were nurtured by experience in Orange County, Virginia, and was acting and talking as consistently on the matter of reli- strengthened when he contrasted the healthy intellectual gious freedom at eighty-two as he had been at twenty-two. climate in places where there was no established church with Lip service was never his game. His discussions with James Madison, Sr., vestryman of St. Thomas Parish in Orange County, are unrecorded, but we can assume that between his Robert A. Rutland, a noted historian, is editor of The Papers Princeton experience and his fireside discussions there took of James Madison and the author of The Birth of the Bill of shape in Madison's mind a lifelong aversion to religious Rights, the prize-winning Ordeal of the Constitution, and many other works. bigotry that antedated his association with that other great libertarian, Thomas Jefferson. Revolutions have a way of changing things swiftly; hence

8 the men involved in the proceedings of 1775 and 1776 gloried and they seemed determined to carry a so-called General in alluding to their experiences later as "a revolt." Thus, when Assessment bill (designed to collect and distribute tax money Madison complained in 1774 of the misery inflicted by one set to all Christian churches in the name of "public morality") of Christians upon another, he was standing on the brink of despite widespread but inarticulate opposition from many events that transformed the entire political and social struc- constituents. Passage of the bill, said to be Patrick Henry's ture of the thirteen colonies in less time than it now takes to "pet," seemed likely. send a First Amendment case from appeal to the Supreme In this confused situation Presbyterians occupied an Court. Things happened fast, including the election of Madi- ambiguous position. Convinced that a religious subsidy son himself to the Virginia Convention of 1776. There in would pass, the Hanover Presbytery first declared that "Reli- Williamsburg, while George Mason and the older leaders gion as a spiritual System is not to be considered an object of whipped their frothy ideas into the heavy batter of republi- human Legislation" and in the next breath made a bid to canism, Madison made his first move. Ready to cut all ties share in the proceeds of "a general assessment for teachers of with England, the convention moved to declare independence Christianity."5 and write a constitution and bill of rights for the free state of Virginia. Mason personally handled most of the business (he hated committee work), but when it came to his article on religion the Truro Parish vestryman only saw the need to guarantee "that all Men shou'd enjoy the fullest Toleration in the Exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates of Con- science, unpunished and unrestrained by the Magistrate, unless, under Colour of Religion, any Man disturb the Peace, the Happiness, or Safety of Society, or of Individuals."2 But for Madison, there the landmark Article 16 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights would have stood through the final reading. When Madison thought about it, however, he saw a shorter, broader, and hence a better way of expressing Mason's idea. So he moved to amend the phrase simply to read: "all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience."3 The wording stuck, and in time the world read it and marveled that such common sense could come from the wilderness state of Virginia. Before Madison would pursue his thoughts on the national stage, there were still battles to be won in his home territory. Jefferson wrote his statute on religious freedom in 1779 but was not able to bring it before the Virginia General Assembly as he had planned. With this bill cached in his desk, Jefferson went to France and carried on the diplomacy necessary to keep the young republic from being swallowed up by old enemies and new friends. Meanwhile, by 1784 Madison found duties enough to keep himself busy in the Virginia House of Delegates. One of James Madison the hottest issues concerned the status of the old Anglican Such a compromise was anathema to Madison, who had church. Out of sentiment and natural conservatism, many of no intention of retreating from the high ground he occupied the Virginia public men decried what was happening and when helping fashion Article 16 of the Virginia Declaration of wanted to use the commonwealth's political structure to save Rights. He had seen conservative forces in the General Assem- the feeble leftovers of the established church. Church-going bly come within an eyelash of passing the legislation — officially in Virginia had long been on the decline as communicants known as the "Bill establishing a provision for the teachers of found more reasons for attending Sunday horse races or the Christian religion" at the October 1784 session—with cockfights than for being in pews. In 1784 a foreign traveler some sly maneuvering needed by its opponents to postpone in Richmond noted that the village had only "one small final action on the bill and publicize its provisions in the church, but [it was] spacious enough for all the pious souls of interim. George Nicholas in neighboring Albemarle County the place and the region. If the Virginians themselves did not had entreated Madison to bestir himself so that apathy would freely and openly admit that zeal for religion, and religion not allow the bill to become law.6 Surely Madison discussed generally, is now very faint among them, the fact might easily the matter with his neighbors, including the obstreperous have been divined from other circumstances."4 In the face Elder John Leland, a Baptist minister who loathed all forms of such realities there were still many members of the General of church-state alliances. A host of Episcopalians as well as Assembly disposed to aid the Protestant Episcopal church, dissenters were eager to cut all church-state ties. However, a

Spring 1983 9 focal point for the opposition was needed, and the usual way Magistrate" any power over religion because "Religious truth" to protest pending legislation in the 1780s was by a petition. and "the means of salvation" are beyond the concerns of the Partly from pressure, then, and partly from personal state. With Locke, the whole jurisdiction of the magistrate is conviction, Madison took pen in hand and wrote a cogently concerned only with "civil goods" such as life, liberty, and reasoned, anonymous attack on the General Assessment bill. property and ought not "in any way to be extended to the sal- By the end of June it was ready for distribution, most likely vation of souls." Indeed, Locke held that "the magistrate through Nicholas and other young men in the Piedmont ought not to forbid the holding or teaching of any speculative whom Madison could trust to keep his secret—Archibald opinions in any church, because they have no bearing on the Stuart, John Breckinridge, and the tidelands patriarch at civil rights of his subjects."13 Gunston Hall who was eager to knock the tax-subsidy props from beneath the church he attended and loved, George "With Madison, the line between church and state had Mason. The Library of Congress copy of the protest is in to be drawn with absolute firmness.... What about Madison's handwriting. No doubt he sent a copy to Mason, presidential proclamations involving religious feast days who was eager to see it in print. From an Alexandria press and fasts? Even though they come as `recommendations Mason broadcast copies of the Memorial and Remonstrance only, they imply a religious agency' and are therefore to friends and neighbors. Mason sent with it a covering letter suspect. On balance, Madison reasoned, even these pro- that honored Madison's request for anonymity. The petition, clamations are not a good idea." Mason explained, was "confided to me by a particular Freind [sic], whose name I am not at Liberty to mention." So active If this comparison of Locke and Madison seems strained, was Mason in supporting Madison's remonstrance that there there is one indisputable similarity between the "Letter on was speculation that he was its real author.~ Toleration" and the "Memorial and Remonstrance." Neither Madison's motive in seeking a cloud of anonymity over Locke nor Madison wanted his authorship revealed. A mod- his attack on the General Assessment bill is uncertain. He told ern scholar has noted that "Locke's timid anxiety to conceal Jefferson copies had been dispatched "thro' the medium of his identity was excessive"; Madison sent his petition to a confidential persons."9 Hamilton Eckenrode speculated that close circle of friends who were enjoined to secrecy.) "My most Virginians were inclined to support the bill, until the choice is that my name may not be associated with it," Madi- protest movement began to swell.)" The phalanx committed son wrote his friend Edmund Randolph.15 to its passage was imposing. A fortuitous circumstance was Whether Madison gleaned his "wall of separation" argu- the fact that Patrick Henry was still governor and thus unable ments from a growing number of volumes in his personal to use his oratory in the House of Delegates to overwhelm the library or drew upon experience and practical politics as his opposition. Carter Henry Harrison, Charles Mynn Thruston, guides, the result is beyond doubt. Because of his labors the Wilson Miles Cary, John Page, and lesser lights also were campaign against the General Assessment bill had all the convinced that religion needed bolstering. Richard Henry Lee aspects of a well-organized endeavor. What is not generally and Edmund Pendleton were not legislators, but in Richmond known is that Madison was not only seeking anonymity but their support of the General Assessment bill was certainly no was so circumspect that another opponent of the General secret.11 Assessment bill actually had a more active following. While at In these circumstances Madison may have thought it pru- least thirteen of Madison's petitions were circulated (and in dent to eschew the role of rabble-rouser. There was much to time bore 1,552 signatures), another (also anonymous) peti- be done at the October 1785 session of the legislature, and tion writer found that his attack on the "Teachers of Christian Madison was too good a politician to go out of his way to Religion" measure gained more widespread support. Twenty- alienate those men whose votes or support he would need if nine petitions, signed by 4,899 Virginians, came from the pen the reforms of the court system and the whole legal code were of this unknown opponent of a church-state tie. This petition to pass a House of Delegates fairly balanced in terms of con- was based on an argument that carries beyond Madison's— servative and progressive members. So it may have been pru- the General Assessment bill was not only contrary to the Vir- dence and expediency that caused Madison to mantle his ginia Declaration of Rights and to the enlightened republican- authorship of "one of the truly epoch-making documents in ism pronounced there, but the proposed act was in conflict the history of American Church-State separation."12 with "the Spirit of the Gospel." Whoever wrote this petition, A comparison between the fifteen-paragraph "Memorial~ which was easily the most popular of the several circulating and Remonstrance" and John Locke's "Letter on Toleration" protests, was clearly an active Christian (and probably a Bap- (1685) leads to the speculation that Madison had occasion to tist) who believed the General Assessment bill would do noth- use Locke's treatise in preparing his own. Assertions of intel- ing to check "that Deism with its banefull Influence [which] is lectual dependence are often based on slender textual coinci- spreading itself over the state."16 dences, but there are a number of similarities between the Obviously, more Virginians were made aware of this views of Madison and Locke toward religious ties between zealous protest than Madison's calmer one, and it is also not- church and state. For example, Madison speaks of the "metes able that in Westmoreland County at least eleven women and bounds" between the temporal and spiritual establish- signed the remonstrance based on "the Spirit of the Gospel." ments while Locke marked "the true bounds between the Thus, while Madison's role in shaping opposition to the bill is church and the commonwealth." Madison denies to "the Civil noteworthy, his protest was signed by a minority of all the

10 ;wee protesting Virginians who were recorded as opponents of the ought to be guarded agst in the indefinite accumulation of General Assessment bill (since 10,929 signed some kind of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by anti-assessment petition). Almost eighty petitions opposed to ecclesiastical corporations." The power accumulating to such the General Assessment bill flowed into the legislative hopper groups, Madison wrote, "never fails to be a source of abuses." after October 27, 1785. Some were printed, and some came in He compared the latent dangers in church property-holding longhand, but less than one-fifth of them were based entirely with those "in the minute tax of 3 pence on tea" of yesteryear. on Madison's work. Only eleven counties mustered enough With Madison the line between church and state had to support for the bill to send favorable petitions to Richmond. be drawn with absolute firmness. "The establishment of the Faced with such odds, the conservatives retreated. The bill chaplainship to Congs is a palpable violation of equal rights, that seemed so certain of passage in November 1784 was, one as well as of Constitutional principles." And what about year later, allowed to die in a pigeonhole. presidential proclamations involving religious feast days and With the passing of time, history tended to forget the fasts? Even though they come as "recommendations only, other protests of 1785-1786 and focused upon Madison's. they imply a religious agency" and are therefore suspect. On Madison himself was no longer shy about his role, and in his balance, Madison reasoned, even these proclamations are not seventy-fifth year he remembered that chiefly because of the a good idea, and he appears to have regretted those issued "Memorial and Remonstrance" the churchmen in the General during his presidency. "They seem to imply and certainly Assembly were "entirely frustrated, and under the influence nourish the erroneous idea of a national religion," he ex- of the public sentiment thus manifested the celebrated Bill plained. "During the administration of Mr Jefferson no reli- `Establishing Religious freedom' [was] enacted into a perma- gious proclamation was issued."t 8 Looking back, Madison nent Barrier agst. future attempts on the Rights of Conscience wished he had followed the same rule. as declared in the great charter affixed to the Constitution of the State."t 7 Strengthened by the victory over churchmen in Notes 1785, Madison resurrected Jefferson's 1779 bill to cut all religious ties asunder at the 1786 legislative session. With Patrick 1. Madison to William Bradford, Jan. 24, 1774, in William T. Hutchin- Henry now governor and out of the way, it passed handily. son et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (14 vols. to date; Chicago and Charlottesville, Va., 1962—), vol. I, p. 106. Words in brackets from copy- Madison could not pause to rest. His dominant role in book version. drafting the Constitution and forcing the First Amendment 2. Robert A. Rutland, ed., The Papers of George Mason (3 vols.; upon a reluctant Congress in 1789 is well known. In the light Chapel Hill, N.C., 1970), vol. I, p. 278. of history, it would have been an irony had any other man 3. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 289-91. The final wording seems to have represented performed the task—certainly no one in the House of Repre- a further compromise, as Madison's first thought was to add a prohibition on "peculiar emoluments" based on religious ties. sentatives or Senate could match his record as a fighter for 4. Johann D. Schoepf, Travels in the Confederation [1783-1784], trans- religious freedom. Some thirty years later Madison was still as lated and edited by Alfred J. Morrison (2 vols.; Philadelphia, 1911), vol. 2. concerned about the need for separation of church and state 5. Virginia Historical Society: Records of the Proceedings of Hanover as he had been in 1774. Around 1832 he wrote a retrospective Presbytery from the Year 1755 to the Year 1786 (typed copy by George S. memorandum on the scenes of public life he had witnessed Wallace, 1930), pp. 326-27. and also set down a few of his fears. Among the latter was a 6. Nicholas to Madison, Apr. 22, 1785, in Hutchinson et al., eds., Papers of James Madison, vol. 8, pp. 264-65. feeling that "the danger of silent accumulations & encroach- 7. Mason to Washington, Oct. 2, 1785, in Robert A. Rutland, ed., The ments by Ecclesiastical Bodies have not sufficiently engaged Papers of George Mason (3 vols.; Chapel Hill, N.C., 1970), vol. 2, p. 830. attention in the U.S." 8. Kate Mason Rowland, The Life of George Mason, 1725-1792 (2 At the time, several New England states still had ties with vols.; New York, 1892), vol. 2, p. 87. religious bodies, and with some pride Madison pointed out 9. Madison to Jefferson, Aug. 20, 1785, in Hutchinson et al., eds., Papers of James Madison, vol. 8, p. 345 (italicized words in code). that "there is one State at least, Virginia, where religious lib- 10. Hamilton J. Eckenrode, Separation of Church and State in Virginia erty is placed on its true foundation and is defined in its full (Richmond, 1910), p. 95. latitude." Madison hailed the "general principle ... in her 11. David John Mays, ed., The Letters and Papers of Edmund Pendle- declaration of rights, ... unfolded and defined, in its precise ton, 1734-1802 (2 vols.; Charlottesville, Va., 1967), vol. 2, p. 474. extent, in the act of the Legislature, usually named the Reli- 12. Anson Phelps Stokes, Church and State in the United Slates (3 vols.; New York, 1950), vol. 1, p. 391. gious Bill." "This act is a true standard of Religious liberty .. . 13. John Locke, Epistolia de Tolerantia: A Letter on Toleration, ed. by as long as it is respected & no longer, these will be safe," Raymond Klibansky and J. W. Gough (Oxford, 1968), pp. 65, 67, 121. Madison warned. 14. Locke, Letter on Toleration, p. 45; Rutland, Papers of George Warming to the issue, Madison called on the errant states Mason, vol. 2, pp. 830, 832. to build an impenetrable wall separating the church and state 15. Madison to Randolph, July 26, 1785, in Hutchinson et al., eds., Papers of James Madison, vol. 8, p. 328. and thus "make the example of your Country as pure & corn- 16. Virginia State Library: Westmoreland County petition. pleat, in what relates to the freedom of the mind and its alle- 17. Madison to George Mason [of Green Spring], July 14, 1826 (Virginia giance to its maker, as in what belongs to the legitimate Historical Society). objects of political and civil institutions." Before dropping 18. Elizabeth Fleet, ed., "Madison's `Detached Memoranda,"' William the subject, Madison alluded to offshoots of a church-state and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 3 (1946): 554-62. relationship that worried him. "Besides the danger of a direct Portions of this article first appeared in the author's essay published in mixture of Religion & civil Government, there is an evil which Hutchinson et al., eds., Papers of James Madison, vol. 8, pp. 295-99.) •

Spring 1983 11 The Murder of Hypatia of Alexandria

Ronald E. Mohar

I Christian religious shrines in North Africa around 390. Some twenty-five years later, at the age of about forty-five, Hypatia's Feminism, as a political philosophy, is defined as a theory that life came to a violent end. Traditionally, her murder is advocates for women the same political, economic, social, and considered by historians to mark the end of an era of Greek individual rights granted to men. Without a doubt, feminism is intellectualism. For generations after, says Sagan, it "was as if a doctrine of humanism, in that it is essentially based upon both the entire civilization had undergone some self-inflicted brain the ideal of fairness and the principles of individual justice and surgery, and most of its memories, discoveries, ideas, and human moral equality. Plato was certainly one of the first—if passions were" irrevocably extinguished.' Indeed, Sagan's brief not the first—feminist political philosophers of Western remarks and references to her life and murder are perhaps more civilization. In Book V of the Republic, he envisioned a society accurate than many realize. in which qualified women would follow the same pursuits as those followed by qualified men. He envisioned women as H guardians, athletes, public administrators, and as doctors or physicians. And as it is not at all surprising that one whose So far as we know, Hypatia was the first woman philosopher, philosophy started with a concern for individual justice should mathematician, and scientist of the ancient world. Despite the arrive at feminism, so too it is not at all surprising that one of contentions of a few historians to the effect that her the first—if not the first—woman intellectual figures of contributions were insignificant, what little survives of Western civilization was a Neoplatonist. Her name was Hypatia's work is not insignificant. With her father, Theon, the Hypatia. last known Mouseion at Alexandria, she wrote a commentary The modern astronomer Carl Sagan has been instru- on Ptolemy's Sintaxis. Further, her father publicly acknow- mental in calling recent popular attention to both Hypatia of ledged her role in producing it, and it is the only extant work Alexandria (A.D. 370 to 415) and to the "Crimes Against upon which Hypatia is known to have labored. As a Humanity" that resulted in her death. In 415 Hypatia was distinguished professor and mathematician, history records brutally murdered in Alexandria by a Christian mob. Some that Theon's most significant works were on Euclid, Aratus, twenty years after she was born, the great library at Alexandria and Ptolemy, including critical revisions of Euclid's Optics and was attacked by a similar Christian mob under the reign of Elements. In fact, Theon's text of the Elements was the basis for Theophilus, who launched a campaign of destroying non- all Greek texts and translations of that work published until early in the nineteenth century. In the words of one scholar of the history of astronomy: Ronald Mohar is a free-lance writer and a teacher of elec- tronics in Syracuse, New York. We are much better informed on the subject of Hipparchus's estimates of [planetary] size and distance, thanks to the investigations of Hultsch, who found in the commentaries of

12 TrcjIre "Carl Sagan has been instrumental in calling recent popular attention to both Hypatia of Alexandria (A.D. 370 to 415) and to the `Crimes Against Humanity' that resulted in her death. In 415 Hypatia was brutally murdered in Alexandria by a Christian mob.... The mob dragged her from her chariot and into a church called the Caesareum, where they tore off her clothes and presumably raped her. She was then murdered in a most barbaric and savage manner. Her body was torn into pieces."

Pappus and Theon on chapter II of Book V of Ptolemy's many admirers and many marriage proposals, she never mar- Srntaxi.s particulars as to which Ptolemy himself leaves us in ried. But she unfortunately stood, as Sagan puts it, at the the dark.2 "epicenter" of a mighty conflict—not only among religions but also between church and state. And Hypatia worked on it. During her time Hypatia was recognized as the head of III Neoplatonism at Alexandria. According toTerrot R. Glover, it is believed that she became acquainted with the older In 412, about three years before her murder, Theophilus was Neoplatonism of Plotinus. In any event, after completing her succeeded by his nephew Cyril (later made a saint) as education, she was appointed to the chair of philosophy there, Archbishop of Alexandria. The ecclesiastical historian, says where she taught and worked. She eventually wrote John Bury, does not conceal his opinion that Cyril was morally commentaries on Diophautus, Ptolemy's astronomical Canon, responsible for the murder of Hypatia. Cyril is in fact recorded and the Conies of Apollonius of Perga. She was noted not only by some as an "ecclesiastical tyrant" and a bigot.5 In the words as an influential teacher, but also for her intelligence, of Scholasticus Socrates: "An act so inhuman could not fail to eloquence, beauty, and modesty. As Sagan suggests, during an bring the greatest opprobrium, not only upon Cyril, but also age when women had few if any options and were treated as upon the whole Alexandrian Church."6 property, Hypatia moved freely and unselfconsciously through Edward Gibbon, quoted by many, sums up the opinion of traditional male domains. Will Durant quotes Scholasticus history with these words: ".. . the murder of Hypatia has Socrates: imprinted an indelible stain on the character and religion of Cyril of Alexandria."' Indeed, the barbaric nature of her murder is correctly classified as a "crime against humanity" Such was her self-possession and ease of manner arising from (the fourth count at Nuremberg). the refinement and cultivation of her mind, that she not unfrequently appeared in public in the presence of the Sagan suggests that the Christian church was attempting magistrates, without ever losing in an assembly of men that to consolidate its power and to eradicate "pagan" influences. dignified modesty of her deportment for which she was Indeed, it was Theophilus who obtained permission from the conspicuous, and which gained her universal respect and Emperor Theodosius Ito start his campaign of destroying non- admiration.3 Christian religious shrines. Ambitious to elevate his own prestige and authority above that of the civil governor, Cyril As J. L. E. Dreyer observes, Hypatia was "justly considered a was evidently willing to resort to the most unscrupulous personification of the highest Greek culture and thought."4 Machiavellian tactics and intrigues to achieve his ends. And it was partly this fact that would eventually lead to her Presumably a realist in every sense of the word, Cyril's goal was murder. to make Alexandria an "irreproachable Christian City.'8 The Like Socrates of ancient Athens, Hypatia often mingled dramatic if not tragic chain of events that led to Hypatia's among the people in the streets—willing to explain aspects of murder began with a series of incidents that strained relations philosophy to anyone who wanted to learn. History records between the archbishop and the Roman prefect. that she lectured on Plato and Aristotle. She eventually drew The first incident began when one of Cyril's notorious large audiences of admirers to her lectures, including Synesius spies was discovered attending a public assembly. The of Cyrene (later Bishop of Ptolemais), who was one of her assembly demanded that the spy be arrested. The Roman students. In fact, some seven of Synesius's letters to Hypatia— prefect Orestes ordered the spy arrested and had him publicly often expressing admiration, reverence, and devotion—still chastised. Cyril was enraged by the incident and evidently exist. He also is known to have sent his manuscripts to her for delivered one or more oratories denouncing the Jews. approval prior to publication. Yet, although Hypatia had both Gibbon notes that the Jews' toleration and privileges had

Spring 1983 13 long been secured by the laws of the Caesars and the Ptolemies. "conspiracy" against her or the barbaric murder that followed. In fact, the Jews at the time constituted a large minority Instead of attempting to heal the discord then raging in population in Alexandria, and some historians say that Alexandria, observes Bury, the archbishop used each new Cleopatra II had even entrusted both the administration and incident as a pretext to foment new rioting and violence. the control of her kingdom to them. This may explain Cyril's While on her way through the streets during lent, Hypatia motivation, at least in part. Whatever resulted from Cyril's was attacked by a mob of Cyril's parishioners and fanatical denouncements, the Jews retaliated by attacking the monks led by none other than "one Peter,"" who was identified Christians. as one of Cyril's "readers." The mob dragged her from her A report was spread that the great church was on fire. chariot and into a church called the Caesareum, where they When Christians flocked to the scene, they were attacked and tore off her clothes and presumably raped her. She was then massacred. Then, without any civil authority whatsoever, Cyril murdered in a most barbaric and savage manner. Her flesh was responded by banishing all Hebrews from the city and allowing flayed from her bones with sharp abalone shells, her body was Christians to plunder Jewish property. Obviously it was the torn into pieces, and her quivering remains were taken to a responsibility of the Roman prefect to maintain order-and place called Cinaron, where they were burned in what some the crisis moved one step closer to Hypatia. According to describe as a savage orgy. Thus ended not only the life of a great Gibbon, the patriarch led a multitude to attack synagogues at scholar but also the progress of a civilization whose scholars dawn, leveling them to the ground and expelling the Jews from had actually designed a steam engine in the first century. the city. Orestes complained to Constantinople, sending what Durant characterizes as an "offensively impartial" report to V Theodosius II. Suddenly some five-hundred fanatical Nitrian monks appeared on the scene. The meaning of Hypatia's murder was not lost upon the With the appearance of the monks, Orestes was drawn scholars still remaining in Alexandria. In the words of Arthur more deeply into the conflict. Not only did the monks publicly Berry, the murder of Theon's daughter "marks an epoch in the insult Orestes, but they actually assaulted him by hitting him decay of the Alexandrine school .. ."12 The "curtain," says with a rock. During this incident, Orestes' guards panicked and Dreyer, "went down forever on the great stage where Greek bolted. Orestes, who was lucky to escape with his life, was saved science had played its part so well and so long." 3 The by members of the population who came to his aid. He had the remaining professors at Alexandria left immediately-by some offender, identified as "Ammonius," immediately arrested and accounts for Athens. By 529 the Christian emperor Justinian executed, although by some accounts the death occurred ordered the last known philosophical schools in Athens closed. during punishment. But Cyril treated the body as that of a What remained of the great library at Alexandria is believed to martyr, having it transported through the streets in a solemn have dwindled slowly between 415 and 624. Many scholars and procession to the cathedral, where he delivered another historians, including both Gibbon and Durant, doubt the claim oratory. Hypatia was then murdered. The reason can be that Muslims destroyed the library around 624, since by that understood when one looks at her position and her time there was nothing left to destroy. Civilization thus entered relationships. a dark age of ignorance, disease, and superstition until what was left of the wreckage was rediscovered during the IV Renaissance and revived by scholars. And those scholars were not without their own problems. "Paganism" flourished in the schools of Alexandria, and Hypatia symbolized the academic influences that had been Notes identified with "paganism." She inspired both envy and

jealousy among Christians-particularly Cyril. Moreover, she I. Carl Sagan. Comm (New York: Random House. 1980). p. 336. was intimate with Orestes the"pagan prefect."Thus, Hypatia 2. Sir Thomas Heath. ,4ristarrhus of ,Samos: The Ancien, (n/nv'nic co was blamed for hindering any possible reconciliation between (New York: Dover, 1981). p. 341. the archbishop and the prefect. This rumor, says Gibbon, was 3. Scholasticus Socrates. Histor_r of the Church (London George Bell, 1874). pp. 348-49. circulated among the Christians. Before she was physically 4. J. t.. E. Dreyer. Hist rr of/Is/on/omr from Thaler to Kehler. 2nd ed.. attacked, she was assaulted rhetorically: cd. by W. H. Stahl (New York: Dover. 1953). p. 206. 5. John Bury. History of the Later Roman Empire (Nev, York: Macmillan. 1889). p. 216. Her free and unembarrassed intercourse with educated men and 6. Socrates. op. cit.. p. 249. the publicity of her life must have given rise to many scandals 7. Edward Gibbon. fl/store of the Dec-fine ami Fail oit/cc Ruinan Liccpire. and backbitings, and her own sex doubtless looked upon her ed. by D. W. Low (New York: Simon & Schuster. 1977) p. 756. Cf. Bury. op. with suspicion, and called her masculine and immodest.9 cit.. p. 219. 8. Bury. op. cit.. p. 216. Exaggerated stories were evidently circulated against her. It is 9. Bury. op. cit.. p. 217. said, for example, that when one of her students expressed his 10. Bury. op. cit.. p. 218. H. Socrates, op. cit.. p. 349. love for her, she repulsed him by lifting her dress and saying: 12. Arthur Berry. Short History. orA.stronom .: From Earliest Tintes "This is what you are in love with and nothing beautiful.'" Yet Through the .Nineteenth Century (New York: Dover. 1961). p. 73. none of this could be sufficient, even if true, to justify either the 13. Dreyer. op. cit. •

14 Hannah Arendt The Modern Seer

Richard Kostelanetz

She did not strive for originality, she just was original. Things conservatives, such as Peter Viereck in his Metapolitics looked different after she looked at them. Thinking was her (1941), or refugee scholars, many of whom had suffered passion, and thinking to her was a moral activity.... What- totalitarianism at first hand, such as the psychologist Bruno ever she had to say was important, often provocative, some- Bettelheim in his essays on concentration camps published times wrong, but never trivial, never negligible, never to be during World War II, Franz Neumann in his great book on forgotten.—Hans Jonas, at Hannah Arendt's funeral (Dec. 8, 1975) the Nazi state, Behemoth (1942), and Sigmund Neumann's Permanent Revolution (1942), which regarded the Nazi and It is commonly understood that Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) Soviet governments as basically alike. In this context, in 1951, was not only one of the most brilliant women of our times but came a book that surpassed them all in its intellectual rigor, also a political sociologist and philosopher of the first rank. its encompassing scope, and its historical profundity—Han- During a full career of almost continuous intellectual activity, nah Arendt's Origins. The earlier essays by others seemed, in she produced two of the most illuminating and profound retrospect, an implicit preparation for her unsurpassed essays on the modern experience—The Origins of Totalitari- culmination of a certain line of thinking. anism (1951) and Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963)—in addition It was Arendt's theme that Nazi Germany and Soviet to several other seminal books on politics, culture, and Russia, their contrary political traditions notwithstanding, philosophy. Her masterworks are the incomparable results of each represented a similar kind of new society and that Adolf an extraordinary mind's prolonged encounter with a difficult, Hitler and Joseph Stalin were two competitors (and sometime if not intractable, subject. She succeeded in explaining collaborators) torn from similar cloth. What differentiated phenomena that previously were inadequately understood, their new dictatorships from classic tyrannies was the extent for her principal concern was how we think about unprece- of their control; for, whereas authoritarian despots cared dented political experience. No one else in the modern world primarily about political and economic dominance and the was quite like her, which is to say that, had she not existed, suppression of political opposition, the totalitarian regime her thinking would not have been thought and her percep- had more comprehensive aims. It strove not just to abolish tions would not be ours. There are few intellectuals of whom dissent but to inculcate particular social morality and political that can be said. beliefs, in the name of an ideology purported to be absolutely Her two greatest books confront a single great question: true. "An ideology," she wrote, "differs from a [simple] What is the true nature of the governments that evolved in the political opinion in that it claims to possess either the key to thirties in Nazi Germany and in Soviet Russia? Concomitant- history, or the solution for all the `riddles of the universe,' or ly, how do these freedomless societies differ from previous the intimate knowledge of the hidden universal laws which are dictatorships? While most American intellectuals prior to supposed to rule nature and man." Arendt were quick to classify Hitler as evil without precedent, To this end, the totalitarian regime aimed to control not those with Marxian sympathies were at that time unable or just politics but everything in society, including education and unwilling to recognize the Soviet similarities to Germany. The the communications media. They wanted not just to forbid first Americans to make these equations were either eccentric dissent but to control how their citizens thought, thus obli- terating the traditional distinctions between society and the Richard Kostelanetz has written many books about contem- state and between society and the individual. "Terror is no porary literature and art and has recently been a Visiting Pro- longer used as a means to exterminate and frighten oppo- fessor of American Studies and English at the University of nents, but as an instrument to rule masses of people who are Texas at Austin. His most recent book. is The Avant-Garde perfectly obedient," Arendt wrote. "As techniques of Tradition in Literature. government, the totalitarian devices appear ingeniously effective. They assure not only an absolute power monopoly but

Spring 1983 15 unparalleled certainty that all commands will always be car- intention and result. Rather than admit defeat, not only as ried out." social leaders but as agents of a historical mission, the A second, crucial distinction is this: Whereas old-style "revolutionaries" resort to continual falsification and then dictatorships ruled in the name of conquest or traditional dependence upon "total terror," the threat of concentration privilege, often avowedly opposed to the will of the majority, camps, and especially the police "to translate into reality the the totalitarian dictator rules in both the interest of a pro- law or movement of history"—to make everyone believe that claimed ideology and the name of the mass majority, usually the millennium has indeed come. with its support, but against the tastes and rights of all Arendt devotes the first two sections of Origins to out- minorities. One ultimate aim of a totalitarian regime is the lining those developments in modern history that made this obliteration of minorities in order to achieve a uniform new society possible. "The book," as she said in reply to a society- a classless, groupless, socially undifferentiated mass. review, "gives an historical account of the elements which Another index of the difference is this: An authoritarian crystalized into totalitarianism." In these chapters Arendt state suppresses opposition in the name of stability, law, and continually combines historical knowledge (elaborately foot- tradition; thus its most natural ally in exercising authority is a noted) with a philosophical intelligence capable of perceiving power outside everyday society—the army. As the totalitarian crucial distinctions, positing viable new categories, and regime, by contrast, demands daily universal obedience on following an unconventional line of thought to original con- behalf of its social vision, the principal means of enforcing its clusions. Her philosophical training is also evident in her por- hegemony is a power already within society—the police, often trayal of historic individuals as the embodiment of ideas and acting in collaboration with the regime's most fanatical sym- then in the capacity to see the familiar unfamiliarly (and pathizers (who become a sort of auxiliary police). therefore astonishingly). On the other hand, perhaps her principal fault is willingness, if not eagerness, to incorporate so "It was Arendt's theme that Nazi Germany and Soviet much within her overarching ideas; at times Arendt seems an Russia each represented a similar kind of new society inadvertent victim of her own Hegelian idealism. ... The totalitarian regime strove not just to abolish dis- The modern evolution of anti-Semitism she relates to the sent but to inculcate particular social morality and secularization of the traditional religious idea of messianic political beliefs in the name of an ideology purported to chosenness—"that fantastic delusion, shared by unbelieving be absolutely true." Jews and non-Jews alike, that Jews are by nature more intelligent, better, healthier, more fit for survival!" It is Arendt's As the authoritarian state would limit dissent, the contention that philo-Semitism abetted Hitler's fantasy of totalitarian one would strive to abolish it. "Total domination Jews as the hidden motors of society. She further notes, with does not allow for free initiative in any field of life—for any typical perspicacity, that the most virulent anti-Semitism activity that is not entirely predictable," Arendt writes. "In- deals not with the invisible Jews but with imperceptible ones tellectual, spiritual and artistic initiative is as dangerous to —the hidden conspirators (identified in the counterfeit "pro- totalitarianism as the gangster initiative of the mob, and both tocols of the Elders of Zion")—who are portrayed as related are more dangerous [to a totalitarian regime] than mere to visible (but innocent) Jews. Therefore, so the ideology political opposition." ruled, the exile to concentration camps (and subsequent exter- It was Arendt's typically penetrating insight that both mination) of all visible Jews and part-Jews would eventually Hitler and Stalin were essentially post-revolutionaries whose eliminate the invisible ones too. Analogously, in Stalin's hegemony depended upon the eradication of tradition, as ideological system, the invisible demons were "counter- represented not only by the earlier regime but by the political revolutionaries"—a term that Stalin capriciously applied to system itself; for the passionate realization of an ideal society various groups in the course of eliminating millions of Rus- demands complete emancipation from the past by the use of sians in several sweeping purges. Thus, toward his own end, any means, including ruthless and widespread murder. in his attack on the "Jewish doctors," Stalin appropriated Arendt inverted prior pieties by contending that Hitler's anti-Semitism. idealism, not cynicism, ultimately inspired the totalitarian im- Arendt also connects racism to imperialism, which agination (though the belief that everything envisioned by the served as the economic palliative for late-nineteenth-century ideology is immediately possible could nonetheless ratiónalize depressions. In her interpretation, racism provided the ra- cynical means). Indeed, one of the more distressing implica- tionale for subjugating primitive, non-Caucasian peoples, in tions of Origins—one that was subsequently developed in On addition to mobilizing mass support more effectively than Revolution ( 1962)—is that a totalitarian society would be the other issues. It was characteristic of her to note that one kind inevitable result of every successful total revolution; for in of racism historically inspired not only the propagation of order to remake society from the ground up, the revolu- another kind but also the idea that a messianic design could tionary leader must separate his masses from all edifices be realized in the elimination of contrary (or impure) races. reminiscent of the previous order. However, since the normal Within Germany and Russia grew pan-German and pan- recalcitrance of people and society prevents the immediate Slavic movements to which, as Arendt puts it, "Nazism and realization of the total transformation outlined in the Bolshevism owe more [respectively] than to any other ideology, one inevitable result of revolution is a gap between ideology or political movement. This is most evident in

foreign policies, where the strategists of Nazi Germany and opportune to make deathly deals with the ruling Nazis. Soviet Russia have followed so closely the well-known pro- Arendt does not exonerate the killers but suggests that the vic- grams of conquest outlined by the pan-movements before and tims collaborated in their own demise. during the First World War." Another cause of totalitarianism lay within a development peculiar to twentieth-century culture—the collective dis- Wherever Jews lived, there were recognized Jewish leaders, and this leadership, almost without exception, co-operated in crediting of not only parliamentary parties and regimes but one way or another with the Nazis. The whole truth was that if the democratic system itself in the name of social ideas that the Jewish people had really been unorganized and leaderless, claimed to be above politics (and cumbersome political pro- there would have been chaos and plenty of misery but the total cesses). Arendt documents how German fascists and commu- number of victims would hardly have been between four-and- nists mutually collaborated, both explicitly and implicitly, in a-half and six million people. this political polarization. Finally, the more than five hundred pages of Origins conveys a profound disillusion with It was Arendt's paradoxical (and debatable) conclusion that both secular idealism (especially in the Hegelian-Marxian without this de facto collaboration Hitler could not have tradition) and what Arendt identifies as the rootless oppor- murdered so many. In her country-by-country analysis, tunism of the age; both are condemned for cheapening the Arendt shows in swiftly articulated detail why in some coun- value of human life. This disillusion informs not only tries most Jews survived while in others they were almost Arendt's profound neoconservatism in her philosophical totally destroyed. In Denmark, the exemplary case, the King masterwork, The Human Condition (1958), but also her himself led his people in the wearing of the Star-of-David subsequent sociological essays, riddled as they are with such armbands (thus foiling the Nazi attempt to separate Jews sentences as this: "Authority has vanished from the modern from the rest of society), while Danish citizens risked their world." own lives to smuggle Jews into neighboring, neutral Sweden. Arendt returned to her great subject in the 1968 revised Many Rumanians were saved because, in a society so corrupt, edition of Origins and also in Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), wealthy individuals could easily buy their freedom. In a highly provocative, more readable, and devastatingly pro- Hungary, by contrast, few Jews survived, in part because, as found essay. Whereas the earlier book dealt in sociological Arendt shows, their destruction could be so effectively categories, portrayed with remarkable detachment, Eich- mann in Jerusalem focuses upon an individual enmeshed within the Nazi system. Arendt regards him as a radical effect of totalitarianism—a personally cordial bureaucrat, who not unjustly claimed that he "never killed anyone" and thus broke no law known to him. Nonetheless, his "innocent" a quarterly responsibility to his bureaucratic job (transporting Jews) led devoted to the ideals of to horribly inhumane results—the devastation of European secularism and freedom Jewry. In Arendt's complex and original portrayal, Adolf We invite you to subscribe Eichmann is depicted not as an ogre but as a psychologically "normal" bureaucrat who, not unlike millions of other 1 year $14.00 methodical executives around the world, followed his 2 years $25.00 Ll superiors' orders and was, in Arendt's phrase, "genuinely in- 3 years $32.00 capable of uttering a single sentence that was not a cliché." New ❑ Renew ❑ Change of address P Eichmann was less a calculating murderer than an unthinking Payment enclosed i 1 Bill me [P mediocrity who occupied a crucial position in a murderous system. What made Arendt's portrayal so depressing was the realization that what Eichmann did could just as easily be done by someone else; he was not singular but common; he Place mailing label here was not inhuman but all too human. "The trouble with Hr renewal or change of address Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him." He s. J epitomized the modern "banality of evil," which is the absence of any correspondence between the evil doer and the Name (print clearlyi evil done. Needless to say, since many readers found this Street characterization disagreeably exculpatory (while its chapters appeared serially in the New Yorker), the book's publication City State Zip inspired a storm of abusive reviews. Outside U.S. add $3.00 for surface mail, $8.00 for airmail. Another controversial theme of Eichmann held that one (U.S. funds on U.S. bank). reason so many Jews died was the complicity of Jewish FREE INQUIRY, Box 5 Central Park Sta., Buffalo, New York 14215 leaders, the Judenrate, who early in World War II found it

Spring 1983 17 organized. In my opinion, no one reading these pages can fail In Paris she wrote and worked as secretaire generale for to be enlightened, not only about subtle differences within the French branch of Youth Aliyah, a relief agency that Western European culture but also about the unprecedented shepherded orphaned Jewish children to Palestine. In 1941, disasters of modern life. Here, as well as in her essays on as the Germans were invading France, she had the foresight Israel and Zionism collected in The Jew as Pariah (1968), and luck to flee to New York, where for two years she wrote a Arendt is especially severe on self-defeating tendencies in the regular column for the German-Jewish newspaper Aufbau. political activities of Jews. When accused of betraying her She later worked as research director for the Conference on own kind, she replied, creditably, "Wrong done by my own Jewish Relations, the chief editor at Schocken Books, and people naturally grieves me more than wrong done by other then executive director of the Commission on European people." Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, whose function was recover- Professional philosophers are more predisposed than ing cultural property looted by the Nazis. Sometime before laymen to consider The Human Condition Arendt's most leaving Europe, she married her second husband Heinrich profound book. It opens with her focusing upon key terms, Bluecher, who later became a philosophy professor at Bard exploring their meaning and implications: labor, work, and College, north of Poughkeepsie, New York. She learned to action. speak English and, better, to write it with considerable flair; yet she always insisted that an American friend correct her Labor is the activity which corresponds to the biological pro- English prose before it saw print. She was naturalized an cesses of the human body, whose spontaneous growth, American citizen in 1951, the same year her classic Origins metabolism, and eventual decay are bound to the vital appeared. necessities produced and fed into the life process by labor. The She initially wanted an academic position in the United human condition of labor is life itself. Work is the activity States, but only after her books were acclaimed did she come which corresponds to the unnaturalness of human existence, to teach—at California, at Princeton (as its first woman pro- which is not imbedded in, and whose mortality is not compen- fessor), at Chicago (in 1963, her first permanent position), sated by, the species' ever-recurring life cycle. and finally at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Action, the only activity that goes on directly between Social Research in New York City. Though the scope of her men without the intermediary of things or matter, corresponds thinking transcended conventional categories, the title she to the human condition of pluralism, to the fact that men, not Man, live on the earth and inhabit the world.... Plurality is chose for herself was "Professor of Political Philosophy." the condition of human action because we are all the same, She received honorary degrees from Dartmouth, Smith, that is, human, in such a way that nobody is ever the same as Notre Dame, and other American universities; and in 1975 anyone else who ever lived, lives or will live. she became the first American (and first woman) to win Den- mark's Sonning Prize for her "contributions to European From these basic definitions, Arendt evolves an elaborate, civilization." pessimistic portrayal of the modern world, primarily in terms By the 1950s, she had become a distinguished cultural of changes within these philosophical categories. This book is figure who frequently lectured around the world and con- considerably more difficult than Origins, not to mention tributed regularly to prominent American magazines. She col- Eichmann, mostly because she is dealing not with facts and lected her essays and lectures in several books, including Be- people but with concepts and ideas, both explicit and implicit. tween Past and Future (1961; revised edition, 1968), On The extraordinary quality of her books reflect not only Revolution (1962), Men in Dark Times (1968) and Crises of Arendt's superior intelligence and intellectual training but her the Republic (1972). Some of these essays credited America singularly modern experience. Born October 14, 1906, the with avoiding the pitfalls of totalitarianism—for having the only child of Paul Arendt, an engineer, and Martha Cohn sole successful modern revolution; but she never ceased being Arendt, she progressed rapidly through the German educa- critical and apprehensive about her adopted country. Her tional system, studying at the universities of Marburg and neo-conservatism never became, as it did with others, a ra- Freiburg, eventually taking her doctorate in philosophy at the tionale for patriotic celebration. In 1974, her principal University of Heidelberg in 1928. Her principal mentor was American publisher reissued a 1957 translation of her first the eminent German philosopher Karl Jaspers (on whom she postdoctoral book, a biography of a cultured Jewish woman later edited a two-volume festschrift). Her thesis on St. in early-nineteenth-century Berlin, Rahel Varnhagen, which Augustine's concept of love was published as a book in 1929. was originally written in German more than forty years "Before I left Germany in 1933," she wrote, in a rare before. autobiographical statement, "The Zionist organization ap- Arendt was reportedly forbiddingly bright and good- proached me to do some `illegal' work: to collect data on of- looking during her twenties, and some of this superstar aura ficial anti-Semitism. I accepted gladly and, alas, was arrested remained in her American years. She was a handsome woman with a beautiful collection. After that, I had to leave Ger- of medium height, with gray hair and prominent front teeth many illegally and rather in a hurry. I went to Paris." The that were noticeable when she smiled, as she frequently did. American political philosopher Judith Shklar suggested, The historian of religion, Hans Jonas, her friend for fifty "Her and her own contemporaries' most intense and im- years, remembers that she liked "flowers and flattery" and mediate experience was exile." was "intensely feminine, but no feminist." •

18 Frtee ha ' Was Karl Marx a Humanist?

March 14, 1983, marks the centennial of the death of Karl Marx. There will likely be many observations of his death A Symposium throughout the world. Almost every modern country— with the major exception of the United States— has been profoundly influenced by Marx's thought. Karl Marx vs. The world is divided into at least four camps: (1) democratic capitalist economies, (2) democratic socialist and mixed the Communist Movement economies, (3) authoritarian capitalist or repressive feudal by Sidney Hook societies, and (4) totalitarian communist dictatorships. Marx's effect upon the modern world is so pervasive that even those societies that have rejected his theories have been influ- Marxism: Hollow at the Core enced by his writings in the policies they have adopted. by Jan Narveson This symposium examines Marx in a critical vein. From the standpoint of democratic and secular humanism, we ask the question: Was Marx a genuine humanist? What is valid The Religion of Marxism and invalid in his theories? Has he been betrayed by the by Paul Kurtz Marxists? Although some humanists claim to draw from Marx, should humanism seek entirely new directions? — EDS.

Spring 1983 19 Karl Marx versus the Communist Movement

There is a double paradox in the expression "Karl Marx versus are many scholars who are convinced that Marx's projected the Communist Movement." It results from the natural but ideal of a Communist society was one in which there would be unfortunate identification of Marx with the multitudinous no room for genuine individuality at all. Far from there being varieties of Marxism offering their ideological wares today in a variety of projects among which individuals would be able his name. Currently there are almost as many types and kinds to choose, society would be ordered in such a way that there of Marxists in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and even Africa would be no more variation among its citizens than among claiming the legacy of Marx as there are Christian cults pro- the leaves of a multibranching tree or the bees in a hive. So- fessing fidelity to the authentic teachings of Christ. Logically, ciety would function without dissension or conflict because its with respect to both historical figures, although their self- members would have been shaped by its institutions to coexist characterized disciples cannot all be right in their doctrinal in functional harmony. In other words, the end of history interpretations, they may very well all be wrong or at least would be a benign totalitarianism in which every person partial and inadequate. would know his place and no person would be out of place. The other kernel of the paradox is that, although Marx If one could imagine modern Communist societies ever described the ideal society that was coming on the wings of solving their problems of legitimacy and productivity and the history as "communist," Communist societies as they exist myriad of other endemic problems that breed hostility within everywhere today are in marked variance to the ideals that and between them, this might be the upshot of their develop- inspired his social vision and heroic personal commitment. ment. But there is overwhelming evidence that this was not The man who concluded the preface to his magnum opus with Marx's ideal. Although he was reluctant to describe in any a defiant line from Dante, "Follow your own course and let detail what the classless society of the future would be like, he people talk," would have come to a violent and inglorious end says enough to indicate that it would be quite different from in any Communist country of the world, whether it be China, the benign totalitarianism some critics attribute to him or Cuba, or the Soviet Union. from any of the current varieties of malignant totalitarianism One may protest that freedom as the right and power of in Communist countries today. This can be established with- the individual to determine his own life may have been Marx's out reference to his early manuscripts, in which Marx was not personal ideal, but that the kind of society he envisaged for yet a Marxist. It is implicit in the writings of his mature years. the future was one in which such freedom did not exist. His These writings show how Marx conceives of the individ- favorite slogan may have been "Doubt everything," but his ual whom he regards as free. He is contrasted with the typical classless society of the future was one in which the coordi- wage worker under capitalism who, although legally and nated activities of its members would make effective doubt politically free, is constrained by the necessity of earning his and its public expression irrelevant if not dangerous. There living from enjoying what Marx calls true freedom. In a striking passage Marx suggests that the worker's real life begins Sidney Hook, professor only when his working life is over. emeritus at New York Uni- versity, is one of the world's leading critical Marxist The worker who for twelve hours works, spins, drills, turns, scholars. Among his books builds, shovels, breaks stones, carries loads, etc. —does he consider this twelve hours' weaving, spinning, drilling, turn- are Marxism and Beyond ing, building, shovelling, stone-hauling as a manifestation of (Bowman and Littlefield, his life, as life? On the contrary, life begins for him where this 1983), Towards an Under- activity ceases, at the table, in the public house, in bed. The standing of Marx, and twelve hours labor has no meaning for him as weaving, spin- From Hegel to Marx. ning, drilling, etc., but as earnings which bring him to the table, to the public house, into bed. If the silkworm were to

20 F~rtee spin in order to continue its existence as a caterpillar, it would sense. But—and this is the relevant point—his very exag- be a complete wage-worker. ["Wage, Labor and Capital," Col- geration indicates how he conceives of the individual. lected Works, vol. 9, p. 203.] The following passage is from Die Deutsche Ideologie, but the attack upon the division of labor, albeit recognized as The true realm of freedom for human beings is one in a necessary evil in the development of capitalism, runs which the exertion of energy is directed by goals autono- through all of Marx's writings: mously chosen by themselves, and not dictated by any other person's will or the necessities of the market. The first pre- For as soon as the division of labor comes into being, each requisites for this state of affairs are an economy of abun- man has a particular, exclusive sphere of activity, which is dance and superabundance and, for most people, the shortening forced upon him and from which he cannot escape. He is a of the working day. But these are not sufficient, for what hunter, a fisherman, a shepherd, or a critical critic [the refer- Marx is saying is that, with respect to the most important ence here is to Bruno Bauer and his circle], and must remain so values of life, a man's work must be meaningful to him, not if he does not want to lose his means of livelihood; whereas in communist society, where no one has one exclusive sphere of as a means to leisure or to the wherewithal on which his other activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he pursuits depend, but as a way of fulfilling himself. For the wishes, society regulates the general production and thus free man work is not a curse but a vocation or calling in which makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another he realizes his desirable potentials. There have always been a tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear few fortunate human beings for whom earning a living is a cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a satisfactory way of living one's life, but until now that has not mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd, or been the human estate. Marx sought to generalize this ideal of critic. [Collected Works, vol. 5, p. 275.] work as a personal need as well as fulfillment in the unrealistic expectation that the development of science and technol- We are trying to establish what Marx means by human ogy would not only abolish material want but all other scarcities freedom and individuality, not whether his conceptions are as well. In such a situation every human being is viewed as a valid. I submit that this passage is sufficient to destroy com- potential source of some creative thought or action. pletely the views of those who attribute to him the notion that Marx goes even further and lapses into a utopianism he conceives of man in his ideal society as a creature in a bee- more extreme than any of the projections of his great prede- hive or as a leaf almost indistinguishable from other leave-, on a cessors. Influenced by the Greek ideal of the harmonious all- tree. Marx's man had the individuality of a Leonardo da Vinci, round developed personality and repelled by the extremes of capable of becoming accomplished in any branch of knowl- specialization imposed by industrial society, he decries the edge or skill he wishes, and free to turn from one accomplish- division of labor. He suggests that any kind of professional- ment to another day by day. Such a man would be unfit for ization is a deplorable one-sidedness that limits the powers of any totalitarian society and would certainly be barred from growth in other areas of human interest that are equally legit- the enlightened totalitarianism of the Platonic Republic. imate and worthy of cultivation. Taken literally such a man would be as rare as a Leonardo, The starting point of Marx's criticism of the effects of ex- and the notion that he could be everyman is an absurdity. It cessive specialization of labor under capitalism is legitimate runs counter to the well-attested insight of Goethe and enough, and from The Communist Manifesto to Capital he Charles Peirce that the secret of great achievement lies in limi- inveighs fiercely against it. Productive forces tation, and that when an ordinary man tries his hand at everything he is not likely to do anything of great significance. All we need to do to show its bizarre character is to recast Marx's mutilate the laborer into a fragment of a man, degrade him to schedule of activities in terms of modern vocations and avo- the level of an appendage to a machine, destroy every remnant cations "to perform brain surgery in the morning, engage in of charm in his work and turn it into hated toil; they estrange him from the intellectual potentialities of the labor process .. . nuclear research in the afternoon, do some gene splicing in they transform his lifetime into working-time, and drag his the evening, and conduct a symphony after dinner, just as I wife and child beneath the wheels of the Juggernaut of capital. have a mind to, without ever becoming a brain surgeon, or [Capital, vol. 1, p. 645.] nuclear physicist, or geneticist, or conductor." Not even the Greek freeman, whose physical needs were supplied by slaves, had that degree of versatility. Marx's citizen of the future was Whatever may have been true for the early days of capi- certainly an individual, but his mode of life suggests the hope- talism, as a description today of the actual conditions of work less amateurism of a British squire. Capitalism did not create for the overwhelming majority of wage earners this would be the brutalized "man with a hoe." Marx may have been jus- far from the mark. The excessive specialization of labor is a tified in writing of "the idiocy of rural life" in 1847, but no consequence of industrial society rather than of capitalism. one familiar with the mode of existence of the small farmer Under nationalized industries, whether in capitalist or social- today — even in Tuscany — despite his precarious economic ist economies, the assembly line still operates. The legitimate future, can properly characterize it in the same way. disapproval of excesses in the division of labor leads Marx When we inquire what kind of society would nurture and into an unqualified denunciation of the principle of division sustain an association of such individuals, all of whom are as of labor that takes him beyond the confines of common different as they choose to be, it becomes clear that it is a so-

Spring 1983 21 ciety of anarchism wishfully imputed by Marx to the objective the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter, are so variable processes of history. By anarchism Marx meant more than a and elastic that they could hardly be used to define self- social organization characterized by the absence of state identity. Not only is Marx's ideal community one of a vast power of any kind. In more positive terms, anarchism, which plurality of different persons, it is also one in which the is interchangeable with the highest phase of Communism as personalities of its denizens are not fixed. described in his Critique of the Gotha Program, is a commu- That Marx apparently sees no problem in conceiving of nity of harmonious self-determined individuals whose asso- this multitude of individuals voluntarily coordinating their ciation gives rise naturally to forms of accepted authority and activities as "associated producers rationally regulating their legitimacy without the presence of any coercive institutions intercourse with nature" and each other, a complex planned whatsoever. That Marx could believe in the viability of such a society in which interlocking schedules for the movement of society testifies to his faith not only in the perfectability of vast numbers of men and materials must mesh, is a mystery. man but in a secular millenarianism as extreme as any of his In the absence of any coercive power, what will make things great utopian predecessors. Marx was amused by the fantasies of happen and guarantee the cornucopia of universal abundance a Fourier, who expected the applied science of the future to once the rational will of men and women does not manifest transform the seas into potable lemonade, but he was serious itself? These are troublesome questions not only for Marx; about the possibility of transforming human beings into crea- they face any anarchist view that imagines that the adminis- tures of an angelic nature by modifying their social institu- tration of things can ever replace the administration of tions, despite the empirical evidence that geniuses from Leo- human beings who, unlike bees in a hive or leaves on a tree, have purposes that are often at cross purposes with each "Communist societies as they exist everywhere today are other. in marked variance to the ideals that inspired Marx's Only a naive person would believe that modern transportation in our crowded cities and express highways can flow social vision and heroic personal commitment." safely and expeditiously without traffic rules. It is hardly less naive to believe that all that is required, once traffic rules are nardo to Marx himself were conspicuously lacking in those established, is the presence of someone to direct the flow of traits that made for harmonious relations with others. It was traffic. To be sure, such persons do not require the badge of not the ideals of man professed by the utopians of the past or authority to exercise their task. But unless they have at their their vision of a harmonious community of persons with call the power of a coercive authority to arrest drunken which Marx took issue, but only with the methods they ad- drivers and other alleged lawbreakers, and courts to deter- vocated to achieve them. mine their guilt or innocence, before long the transportation Another feature of Marx's thought that should dispel the system would be in chaos. myth that he had no conception of genuine individuality is his What is distinctive about Marx is not the ideal of a coop- impatience with egalitarianism. To him the belief in the moral erative commonwealth of freedom-loving individuals for and political equality of all members of society no more en- whom private property in the instruments of social production tailed that they would receive the same treatment, goods, does not exist. This was the common coin of many socialist and offices, and rewards than the belief that everyone is morally anarchist groups of his day. He differentiated himself from entitled to medical care implied that everyone is to receive the them, first, by his theory of social change that tried to spell out same treatment regardless of his or her ailment. Parents know the objective historical conditions that had to be fulfilled that it is possible to love their children equally without treat- before such a society could become a realistic possibility; and, ing them identically. It is more legitimate to criticize Marx's second, by his views about the means and methods to be ideal for its unrealistic assumption that an entire community followed in the struggle to actualize it. Although Marx's writ- can be organized by the same loving relationship that exists in ings are neither clear nor consistent, the general drift of his a family, bound together by ties of affection, than to conflate meaning can be discovered when considered in their historical his ideal with the organizing principle or discipline that binds context. an army. Marx's impatience with egalitarianism expresses Failure to take into account the historical context of itself in his rejection of the view that even the introduction of Marx's thought and a too literal reading of his text sometimes a uniform principle of distribution or reward for services or makes nonsense of his meaning. It has led to the strange view labor under socialism will result in equality. That is to say, that, because for Marx ethical judgments are not completely even when private ownership in the instruments of social pro- autonomous of social and economic facts and tendencies, duction has been abolished and the socialist state that has therefore Marx had no moral theory. This accounts for his replaced the employers undertakes to treat everyone by the repudiation of any attempt to justify socialism on the basis of same principle or standard, equality will not result. Different principles of justice or humanity. It is granted—indeed, it is individuals will end up with more or less than others by virtue sometimes insisted upon — that the overwhelming motivation of their natural inequalities. As Marx puts it, "they would not for the support of Marx's proposals in the West is rooted in be different individuals if they were not unequal." The same feelings and judgments that the inequalities of distribution holds true in the golden future in which individuals are re- under capitalism are unjust. But this is taken to be evidence of warded, not according to their labor time or what they pro- Marx's confusion and incoherence on the subject of morality duce, but according to their needs. Needs, once we go beyond and the relation between the factual and the normative.

22 z- O s° 23s_4 For Marx morality is natural, social, and, at its best, rational. He differs from both Kant and Hegel. For Kant morality is ultimately independent of any empirical consequences. It expresses imperatives that transcend the facts of nature and human nature. "Let justice prevail though the heavens fall" is a Kantian dictum that Marx's position rejects as fanatical. There is something wrong with a conception of justice that results not only in the destruction of human life but in all the other moral values associated with the possibility of intelligent social life. On the other hand, partly as a response to the formalistic and nonnatural elements in Kant's stark opposition between the empirical and the ideal, Hegel elaborated a doctrine that, despite its obscurities and ambi- guities, identified the actual or real with the ideal or what ought to be. The brutal upshot of this view is that whatever is, is right, or with respect to history, "Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht." When Marx abandoned Hegelian idealism he unfortunately retained some of the Hegelian terminology. Although his writings are pervaded by passionate ethical judgments, he never developed a systematic ethical theory. His impatience with do-gooders and those preaching either the doctrine of veyed in the form of a parable. Suppose two castaways find love or that of salvation by violence as a solution to the social themselves the only survivors on an island. After making a problem led him to deny that his condemnation of the evils of survey of its resources, A proposes that they dig a well for capitalism was based on any judgment of its injustice. Some- water. B refuses in the expectation that their luck will turn times it resulted in his writing sentences that seem downright and rain or rescue will come in time. The digging is difficult silly if the historic context of moral judgment is disregarded. and toilsome for A, aggravated by B's mockery of his efforts. For example, in trying to explain the differences in the Neither rain nor succor arrives; but, at the point of utter schemes of distribution between the lower and the higher exhaustion after several days, A opens up a seam of gushing stages of Communism, he declares: "Right can never be water. B by this time is parched and requests some of the higher than the economic structure of and the cultural devel- water. Would it be right for A to deny it to him? Since there is opment of society conditioned by it." Taken literally, this no alternative supply and B cannot survive without water, A's means that there can be no rational justification for urging refusal to share some of the water would be tantamount to a support of a social system like that of socialism or even of the sentence of death, a punishment whose severity seems dispro- welfare state with a more equitable system of distribution portionate to B's thoughtlessness and irresponsibility. Since while the capitalist economy is functioning — which would cut the water is so plentiful, most of it beyond any possible use by the nerve of agitation for a better society. This position would A, running out into the sand, it would be unjust to deprive B make unintelligible the meaning of the term "higher" when of any share of it. Marx speaks of "right" as higher or lower. If the concept of Change the material condition of the problem. Suppose right can never be differentiated from a specific economic as a consequence of his labor A finds an amount of water suf- structure, what independent meaning can be given it? The ficient to keep only one person alive. Would it be wrong for higher right would simply reflect the higher economic struc- him to deny B a share of it? Certainly not. We might praise ture. But unless "the higher economic" structure already him for his generosity or saintliness if he does share the water involved an implicit value or moral judgment, all Marx would with B. But we could not justifiably condemn him if he refused be saying is that every economic structure has a different con- to assume these roles. cept of right, whether it be a primitive cannibalistic society What is the difference in the applicability of these two that lives by war and in which all captives are owned and principles of distribution? Obviously the difference in supply. eaten in common, an Asiatic despotism, a slave society, or a If any good or service is as plentiful and costless as air, we do feudal, or capitalist, or socialist society. We could not mor- not need any principle of distribution. Marx assumed that ally order such societies. Under such circumstances what would be the case with respect to all human needs in a world of sense would it make for those living in a slave society morally unlimited energy. We have seen how utopian such an assump- to condemn it? On what grounds could we morally approve tion is. There will always be relative scarcities, if only with the result of Spartacus, or the leaders of the Peasant Wars or respect to temporal priority in the consumption of what is ulti- of the Paris Commune, who sought to overthrow the eco- mately universally distributed. And with respect to the awards nomic structure under which they lived, in the light of moral of honor, prizes, recognition — the very situation is defined in ideals different from those that prevailed at the time? terms of scarcity. Not everyone can come in first. Yet, despite Marx's unfortunate formulation, what he is We cannot do without some ethical principles. The fact saying makes sense—even common sense. This may be con- that they are applied differently in different historical situa-

Spring 1983 23 tions where material conditions are varied does not gainsay materialism, this would not be a confirmation of that prin- their validity. It is clear that Marx recognizes several ethical ciple. For, although it would explain why Socialism or Com- principles—not only the absence of needless suffering, but dig- munism, even in its first phase, failed in Russia and the other nity, self-respect, intellectual independence, and the right to underdeveloped countries in which it had been introduced, it individual self-fulfillment—i.e., the development of one's would not explain the attempt to introduce it and the peculiar desirable potential abilities. He does not seek to reduce them to economy—neither capitalist nor socialist—and totalitarian each other, but assumes that in a rational, cooperative, social- culture that resulted from it. ized society mankind has the best possibility of realizing them. But how was it possible for the Bolshevik-Leninists who Although democracy was for him a political concept that was began their political careers convinced that they were the to be introduced wherever it was absent in any modern society executors of the Marxist legacy to end up as the chief execu- and extended to other areas in societies in which it was present, tioner of its theories and ideals? How was it that, intent upon when we bear in mind his concept of individual freedom, it is liberating the working class from the yoke of capitalist society, not reading a foreign element into his thought to say that for they fastened an even more oppressive yoke on the workers him the functioning of an authentic socialist society could be and, in the judgment of some erstwhile sympathizers, dis- characterized as democracy as a way of life. credited the entire idea of socialism in our time? Perhaps the But how can such faith be reconciled with advocacy of single most important explanation lay in the transformation "the dictatorship of the proletariat"? This phrase, employed by of that unfortunate phrase of Marx, "the dictatorship of the Marx three or four times in the course of millions of words, fell proletariat"— unfortunate in that Marx's meaning could have into desuetude in the international socialist movement after his been expressed without the use of the term "dictatorship"— death and was revived by Lenin and his followers shortly into the dictatorship of the Communist Party over the prole- before they seized power in Russia in October 1917. The mean- tariat and all other classes. ing of the phrase is hotly contested, for it combines political According to Marx and Engels, revolution can be violent and economic connotations. A clue to Marx's meaning is that or peaceful depending upon the presence of democratic polit- he contrasts "the dictatorship of the proletariat" not with "the ical possibilities; but, whether peaceful or not, the socialist democratic rule of the proletariat" but with "the dictatorship of revolution must be democratic. At the time of the Communist the bourgeoisie." The latter exists whenever the conflict of eco- Manifesto there were no realistic possibilities in view of the nomic interests between the working class and its employers— severe restrictions on suffrage that profound social change which follows from the economic structure of class society — is could be introduced through parliamentary means. Indeed systematically resolved in favor of the employers. According the Manifesto indicates that among the first things that would to Marx and Engels, this is the case regardless of whether the be done after the revolution would be to introduce democratic political system of capitalist society is autocratic or demo- institutions. Nonetheless both Marx and Engels assumed that cratic, monarchical or republican. Whether it was England revolutionary action even under oppressive or narrowly and the United States, imperial Germany or czarist Russia, restrictive political institutions would have the support of the the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie operated. majority of the population behind it and that it could justi- The socialist revolution that exemplifies "the dictatorship fiably be considered democratic. (The empirical evidence, how- of the proletariat" is transitional until it abolishes all classes. ever, that the working class actually constituted a majority of Marx's conception of class is narrowly defined in terms of the the population was lacking. It was based on an extrapolation role men play in the mode of economic production. Once proof certain economic tendencies of capitalist development.) duction is socialized, then by definition, since ownership is Subsequently, Marx and Engels, as is well known, anticipated vested in the entire community, economic classes no longer the possibility that socialism could be introduced peacefully by exist. Marx apparently assumed that any other conception of parliamentary means in countries like England, the United class would not carry with it the possibility of exploitation, States, and Holland. Toward the end of his life Engels explicitly great disparities in standards of living, and conflicts over the declared that "the dictatorship of the proletariat" could express distribution of social wealth—assumptions shattered in every itself under the political form of the bourgeois parliamentary country today whose economy is collectivized. Presumably an republic. orthodox Marxist would argue in Marx's defense that this out- Marx and Engels and their followers disassociated them- come, the emergence of "a new class" or a "privileged bureau- selves strongly from men like Blanqui and Bakunin on two cracy," was to be expected because the objective conditions of grounds. The first was the latter's failure to recognize the con- genuine social equality were lacking in the countries in which trolling importance of the objective economic-social situation as collectivism had been introduced and that they were therefore providing a necessary condition for a successful political revolu- unripe and unready for Socialism. This is precisely what Karl tion. The second was their undisguised elitism. For Marx "the Kautsky and the leading Social Democratic followers of Marx emancipation of the working class can be achieved only by the maintained in contradistinction to the Bolshevik-Leninist- working class." This is of central significance in distinguishing Stalinist view. However, even if in the light of historical between Marx's conception of revolution and the Leninist- development one grants that Marx's vision of socialism as a Stalinist (Bolshevik) view. There is not a line in Marx's writings cooperative commonwealth of free and socially equal individ- that states or implies that "the dictatorship of the proletariat" uals was transformed into a totalitarian despotism by the must be exercised through "the dictatorship of the Communist Bolshevik-Leninist disregard of Marx's principle of historical Party."

24 For Marx the concept of dictatorship, as we have seen, is Here in the Soviet Union, in the land of the dictatorship of the primarily social and economic. The "dictatorship of the bour- proletariat, the fact that not a single important political or geoisie" refers to the fact that the rule of the bourgeoisie is to organizational question is decided by our Soviet and other its own economic advantage and to the economic disadvantage mass organizations without directions from the Party must be of the working class. But the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie regarded as the highest expression of the leading role of the could be exercised either through democratic or nondemo- Party. In this sense it could be said that the dictatorship of the proletariat is cratic political forms. For Lenin, on the other hand, "dic- in essence the "dictatorship of its vanguard," "the dictatorship" of its Party, as the main guiding force of the pro- tatorship" is primarily a political concept. "Dictatorship," he letariat. [Foundations of Leninism (Moscow, 1934), Ch. 8.] tells us, "is rule based directly upon force and unrestricted by any laws." It is really unmitigated Faustrecht. Whereas for If, as Lenin declares, "dictatorship is rule based directly Marx and Engels "the dictatorship of the proletariat" could be upon force and unrestricted by any laws," the dictatorship of established through peaceful parliamentary victory, for Lenin the Party entails that it may very well be a dictatorship, not of "the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is rule won the proletariat, but over the proletariat as well as over others. and maintained by the use of violence by the proletariat against Aware of the enormity of this transformation of the con- the bourgeoisie, rule that is unrestricted by any laws." cept of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" into the "dictator- (Selected Works [Moscow, 1951], vol. 2, part 2, p. 41 ff.) ship of the Communist Party," Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders adopted several semantic devices to conceal their abandonment of the democratic component of the Marxist "Mistaken as Marx's historical theories and economic theory. In the early years the exigencies of the struggle for predictions may have been or turn out to be, and regard- power led them to a forthrightness of utterance that becomes less of the crimes and infamies committed in his name, a qualified in subsequent apologetic rationalizations when critical but objective assessment of his ideas justifies in- faced by critics invoking Marx's democratic principles. cluding him in the calendar of fighters for human Nothing signifies the non-Marxist undemocratic stance of freedom." Bolshevik-Leninism more clearly than Lenin's writings on the Constituent Assembly. Referring to his thesis on the Constit- uent Assembly, Lenin observes: In contradistinction to Marx and Engels, Lenin proceeds to interpret the "dictatorship of the proletariat" as viable only My thesis says clearly and repeatedly that the interests of the revolution are higher than the formal rights of the Constitueft through the dictatorship of the Communist Party, which con- Assembly. The formal democratic point of view is precisely the stitutes a small minority of the population, many of whose point of view of the bourgeois democrat who refuses to admit members are not even proletarians. Although Marx's and that the interests of the proletariat and of the proletarian class Engels's interpretation of the Paris Commune of 1871 as a struggle are supreme. [Selected Works, op. cit., p. 78.] socialist revolution is extremely dubious, nonetheless they both refer to it as an exemplification of "the dictatorship of The plain meaning of this declaration exposes as a hypo- the proletariat" in which there was no dictatorship of any critical rationalization the pretexts Lenin offers for forcibly political party whatsoever. The followers of Blanqui seemed dispersing the Constituent Assembly after the Bolsheviks' to be most numerous, then the followers of Proudhon, while miserable showing in the elections (19 percent) and after the the partisans of Marx and Engels, whose chief spokesman Social Revolutionary and Menshevik majority refused to ac- was Leo Frankel, were minuscular. Actually there was no cept Lenin's ultimatum to yield power to the Bolsheviks. Jus- basic socialist content whatsoever to the reforms of the Paris tifying his refusal to accept the legitimacy of the Constituent Commune. No industries were socialized. The abolition of Assembly, Lenin claims that, although elections to the Con- night work for bakers was no more socialist than the abolition stituent Assembly had been held after the Bolsheviks seized of child labor and other "bourgeois" reforms. The real achieve- power in October, the mood or sentiment of the masses had ments of the Paris Commune, whose launching Marx dis- changed by early January and that in reality they favored the approved, was the extension of democratic processes and Bolsheviks (op. cit., p. 81). Rosa Luxemburg, in sharply criti- principles, most of which could be implemented in a non- cizing Lenin's view, retorted that, if this were so, the Bolshe- socialist economy. The Leninist view that the Russian social- viks could have called for new elections without disputing the ist revolution of October 1917 is a continuation or fulfillment legitimacy of the Constituent Assembly, particularly since in of the heritage of the Paris Commune is sheer myth. their propaganda against Kerensky they had agitated so fiercely Lenin makes no bones about the fact that "the dictator- for the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. ship of the proletariat" is exercised through "the dictatorship In the light, however, of Lenin's thesis on the Constituent of the Communist Party." In his pamphlet on The Infantile Assembly cited above, his ex post facto talk about improper Sickness of Left-Communism, he states: "Not a single impor- lists and unrepresentative elections is revealed as a feeble and tant political or organizational question is decided by any irrelevant coverup. Assume that the election on the basis of state institution in our republic without the guiding instruc- new lists had been as democratic as Lenin had desired. If, as tions of the Central Committee of the Party." And Stalin, he unwaveringly claims, "the interests of the proletariat and here as elsewhere when he touches on doctrinal matters, the proletarian class struggle are supreme," what difference echoes his teacher: would it have made to Lenin if the new electoral results showed

Spring 1983 25 that the Russian masses had even more completely repudiated the Bolsheviks than they did on the basis of the old lists? Would Lenin have recognized the sovereignty of the Constit- uent Assembly? Certainly not! For if, as he insists, "the interests of the proletariat," as interpreted by the Bolsheviks, of course, are "supreme," Lenin would have felt justified by his political philosophy to take power against the Constituent Assembly even if it had an overwhelming mandate from the masses—provided he could get away with it. If there is any doubt about this, an analysis of Lenin's article "On Slogans" will confirm it (Selected Works, op. cit., p. 87 ff.). When Lenin seeks excuses to ban the Constituent Assembly, he bases himself on the authority of the Soviets. But in July 1917 when his article "On Slogans" was published he repudiated the slogan "All Power to the Soviets" because the Soviets "are dominated by the Social Revolutionary and Menshevik parties" (p. 95). In January, having seized power and already begun the terror, and after having acquired a majority in the Soviets of Petrograd and Moscow, the slogan "All Power to the Soviets" is restored and used as a foil and an excuse to prorogue the Constituent Assembly. In every case what is decisive for Lenin is the question of power, not ern world was abandoned, although the inevitability of world the question of democracy, formal or concrete, or representa- Communist victory was still proclaimed. But the insistence tion, authentic or not, viz., whether the Bolshevik Party has a upon the view that the triumph and rule of the revolution likely prospect of seizing and retaining power. could be achieved only through "the dictatorship of the party" Lenin and Stalin explicitly disavow Marx's belief that was retained. It was asserted that the Communist Party in a socialism could be legally and peacefully achieved through the "coalition" with other parties might come to power peace- democratic political process in countries like England and the fully, but only if the Communist Party exercised leadership, United States. Further, the conditions of affiliation to the which meant at least control of the Ministry of the Interior Third International drawn up by Lenin imposed on every (police). Communist Party of the world the organization of illegal An analysis of the concept of "the dictatorship of the cadres and the resort to armed insurrection in the conquest of party" in official Communist literature (as well as the histor- political power in all countries, including "the most free in the ical evidence) will show that even where Communist Parties, world." Even ambiguity on this point was not tolerated except either alone or in formal coalition, come to power peacefully, as a linguistic maneuver to disarm the political enemy and to their rule is based upon continuous exercise of force and vio- win suffrance to organize the seizure of power. The Russian lence. For, to repeat, the very meaning of "dictatorship," in road to power became the paradigm for all Communist parties the words of Lenin, "is rule based directly upon force and un- of the world under the discipline of the Third International. restricted by any laws." This dictatorship is directed not only This may be illustrated in the programmatic declaration of against overt hostile elements seeking to restore the over- William Z. Foster, head of the Communist Party of the thrown economic and social order, but against any dissenting United States, at a time when it enjoyed complete legality and thought in art, literature, science, and philosophy of which freedom of propaganda: the Central Committee of the Communist Party disapproves. With some variations, depending upon a number of his- Even before the seizure of power, the workers will organize the torical and national factors, all Communist states that profess Red Guard. Later on this loosely constructed body becomes to be inspired by Leninist doctrine follow the Russian Soviet developed into a firmly-knit, well-disciplined Red Army. The pattern, which is demonstrably incompatible with Marx's and leader of the revolution in all its stages is the Communist Engels's commitment to socialist democracy and their criticism Party.... Under the dictatorship all the capitalist parties — of elitist rule. These Communist views have remained un- Republican, Democratic, Progressive, Socialist, etc., — will be affected by the Sino-Soviet split and by the emergence of liquidated, the Communist Party functioning alone as the party "polycentrism." of the toiling masses. Likewise will be dissolved all other orga- Naturally, in democratic Western countries where there nizations that are political props of bourgeois rule, including Chambers of Commerce, employers' associations, rotary are large Communist parties (and/or dissident Communist clubs, American Legion, Y.M.C.A. and such fraternal orders groups critical of the Leninist tradition) engaged in the parlia- as the Masons, Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Columbus, etc. mentary political process, attempts have been made to soften [Towards Soviet America (N.Y., 1932), p. 275.] and tone down the harsh features of Leninist principles according to which "the dictatorship of the proletariat" Under Khrushchev's rule the Leninist dogma of the inevi- results in the terror of a Communist Party dictatorship of tability of war between the Communist world and the West- varying degrees of intensity over the proletariat and all other

qiit• 26 groups of the population until the advent of the classless so- including even the longevity of the working class; he under- ciety. In these countries some theoretical spokesmen of Com- estimated the growth and intensity of nationalism; he was munism tend to blur the difference between the Marxist views mistaken in interpreting all forms of coercion and exploita- on revolution, including the possibility of a peaceful transition as flowing from private ownership of the social means of tion to socialism through a multiparty democratic political production; he ignored the prospect of bureaucratic forms of process, and the Communist-Leninist position. collectivism; and the very possibility of war between collectiv- The lineaments of that position not long ago were authori- ist economies, illustrated in the nuclear threat of Communist tatively restated by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Russia against Communist China, was inconceivable to him Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and reprinted in the Soviet official theoretical journal "How was it possible for the Bolshevik-Leninists, who Kommunist (Nov. 3, 1972) under the title "Falsifiers of the began their political careers convinced that they were the Theory of Scientific Communism and Their Bankruptcy." It executors of the Marxist legacy, to end up as the chief is directed against Communist dissidents, characterized as executioner of its theories and ideals?" "modern revisionists," who envisage the transition from capitalism to socialism as a process of "evolution" or "reform" or "renovation," and who believe that "the dictatorship of the by definition. As we have seen, he shared the naïveté of anar- proletariat" is possible without the dictatorship or leadership chist thinkers in believing that the state would disappear with (a euphemism for dictatorship) of the Communist Party. The universal collectivism and that "the administration of things" article declares: could ever completely replace administration by men and women and the possibility of its abuse. He underestimated the We know the numerous statements in which V. I. Lenin devel- role of personality in history; and, although he contributed oped the basic Marxist thesis that the dictatorship of the prole- profoundly to our understanding of the determining influ- tariat is inconceivable without the leadership of the Communist ence, direct and indirect, of the mode of economic production Party. Practical experience has shown that even the existence of a multiparty system does not refute the necessity of such on many aspects of culture, he exaggerated the degree of its leadership. The Communist Party is the vanguard of the work- determination and its "inevitability" and "necessity." That is ing class, its most conscious, organized and unified part. Only why those who have learned most from Marx, if faithful to under the leadership of the Party can the working class imple- his own commitment to the scientific, rational method, ment its dictatorship over the defeated exploiting classes. should no more consider themselves "Marxists" today than modern biologists should consider themselves "Darwinians" As if to leave no doubt that the Leninist line applies not or modern physicists "Newtonians." "Marxism" today sig- only to the seizure of political power but to its exercise after nifies an ideology in Marx's original sense of that term, sug- the Communist Party has come to power, the article concludes: gestive more of a religious than of a strictly scientific or rational outlook on society. The grave consequences of any attempt to depart from the In speaking of Marx's failure to do justice to personality Marxist-Leninist teaching on the leading role of the Party and in history, one may cite the life and work of Lenin, the great- to renounce Leninist organizational principles are well illus- est revisionist of Marx, as decisive evidence. The Russian trated by the events of 1968 in Czechoslovakia. Revolution of October 1917 has been regarded as among the most influential events, and some have even characterized it Although Marx's views on revolution, violence, and democ- as the most influential event because of its consequences upon racy are quite different from those identified as Bolshevik- world history. Yet it is incontestable that if Lenin had not Leninist, they suffer from certain basic difficulties. Most of lived there would in all likelihood have been no Russian Octo- them flow from the failure clearly to recognize the primacy of ber Revolution (cf. my The Hero in History: A Study in political freedom in relation to all other desirable social and Limitation and Possibility [New York, 1943]). Among the cultural freedoms, and the consequent underestimation of the fateful consequences of the October Revolution under Lenin's possibility of modifying the economic structure of society by guidance was the creation of the Communist International, political democratic means. which organized Communist Parties in most of the countries Whatever the inadequacies of Marx's theory of revolu- of Europe, Asia, and America. Its chief accomplishment was tion are, his commitment to a scientific or rational method of to split the European working class in the face of threats of achieving a nonexploitative society permits — actually it should social and political reaction. encourage—a modification of his specific views on political It has been argued by some that the October Revolution strategy in the light of historical evidence and shifting social was responsible for reforms introduced in non-Communist forces. Marx was not born a socialist and certainly not a countries and that the development of the welfare state was Marxist. What was distinctive about his theories concerning primarily motivated out of fear of domestic Communist revo- how socialism — which au fond was an extension of democracy lution abetted by the armed intervention of the Red Army. It to a way of life—was to be achieved has largely been dis- would be very hard to establish such a thesis. The history of proved by historical events. History, alas!, has been guilty of political and social reform in Western Europe and America lesè-Marxism. Marx underestimated the capacity of capitalist was impressive long before the Russian Revolution and was societies to raise the standard of living of its population, primarily the result of indigenous class struggles that resulted

Spring 1983 27 in the extension of the democratic ethos to economic and In envisaging the democratic road to political power, social life. The New Deal in the United States, for example, as Marx and Engels were realistic in considering the possibility well as the emergence of the Welfare State in Great Britain, of an anti-democratic revolt to defeat the will of the majority. were in no way undertaken to meet any danger of a domestic This possibility has led some Leninists to justify the seizure of Communist revolution. power without the support of the majority of the population It is far closer to the truth to assert that rather than and, when in power, to repress parties and individuals who inspiring democratic social reforms in the Western world, the dissent from the socialist program, and even from the Lenin- Bolshevik Revolution and the operation of the Communist ist version of that program, on the pretext that they may International were largely responsible for the rise of Fascism revolt. But such rationalizations are transparent evidence that in Italy and Nazism in Germany. They not only weakened the they have no faith in the democratic process. democratic structure of pre-Mussolini Italy and Weimar Ger- In dealing with children or mental incompetents, it is many by splitting the working class, but by their activities, sometimes necessary, and therefore justifiable, to act in including abortive attempts at insurrection, they enlarged the behalf of their genuine interests even when it runs against mass base and support for the demagogic propaganda of the their wishes and will. What Marx would have thought of such forces of social reaction. It is not unlikely that, if there had procedure with respect to the proletariat or working class may been no October Revolution and attempts by the Communist be inferred from his declaration that this class "regards its International, serving as the instrument of the Kremlin, to courage, self-confidence, independence and sense of personal organize revolutions in western Europe, there would have dignity as more necessary than its daily bread" (Gesamtaus- been no victory of Fascism in Italy and of Hitlerism in Ger- gabe, Abt. I, Bd. 6, p. 278). Marx may have been wrong in many. It may be difficult to predict in detail what the history believing this, but it is not wrong that he believed it. of western Europe would have been if Lenin had not suc- Mistaken as Marx's historical theories and economic pre- ceeded in overthrowing Kerensky's regime and destroying the dictions may have been or turn out to be, and regardless of democratic Constituent Assembly. In the light of what actu- the crimes and infamies committed in his name in the Soviet ally did occur as a consequence of the rule of Bolshevism — and Chinese Gulag Archipelagos, a critical but objective Fascism and Nazism — it is hard to see what could have been assessment of his ideas justifies including him in the calendar worse. of fighters for human freedom. Hegel would not have recog- It remains to ask what light this analysis casts on iden- nized his progeny in Marx, nor Marx's in Lenin. The intellec- tifying contemporary expressions of Marxism with respect to tual sins, like all sins of the fathers, should not be visited on revolutionary thought and action. A position, of course, may the heads of their children. There is even less warrant for be morally sound or justifiable regardless of whether it is attributing the sins of the children to their fathers, especially Marxist or not. The question I pose here is this: What are the when there is strong doubt of their legitimacy. criteria for determining the truth of the claim of any party program or activity, independent of its own labels, to be Marxist? For example, on the analysis above, any movement Postscript. Since this essay was written, my attention has based on the ideas of Herbert Marcuse is clearly non-Marxist. been called by Professor Maurice A. Finocciaro of the Univer- This follows not only from his repudiation of the working sity of Nevada to an interesting passage by Antonio Gramsci class as unfit for the role and honor of carrier of the socialist in an essay published in the Milan newspaper L'Avanti!, idea, but because of his undisguised elitism and unabashed November 24, 1917, entitled "La Revoluzione Contro it Capi- justification of forcible repression of ideas, persons, or insti- tale." Gramsci wrote, apparently in approval: tutions that are not "progressive" according to his lights. Here The revolution of the Bolsheviks ... is the revolution against Marcuse is a faithful Leninist. Capital of Karl Marx. In Russia, Marx's Capital was a book Where socialist parties, alone or in alliance with others, for bourgeois, rather than proletarians. It was the critical come to power through the democratic political process, the demonstration of the fatal necessity that in Russia one had to crucial question is whether or not they permit freedom of create a bourgeoisie, that one should begin a capitalistic era, political propaganda to parties that reject their program and, that one install a Western type civilization, before the prole- in the event of an electoral defeat, relinquish the reins of gov- tariat could even think of its ... revolution.... The Bolshe- ernment to those who have won the support of the majority. viks reject Karl Marx and affirm through explicit action and Any political party, regardless of what it calls itself, that effective conquests that the canons of historical materialism holds on to power by refusing to conduct free elections or to are not as iron-rigid as one might think and as one had thought. abide by their consequences is not Marxist. They are not Marxists, that's all..." [Translated by Professor Finocciaro.] The theory of Marxism makes no claim that the working masses are always right or even aware of what is to their best What Gramsci failed to realize is that the Bolsheviks not interests. At any definite time a Marxist party may know bet- only rejected historical materialism but the ideals of individ- ter than the masses what their best interests are. But this uality and freedom that pervaded all of Marx's political writ- knowledge does not give it any right to impose upon the ings. On the rejection of these values, Lenin built the founda- masses a program in opposition to their wishes and will. tions of twentieth-century totalitarianism. •

Indeed, this is integral to the very meaning of "democracy" in Chapter 1 of Marxism and Beyond, by Sidney Hook, Rowman and Little- any political context. field, 1982, pp. 3-22. Published with permission.

28 0 Marxism: Hollow at the Core

Jan Narveson

In a recent volume of essays on Marx and Marxisms, G. H. R. hold that there ought to be a revolution but that there will be. Parkinson observes, commenting on the remark of one of the This would seem to make Marx's central claim a kind of open- essayists to the effect that Marxism is a "historical movement," ended prediction; and, of course, so viewed, his work invites, that "indeed it is. But it is a movement in the sense in which and has certainly received, criticism on such embarrassing Christianity is a movement; one in which there are important questions as why, one hundred years and more later, the disagreements as to what the message of the founder really Revolution has not in fact taken place in the countries that was."' The comparison is certainly apt — in more than one one would have supposed were most distinctively eligible for respect, some would say — for writing on Marxism nowadays it and just what the proposed time-modulus of the prediction is a frustrating business. It is scarcely possible to put forward was supposed to be. But I do not propose to add further to any interpretation of Marx, or even any ascription to Marx- the quantities of ink already devoted to those questions. For, ism of any fundamental tenet, that will not be loudly (and whatever Marx may have said, it is not only fairly plausible to abusively) disputed by some who claim to be Marxists. Ac- suppose that he can hardly have meant to deny the legitimacy cordingly, it is with some trepidation that I attempt in these or relevance of questions of the form "Should we have a revo- few pages to put my finger on the core doctrines of Marx. lution or shouldn't we?" but, more important, his entire body Actually, I can be more restrictive than that. I shall concern of work becomes at best academic and at worst unintelligible myself only with those of Marx's major arguments that bear if it is not relevant to such questions as that. directly on the question of whether capitalism ought to be Reading Marx and his followers, we want to know which supplanted by socialism. This, I am sure, is the question of side we should be on. We want to know whether he has given greatest interest to most readers, just as it is scarcely possible us good reason for having serious doubts about the desirabil- to doubt that it was the question of greatest interest to Marx ity of retaining the capitalist system (or those aspects of the and the one to which the major proportion of his vast output current economic dispensation that fit that description). Nor was devoted. can it seriously be doubted that Marxists do take his work as Even here one has to pause to note a particularly mad- being relevant to those questions. When one tries to piece dening feature of Marx's procedure, for it is very likely that together how a revolution would be "inevitable" on his Marx would have been quick to reject the formulation of the theories, especially when taken in conjunction with the fact "question" with which, I have claimed, most of his work is that Marx also devoted a great deal of time to practical revo- concerned. For Marx almost never employs the language of lutionary activity, there can hardly be any reasonable doubt `ought', and he energetically denounces the practice of charac- that the "mechanism" involved, just as we would expect, is the terizing capitalism as "unjust." All such language, he held, is increasing sense on the part of a great many people (mostly moralistic claptrap —"ideological nonsense about right and members of the working classes, no doubt) that capitalism is other trash so common among the democrats and French an evil and should be replaced by a better system. I shall Socialists."' By and large, Marx instead argues that a transi- therefore not attempt further justification of my way of put- tion from capitalism to socialism is "inevitable." He does not ting the central issue, except to point out that no deep-seated gap between "facts" and "values" is presupposed. On the con- Jan Narveson is professor trary, as will be seen: my criticisms are largely on the "factual" of philosophy at the Univer- side insofar as that is a "side." sity of Waterloo, Ontario, Marx makes high-level claims about capitalism that are Canada. His publications the basis of his critique of capitalism, and of such critiques by include Morality and Utility Marxists generally, and therefore the basis of his support for and numerous articles on socialism. My thesis is that these claims rest, in Marx's own ethics, political philosophy, treatment, on identifiable arguments, proceeding from fairly and other subjects. definite premises, and that these arguments are invalid. That the criticisms are also independently false is another matter. I

Spring 1983 29 think they are, but with much reformulation they, or something in (1). And, in the absence of (2), a socialist revolution—the very much like them, might be argued from quite different essence of which is that it eliminates private ownership of the premises; and I do not here claim that all such reformulations means of production, i.e., the existence of a distinct capitalist also amount to nothing and that all such optional arguments class—would make no sense. Moreover, Marx's apocalyptic are wrong. My claim is the narrower but still, I think, impor- view that capitalism would ultimately destroy itself due to its tant one, that Marx's work is fundamentally based on fal- internal "contradictions" is based on the exploitative "rela- lacies. Subtle fallacies, perhaps, but not ones whose status as tions of production" that define capitalism. fallacies is in any real doubt. Many people who think Marxism in error think, I "Many Marxists think that Marx's criticisms of believe, along the following lines: Marx had an ingenious capitalism are fundamentally sound and that eventually theoretical structure that led to certain general predic- history will prove him to have been right. My thesis is tions about capitalism, and time has simply shown those that Marx was wrong all along; not just in his predic- predictions to be erroneous. And many Marxists think, I tions, but in his theoretical structure." believe, that although it is surprising and worrisome that things haven't gone just the way one might have expected on I omit from this very short list many doctrines that could the basis of Marx's writings, nevertheless his criticisms are certainly, from various points of view, be regarded as "funda- fundamentally sound; and eventually history will after all mental" to Marxism. One in particular whose omission per- prove him to have been right even if this is not entirely obvi- haps requires a word of justification is the doctrine of Histor- ous so far. What I wish to argue here is that this is not the ical Materialism, this being one of the two theories mentioned right way to look at Marx at all. My thesis is that Marx was by Engels in his speech by the graveside of Marx as being wrong all along: not just in his predictions, but in his Marx's most significant "discoveries." The omission is inten- theoretical structure. tional, however, for this famous but dark theory—the "law of Marx argued from certain general features of capitalism development of human history," Engels calls it3 — is far too that both he and his bourgeois opponents agreed about. Marx general to supply what is needed for supporting a socialist believed that those very features necessarily led to the demise revolution. The two doctrines I have selected are, in effect, of capitalism and to the necessity and desirability of a change the specific applications of Historical Materialism to the cir- to socialism. For my purposes, it does not matter whether he cumstances of the capitalist era. And it would, I should point or anyone thinks that this change must or ought to be violent; out, be perfectly possible to accept Historical Materialism — for my argument is that his analysis is fundamentally faulty, assuming that very difficult doctrine actually has any clear faulty to the extent that it does not in fact give us good reason meaning anyway' — and yet deny that the time is ripe for such either for expecting or desiring the change at all, peaceful or a revolution.3 The two doctrines I propose to examine here otherwise. Marx was wrong, not in detail and not in inciden- are the linchpins of Marxism as a revolutionary doctrine. tals, nor in excusable failure to see what the future held in Both, I shall point out, are arrived at by fallacious reasoning. store. He was wrong, I shall argue, at the core—wrong in The Marxian analysis is faulty at the crucial points. Let us principle. If, as I suspect, it is the particular doctrines on consider each in turn. which he was in error that are almost universally assumed by modern as well as older Marxists in their criticisms of capital- 1. Exploitation and Surplus Value ism, then the implications for Marxism are serious. But given the previously alluded to difficulty of pinning any particular The Marxian theory of exploitation is rooted in the other of doctrines on absolutely all persons claiming to be Marxists, I the two theories mentioned by Engels in the speech at Marx's shall not devote effort to showing that virtually all of them do graveside alluded to above: the "Theory of Surplus Value." in fact hold it. Can someone who disputes the divinity of The opening pages of the first volume of Marx's magnum Christ be accounted a Christian? I don't know. But I believe opus, Capital, are devoted to the exposition of this theory and that the fundamentality of the doctrines I analyze below is requisite background material. In Marx's pages, the theory is such that one who rejected them but professed nevertheless to dependent upon—indeed, it is a straightforward deduction be a Marxist would be in just about the same boat. from—the Labor Theory of Value, a theory that is mired in The core doctrines of Marxism that will concern me here problems. Not surprisingly, as we shall see, the Theory of are two, closely related but distinguishable. They are: (1) that Surplus Value, and in consequence the Marxian theory of capitalism necessarily involves the `exploitation' of labor, in a exploitation, inherit these problems. To see how this all goes, sense of `exploitation' that grounds a fundamental criticism of we must, inevitably, briefly go into the Labor Theory of Value. the system; and (2) that capitalism is a system that is founded Marx opens his discussion by distinguishing between two on, and/or generates and reinforces, class conflict, in partic- sorts of `value': use value, which is that about an object which ular between owners and nonowners of the "means of produc- makes it useful for whatever purposes the prospective pur- tion," the conflict being due to a fundamental conflict of inter- chaser, or the maker or finder, may have; and exchange est between those classes. In the absence of doctrine (1), doc- value, or that about a transferable object which enables it to trine (2) would either make no sense or at least be reduced to a be exchanged for other things on a market, the market being doctrine with no distinctive Marxian interest. The class conflict the central institution of capitalism. Exchange value, in other in question is due, fundamentally, to the exploitation asserted words, is whatever it is that fundamentally accounts for price,

30 VoGG Inq in( since the price c f an item is the money-expression of its capacity all: virgin land, for example. Sudden changes in demand will for exchange. And the Labor Theory of Value is the theory that cause major changes in prices irrespective of labor inputs. All exchange value is — at least "ultimately," or "fundamentally"— these are passed off as "incidental." But if these are 'inciden- determined entirely by labor. tal', then what is essential? The standard response to this is `Determined' how? Consider two identical shawls on that what Marx is after is the determination of "equilibrium" adjacent stands in the local market. Shawl A was laboriously prices: the prices achieved in a stable market when all vari- made by a little old lady who invested about fifty hours of ables have settled down — assuming, of course, a perfectly work in it; shawl B was made by high-speed knitting machinery competitive market. In that case—if only it were possible to in Taiwan, with a total worker input of about five minutes. reply to the next objection, that is — prices would be propor- Shawl A will not, sentimental value apart, fetch six hundred tional to labor inputs. But, if that is all the Labor Theory times the price of shawl B; in fact, it may fetch merely the says, then it is exceedingly uninteresting. Nobody ever doubted same price. Marx knew this, of course. His modification of that in the case of things produced by labor, labor costs are a the theory, which he accepted (having inherited it from his significant factor in pricing. But Marx's claim is that it has a bourgeois predecessors), is to affirm that what is responsible peculiarly fundamental significance—that it is, somehow, the for market values is not the actual "quantity" of labor em- sole factor that matters. Since both perfect competition and bodied in any particular bit of goods, but rather this: complete equilibrium are theoretical idealizations, akin to the perfect vacuum in physics, the upshot is that there is no actual case in which the central claim of the Labor Theory of Value The labour, however, that forms the substance of value, is is true. It began, bravely, by asserting that market pricing is homogeneous human labour, expenditure of one uniform due entirely to labor; it ends by saying, meekly, that price is labour power. The total labour power of society, which is em- proportional solely to labor when all else is held constant — bodied in the sum total of the values of all commodities pro- which is, for all practical purposes, never! duced by that society, counts here as one homogeneous mass But all this was assuming that we do, at least, have an of human labour power, composed though it be of innumer- empirically significant variable to work with in the Theory. able individual units. Each of these units is the same as any But do we? Remember, it is no longer sufficient merely to other, so far as it has the character of the average labour power of society, and takes effect as such; that is, so far as it measure the number of hours of labor put in by any, or even requires for producing a commodity no more time than is every, particular worker. For some "hours" are worth more needed on average, no more than is socially necessary.6 than others! Thus in considering the case of skilled labor, Marx says, "Skilled labour counts only as simple labour inten- From then on, we must presume that whenever Marx dis- sified, or rather, as multiplied simple labour, a given quantity cusses the labor factor in production, the "units" of labor that of skilled being considered equal to a greater quantity of figure in the various equations are these idealized units. simple labour. Experience shows that this reduction is con- It is of considerable importance to appreciate that the stantly being made." But how is it made? The sort of examples theory in question is, and leads to, a theoretical quagmire— Marx uses in this connection confirm what any of us would "of considerable importance" because Marxists tend to talk as say about it. In effect, we look at the effect on output of the though Marx had here come upon a fantastically brilliant different skill levels, on their different levels of training, and insight that had settled all the problems of the labor theory. so forth. But mostly, in the end, we simply look at what we Like Marx—I believe—they want to cling to the theory have to pay for different levels of skill! And it is really obvi- because they think that it supplies powerful support for ous, when one thinks about this, that there is no other theo- Marx's critique of capitalism and thus for a change to social- retically possible way to do this. As soon as actual "labors" ism. It needs to be seen that this is entirely wrong. There are are nonhomogeneous, and we try to compare them in terms of three major points to make here, two of which I will make their impact on production, we find we must employ the mar- now; the third is best introduced after we have brought in the ket in order to make the comparison. But of course the Labor Theory of Surplus Value itself. In effect, the upshot of the Theory of Value says that market pricing is determined by first two criticisms is that the very claim that we have a defi- quantity of labor! If the only possible way to measure the nite theory here is an illusion. While trumpeted by Marx (and "labor" variable is in the light of antecedent market pricing Marxists) as a "scientific" theory, its scientific purport turns activity, then the theory has become hopelessly circular. Of out to be zero. The upshot of the third criticism will be that course this is not the "only possible way to measure" quan- the theory, even if it was at least somewhat workable, would tities of labor. We could just doggedly count up hours, no not have at all the effect that socialists, including Marx matter whose and no matter what is being done during those himself, might have supposed. hours. But if we did, we would have a theory whose falsity To begin with the first criticism: It will have been noticed was spectacularly obvious instead of a theory with a certain that my statements of the Labor Theory of Value have included specious plausibility that turns out, as we have just seen, to be a parenthetical qualifier: market pricing is "(ultimately)" due to circularity. determined by labor. Why the qualifier? Marx was well aware With this background in mind, what about the famous that many other factors influence pricing in a market besides Theory of Surplus Value? This theory is brought in to solve the labor inputs of the goods being sold. Some goods do not, what appeared to be a serious problem. What motivates in the usual understanding of the term, have a labor input at entrepreneurs in a market is the prospect of profit. Profits are

31 Spring 1983 made by selling things for more than the total cost of making alienating and alienated, and so on. and marketing them. But suppose we are convinced by the On top of all this, Marx also tended to think of the Value Labor Theory of Value? And suppose, as was assumed by of Labor as the minimum that could be expended in order to Marx and his predecessors, that in a market things always ex- keep the laborer laboring; and he comes up with the famous change "at their values" — equals for equals. But if all value is "theory of immiseration," according to which wages under labor value, then it seems that the amount of labor embodied capitalism could be expected, by and large, to fall toward sub- in the goods bought by the consumer must be equal to the sistence and, by and large, to remain there; or at least in the labor commanded by the money he pays for his purchase — so case of the wages of unskilled industrial workers, which were where does profit come from? To this Marx came up with a the main focus of his attention. (This tendency, it should be simple, ingenious, and elegant answer. We must, he points observed, emphasizes one of the two different components of out, make a distinction when we come to the special case of the Marxian version of the Labor Theory of Value. That that very important capitalist market commodity called labor- theory, recall, identifies the source of value as "socially neces- power: a distinction between (a) the value that the laborer sary labor power," though it also identifies it with average bestows on what he produces by laboring, and (b) the value labor power. `Socially necessary' suggests the minimum of that is "embodied in" the laborer himself! The appearance what is needed given the best current technology. On this that there is a mystery about profit is due to the confusion be- understanding, the value of a laborer is the least it would tween these two very different things. Quantity (a) is, of take, given current methods of keeping someone alive, to keep that laborer alive. The independent problems with the "The core doctrines of Marxism are that capitalism "immiseration" theory will be gone into below.) necessarily involves the `exploitation' of labor and is We can now explore the third criticism I have in mind. founded on ... class conflict, in particular between The laborer, on Marx's analysis, is necessarily exploited under owners and nonowners of the `means of production.' " capitalism. He is "exploited," to begin with, in one of the straightforwardly literal senses of that term, in that he is course, what determines the market value of the product, made use of, and of course, one would hope, made the best given the Labor Theory of Value. But quantity (a) is not what possible use of in the productive activities in which he is determines the value of the laborer's labor-power, even involved. And, second, he is "exploited" in a technical, Marx- though all value is determined by labor. For quantity (b) is ian sense deriving from what we have just been noting: ex- not the amount of time the laborer spends behind the machine ploited in that he is paid less than the value he confers on or whatever. It is, instead, the amount of time spent by both what he produces. All we need to do is to assume, as many himself and others in maintaining that laborer in a condition people will naturally tend to do, that al! of the work of a in which he can labor. Let us simplify the reference to worker ought, after all, to belong to the worker—in short, "others" by assuming that all of the other costs are paid for by that what he is worth is the entirety of that value. All workers, the laborer himself, on the average at any rate. Then we can just by virtue of being workers, are necessarily underpaid! say that there is a "quantity of labor" (labor-time, actually, And thus, the allegedly "technical" sense of `exploitation' but the reader will know what is meant) that determines the takes on a third connotation that it also frequently has in value of the laborer's wages, and so in that sense is "embodied ordinary usage, namely, the sense that to exploit someone is in the laborer," and a different quantity embodied in what the to do something unjust and wrong and to be criticized — a laborer produces during his working hours. And, of course, if pejorative sense, in short. we look at it this way, it must follow that, if the firm is a Now the first of the two core doctrines of Marxism, I profitable one, then on the average the quantity "embodied in have said, is that workers are exploited in a sense of 'exploita- the laborer" must be less than the amount embodied in the tion' that grounds a fundamental criticism of capitalism. laborer's product. If all value is labor-value and there is Does the Marxian analysis in fact support such a criticism, so profit, then that profit must embody labor, and (on the aver- far as it goes? The answer to this, I suggest, is resoundingly in age, etc.) it must in fact embody some of the laborer's labor! the negative. To see this, let us begin by pointing out that the What the Theory of Surplus Value boils down to, if we entire framework of the Marxian analysis, rooted as it is in have swallowed the background assumptions and followed the Labor Theory of Value, is completely hopeless from the out the logic of the argument, will certainly appear to be this: start, so that any theorems derived from it must thereby be that profit is extracted from the hides of laborers. The temp- suspect. For one example, just notice that, since there is no tation will be to say, what Marx does say or obviously imply natural correspondence between a real hour of a real person's in many, many passages throughout his work, that profit is a labor and the theoretical "unit of homogeneous socially nec- sort of robbery and, what is more, the worst sort, since it con- essary labor time" of the theory, you could never prove that sists in separating, as it were, a part of the very laborer him- any actual person was "exploited," even in Marx's technical self from himself! In Marx's earlier writings, he tended to sense, in the first place! The number of labor-theoretical identify man's essence in terms of his work-activity. In the hours embodied in Smith's wages might be far greater, rather case of wage-work, the "form" of labor we have under capi- than far less, than the number of actual hours he puts in. But talism, this "essence" is under the control of other men, the never mind. Let us be extremely generous and suppose that capitalists. The worker is "forced" under capitalism to sell some kind of sense can be given to the Surplus Value idea; himself to other people. This, of course, is dehumanizing, still, what really matters is this: Is the worker necessarily

worse off by virtue of having some of "his" labor power An able contemporary writer, William Leon McBryde, "taken away from" him? Is the fact that profits are being remarks that he finds the claim above "intuitively highly made from his hide necessarily a bad thing from his point of plausible when applied to the most advanced industrial so- view? A moment's reflection assures us that it is not. cieties of Marx's day, but by the same token far less plausible To take a case that would be highly apropos in Marx's when applied to most advanced contemporary societies."10 own time, consider the cottage worker with his hand loom, Here again we see the tendency to suppose that it is only the his own sheep, and so on. He is self-employed from start to facts that show Marx to have been wrong. But I shall again finish, so there is no question of exploitation by a capitalist. insist that the fault is not in the facts. Marx's premises, had he Suppose he is able to produce one shirt a week from his looked at them all with due care, would not have led him to efforts — of course he gets to keep 100 percent of whatever he the conclusion that the relationship between the two classes he can get for that shirt. Now consider his industrial colleague identifies would be one of hostility. Hostility implies conflict who labors, we shall hypothesize, the same number of hours a of interests. But are the "classes" in capitalist society in con- week (likely very high in both cases!); and suppose that the flict? Are their interests as classes opposed? I shall argue that industrial worker produces, in effect, 100 shirts a week ("in they are not; or, more precisely, that there is nothing in the effect" because, of course, this worker may never make a basic features of capitalism that imply this. Marx, of course, whole shirt; one must, say, divide the total output by the total must (and did) hold that this conflict was absolutely funda- number of workers in the shirt-producing sector of the fac- mental. Let us see. tory to arrive at the relevant figure). Now even if the owner kept the equivalent of 95 of those shirts, the worker is left Good-looking, sturdy files with five times the number of shirts he would have had in his cottage. If we measure his situation by his real income, that to protect your copies of is, the volume of goods and services he commands by his efforts, then he would in this case be five times as well off by In virtue of being "exploited" than he would by being entirely his own master. Obviously there is room to argue that the simple peasant's life he leads in his cottage is spiritually superior to the factory existence, and many socialists have, virtually, so argued. Such arguments do not sit very well with peasants, who know what their life is like, nor with typical industrial workers who are not much interested in returning to a steady diet of goat's milk and rough bread. Nor should they sit well with Marxists who, after all, profess to follow a man whose leading principle was that "mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.", — or, we may add, appreciate the virtues of poverty and spiritual simplicity! But mainly, of course, socialists have leaned on Marx's apocalyptic assessment of capitalism, and in particular his belief that capitalism will necessarily lead to a Choose either red, yellow, blue, green or black growing "mass of misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, vinyl with gold ornamentation and convenient exploitation ..."9 Insofar as that prediction is based on the label-holders front and back. simple theory of exploitation, it is, as we have seen, utterly unsupported. But perhaps, as Marxists will of course be quick to point out, it is not based only on that simple theory. Per- Each file holds 20 issues (5 years) of Free Inquiry haps further social considerations will shore up the Marxian account? To follow Marx's technical argument to the end $5.95 each, plus $1.50 for postage and handling would involve endless labor, but fortunately we will find it unnecessary to do that. We shall instead turn to the claim about class interest and class conflict. Here, we shall find, the situation is not more favorable to the Marxist conclusion; if Please send me files in anything, it is less so. red yellow blue green black I enclose my check or money order for $ 2. Class Interests in the Capitalist Era Name Street City State Zip Our epoch ... has simplified the class antagonisms. Society Free Incquiiy as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bour- Box 5, Central Park Station, Buffalo, NY 14215 geoisie and Proletariat. [Communist Manifesto, Section 11

Spring 1983 33 "bourgeoisie," is that he owns capital. And that is all. (Obvi- ously the question of "How much?" screams out for an answer, but we must neglect such important details here.) It has nothing, as such, to do with who your parents were— though there is a decent chance that, if they did well, then you would inherit some capital and hence find you have become a capitalist. Nor are there any laws saying that you, you, and you are forever barred from membership. Anyone can play, in one way or another; or, at any rate, anyone who is not literally earning at subsistence level (which Marx, of course, argued would be a lot of people; more about this below). In a purely market society, the laws protect people and their property: any kind of property, any person's property, so long as it was legitimately acquired. And, in fact, the membership of the "capitalist" class is unstable. It is also, of course, vague. (If you have a life-insurance policy, as likely you do, would To begin with, let us get a clearer idea of the notion of Marx consider you a capitalist? Or a retirement savings plan? `class interest'. We should expect a class interest to be some- If so, then almost all of us are capitalists!) Moreover, we have thing that unifies its members, something that gives them to bear in mind that, as things are, all sorts of noncapitalists reason to identify with one another and perhaps even to make make greater incomes than most capitalists. Nor, I hasten to some sacrifices on its behalf. A feeling that we all stand or fall add, were things all that different in Marx's day. The real together arises. And this will, of course, tend to be conjoined wages of workers were, of course, much lower than now, but with perceptions that the other class or classes are (if "lower") the substantial spread from low to high, with income derived to be kept in their places, or (if "higher") resented and envied. from earnings on capital, wages, or a mix of both, was already What must be emphasized is that anything worthy of being there. This would make it a bit difficult for the aspiring called a "class interest" has to be more than just the separate member in good standing of the bourgeoisie to know who his interests of its members. Possession of some common quality friends were, and likewise a bit difficult for the workers to is not enough to make a social class. know who the enemy was. (Engels himself, for instance, was Second, the new kinds of classes Marx envisages do not probably on the bourgeois side of the line, if anything — luckily behave in the same way as the old ones exemplified by the for Marx, who survived for many years on frequent doles from Ancient Regime. The old-style classes were fixed subsets of the faithful Engels.) The Marxian class antagonisms, alas, do the populace; mobility from one to the other was extremely not have clearly separate and identifiable antagonists. rare, if not unheard of. The members of those classes did not But never mind. Let us press on to the more fundamental have to do anything to be members: all you had to do was question of why these "classes," supposing that we can iden- have the right parents. Since the membership in such classes tify them, are supposed to be at each other's throats? When was fixed, there was no problem identifying one's fellow we delve into the Marxian literature with this question in members; and moreover, once a member, always a member. mind, we come upon a somewhat surprising fact: there No problem about people sneaking across the lines. doesn't seem to be any explicit argument for this. Evidently Finally, let us bear in mind that Marx's argument is sup- Marx, and Marxists following him, thought it required no posed to be purely economic. The idea is not that, by some argument. However, let us assume that what Marx thought kind of ill-understood chemistry, capitalists get together and was self-evident was not the proposition that classes in capi- so do proletarians. The interests of these classes are to arise talism have inextricably opposed interests but, rather, that directly from their "relationship to the means of production," once you follow the argument in, say, Capital, it will then go namely, in that the capitalists own (i.e., have the official, without saying that they are so opposed. And on this, I fear, socially sanctioned control over) those means while the prole- far too many readers have been taken in. But let us not be. tarians do not and have nothing to sell but the sweat of their Let us give Marx the proposition that the interests of bodies. owners and workers within any particular enterprise are op- The issue before us, then, is whether the "relations of posed, at least in the short run. Marx's capitalists operate in production" in question do in fact yield a class interest or an economy characterized by considerable competition— interests of the kind in question. In particular, of course, it is perhaps "perfect" competition, but this needn't worry us here. whether they yield an interest on the part of the working And Marx is clear that even if the individual owner happened classes in eliminating the other class. (This sounds, and in to be a benevolent fellow and would have preferred to pay his frightening actual cases has been, rather apocalyptic. But, in employees more, the forces of the market will deprive him of fact, you eliminate this class not by eliminating its members this luxury. Competition provides the motivation also for but, rather, by changing the production relations, i.e., by technological progress, which increases the productivity of abolishing the private ownership of the means of production.) labor (while, it will appear, depriving the thus displaced I shall argue that it does not. laborers of their livelihood). And large capitalism, with the What makes someone a capitalist, a member of the nineteenth-century version of high technology, is what Marx

34 o o0 has in mind. These features of the situation make for a gen- they have any reason to do this that would not be an even bet- eral pressure toward lower wages. ter reason for supporting the welfare of noncapitalists—e.g., So far, so good. But how does this prove what is to be contributing to unemployment insurance and welfare funds? shown? It certainly shows that each capitalist has a contrary All of this compresses a good deal of territory into a few interest to some workers. But what we need is the thesis that pages, and it is only to be expected that any self-respecting the capitalist class has, as a class, an interest in grinding down Marxist will find epicycles to make the pronouncements of the proletariat to near-starvation levels of subsistence; and the Master square with his own basis of theory. Nor do I pur- having, after all, "the control" over the means of production, port to have solutions to the pressing economic problems of presumably capitalists are in a position to bring this unhappy advanced industrial societies today—a request for such being result about. Right? thought to be naturally forthcoming from the would-be Marx- Wrong! For we might try bearing in mind how our hypo- ist. But my intention is not to shore up unlimited laissez-faire thetical capitalist makes his money, a point that Marx tends capitalism, nor to decry any need for social legislation; those to sweep under the carpet. He makes it, ex hypothesi, by sell- are issues for another time. What I insist on here is simply ing. Moreover, in the important cases he makes it by develop- that Marx does have fundamental theses, that these theses are ing machinery of mass production. And who are the "masses" highly influential, and that Marxian reasoning falls hopelessly who will buy all this stuff? Well, given the Marxian scenario, short of supporting them. To any reasonably candid observ- we know what the answer would have to be. For, on his er, history has, of course, shown Marx to be wrong in his scheme, the bourgeoisie is a vanishing species. Polarization main claims. For example, during the very decades that he proceeds apace, with ever fewer richer capitalists at the top, labored away to "prove" that the proletariat must, under and even more ever poorer proletarians at the bottom. Now, capitalism, sink deeper and deeper into misery, the real income if this could happen at all, there would be a mystery indeed! of the English working class rose steadily. The point of this For in a market society, the only way you can make a buck is brief review is that this is what we should expect given the to sell something and you can only sell if someone buys! The premises he was reasoning from rather than what he actually conclusion stares us in the face: on Marx's premises, it must claims. The error is not happenstance. It is in the central logic be the case, contrary to what Marx thunderously insists, that of the theory. Marx may have made some contributions to the proletariat is more or less steadily increasing in its pur- economics. But his foundational ideas, the ones that form the chasing power, rather than the reverse. It is logically impos- main basis of his call for revolution, can only by fallacy lead sible for the other tendencies to be realized if it does not. But in that direction. The core of Marxism turns out to be like the more to the present point is the fact that capitalists have an core of the onion rather than of the avocado: instead of the interest in this being the case. The idea that they have, instead, rich juicy pit of solid theory, the last peel leaves us with an interest in the poverty of the working classes, and have it nothing. just by virtue of being members of the capitalist class, is sheer economic nonsense. And it is economics that is supposed to supply the premises for Marx's argument here. Notes It may be objected that, while the capitalists may, in some sense of `interest', have the interest cited above, they are I. G. H. R. Parkinson, ed., Marx and Marxisms, Royal Institute of nevertheless powerless to do anything about it for reasons of Philosophy Lecture Series #I4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, the kind already mentioned. But this too rests on a fallacy. If 1982). capitalist A is able to reduce his costs by reducing wages, soon 2. Marx, "Critique of the Gotha Program," in D. McLellan, Karl Marx: to be followed by B, C, and so on, the effect of all this in Selected Writings (0xford: Oxford University Press, 1977), p. 564. a competitive economy is that prices will go down. And this, 3. Engels, "Speech at the Graveside of Marx," in Marx & Engels, Selected Works in One Volume (New York: International Publishers, 1968), so far as it goes, increases the real income of all who buy p. 435. those goods, a fact that seems to escape Marx's myopic glare. 4. The major recent work on this is the brilliant study Karl Marx's Understandably: for the upshot of all this is that when capi- Theory of History, by G. A. Cohen (in the United States, Princeton Univer- talists flourish, so in general does the "proletariat," with any sity Press, 1978). Inter alla, it sets forth the problems of interpretation in this luck at all. And one would have thought that that is not the major area of Marx studies very nicely. 5. To see this, consider this excerpt from the Preface to the Critique of way for inextricable, to-the-death, basic class conflicts to Political Economy by Marx, which is the classic source for the theory of His- proceed. torical Materialism: "No social order is ever destroyed before all the produc- There is a further small point concerning the class "soli- tive forces for which it is sufficient have been developed, and new superior darity" of the capitalists; viz., that insofar as they are relations of production never replace older ones before the material condi- capitalists, the people with whom they are most evidently in tions for their existence have matured within the framework of the old society" (International Publishers, 1970; p. 21). Clearly one could, at least as a conflict are, in fact, the other members of the class. Far from logical possibility, accept the doctrine but claim that "all the productive expecting the members of this group to cleave together and forces for which it is sufficient" have not been developed. support each other, we expect what we in fact find: that they 6. David McLellan, editor, Karl Marx: Selected Writings, p. 430 (the are always on the lookout for ways to obtain a competitive excerpt is from Capital, vol. I, Part 1, Chap. 1, sec. i.) advantage. This too is a very unsatisfactory basis for "class" 7. McLellan, op. cit., pp. 427-28. 8. Engels, "Speech at the Graveside of Marx," op. cit., p. 435. interest. Why would members of a "class" so constituted 9. McLellan, op. cit., p. 487 (from Capital, vol. 1). want to make sacrifices for one another's welfare? Would 10. The Philosophy of Marx (London: Hutchinson, 1978), p. 98.

Spring 1983 35 The Religion of Marxism

Paul Kurtz

Historical trends are difficult to predict. Who, living in clas- the dialectical process, that he accurately foresaw the devel- sical Rome, could have imagined that Roman civilization opment of contradictions between the forces and relation- would be engulfed by an Asian mystery cult founded by an ships of production and the eventual replacement of one set alleged itinerant and uneducated Jewish carpenter named of social relations by another? Marx predicted the emergence Jesus? Similarly, who could have believed a century ago that of proletariat consciousness ready to wrest control from the half the world would be overtaken by a religious tidal wave dominant capitalist class. Is the growth of Marxist conscious- inspired by a poor scholar named Karl Marx who spent much ness the confirmation of his theory? Or, on the contrary, was of his adult life in the British Museum? Yet Marxism a cen- Marxist ideology itself the basis for a self-fulfilling prophecy? tury after the death of its founder has swept half the world And is its power to be explained in part by the fact that Lenin, and in the other half is still a great attraction for large like Paul, discovered that merely to promulgate an idea is not numbers of alienated intellectuals and young people. Thus a enough, that one needs to reinforce it by a legion of disci- religionized Marxism now competes with Christianity and plined church or party cadres who are dedicated to its truth Islam for the soul of man. and unqustionably committed to materializing it and defend- How explain this perplexing phenomenon? Jesus was ing it against all counter efforts? hardly correct when he claimed that the Kingdom of God was There is no doubt that Marx, like Jesus, was a heroic imminent; nor were his disciples when they proclaimed him genius, a man possessed of brilliant insight and capable of the Christ, Son of God. The advent of Christianity was not profundity; and his works attest to the substantial contribu- the fulfillment of God's Word upon Earth. It was, however, a tion that he has made to philosophy, sociology, and eco- self-fulfilling prophecy; for Jesus prophesied a new birth of nomics. But the power of Marxism cannot be explained solely faith on earth, and his wish became father to that fact for by his theories; for these were at least partially limited by his countless generations of Western civilization. The growth of nineteenth-century experience, and they have been superseded Christianity no more vindicates the truth of its message than by the considerable development of the social sciences. The did the latter-day growth of Islam verify Mohammedanism. power of Marxism must therefore be located to a considerable Historically, both religions satisfied deep-felt needs within the degree in its religious impulse and its moral protest. human psyche and, once institutionalized, achieved a power The theories of Marxism have at least a double function. and effect far greater than their original impulses. Ideas by On the one hand, Marx provided an analysis of society and an themselves are not causative until they are implemented in explanation of historical change. According to Engels, Marx's action; but once they are codified and regulated they take on writings were unique because of "two great discoveries, the a life of their own and have effects far greater than originally materialistic conception of history and the revelation of the intended. secret of capitalistic production through surplus value."' The Is the growth and power of Marxism to be explained in Marxist theory may thus be considered a scientific-philosophical Marxist terms—that Marx discovered the laws of history in account of the basic causes of historical change and of the role that certain determining structural factors exert in society — and in recent epochs in capitalist society. Marx's speculations Paul Kurtz is professor of are insightful and provocative and provide a useful tool for philosophy at the State the sociological interpretation of history and society. But they University of New York at are not omnicompetent to deal with all social changes; they Buffalo and editor of FREE must be modified and supplemented by non-Marxist cate- INQUIRY. gories and concepts if we are to understand and explain the dynamics of contemporary life. In any case, Marx, like Aris- totle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Hegel, Freud, and Dewey, made

36 profound contributions to our understanding of man and society, and these remain as part of our intellectual resources. Even if Marx were the Newton of social science, however— "The power of Marxism must be located to a con- and this is questionable—that would still not explain his siderable degree in its religious impulse and its tremendous appeal. moral protest." I submit that the explanation of this popularity lies in part in another function of Marxist language and philosophy: its moral and religious appeal. For Marx, like Jesus, provides This moral-religious sense was grounded in a doctrine of a response to man's existential situation. He offers a set of dialectical progress which, like theism, was enshrined in a normative ideals and prescriptions for how we shall live and kind of inevitability. The Marxist prophecy was not mere in what direction we should work; and his message has been wishful thinking; it was rooted in the nature of reality— not in transformed by his disciples into a new faith, a new hope, a static being, but in dynamic flux and process, the essence of new promise. As mankind discards one religion, long since history. The true believer in communism would suffer oppres- debunked and intellectually untenable, it seems all too prone sion by capitalist society, but he would be vindicated in the to cleave to another, more sophisticated and subtle, yet clothed end by the victory of his ideal; thus his reward lay in the with a religious mantle. That Marx has had to suffer the ex- future. Accordingly, a religious hunger rooted itself in the cesses of his misinterpreters is most unfortunate. On which weakest aspect of Marx, his philosophical-metaphysical dia- side of the barricades would he have been in a contest with lectic of history, and this was used not simply as an empirical Lenin, Stalin, or Mao? It is not difficult to say; surely, he tool of analysis — it could be useful as that — but as a dogma would be in opposition to the anti-humanism of many of his and creed. Although Marxism was predicated on atheism and devotees. science and rejected theistic nonsense, it nevertheless became I do not mean by these observations to minimize Marx's for man a fulfillment of functions similar to those that under- valuable perceptions of man and society, to deride his moral lay the discarded symbols of theism. This development in insights, or to deny the need for continuous social change in Marxism was especially pronounced in its Leninst-Stalinist the world. Indeed, Marx stands as one of the most important version. The ideals of socialism degenerated in the Soviet sys- ethical philosophers; he recognizes the imperative necessity tem and other communist dictatorships into a form of state for social reconstruction. Perhaps it is not Marx but the per- capitalism, which has led to a new kind of authoritarianism version of Marx that is the seedbed for a new religiosity. The even more terrible than the authoritarian church of theism. It sons of great men are usually lesser men than their fathers; has imposed a rigid orthodoxy on philosophy and science and the disciples of geniuses lesser men than their teachers: Christ the arts. It has increasingly raised the specter of repression. In should not be blamed for Christianity, nor Marx for Marx- the name of an earlier call for emancipation and liberation of ism. Most likely both would disclaim paternity. humanity there has emerged a clever new state religion more The appeal of Marx is based on his moral opposition to regimented than any of its predecessors. poverty and exploitation, oppression and ignorance, and his It is important to clarify the sense in which a movement vision of a more perfect community of men. As a critic of can be said to be religious. The term religious may be used to hypocrisy, he would no doubt be a foe of the crimes committed point to a belief in God as the "divine and hidden source of in his name; he expressed profound outrage at what he con- being." If we were to accept this definition in the strict sense, sidered to be the stupidities and inequities in civilization. it would apply only to theistic beliefs, excluding a whole series Mankind, he believed, had progressed far enough in wisdom of institutional beliefs, attitudes, and practices that are non- and power to correct these deficiencies. This was his essential theistic, yet have religious characteristics and functions. message. There are^, however, many religions that are nontheistic; But there have been other critics of social injustices, hence a definition should not be so narrow as to exclude others who have dreamed of ideal societies in which life was them: Buddhism, Confucianism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, for beneficent, peaceful, creative, and productive. History is full example; theism in any strict interpretation does not easily of moral indictments and utopian visions. Wherein did Marx apply to them. In short, in defining a belief, we should refer differ? Marxism offered no mere promise of immortal life on to its experiential or behavioral components. All religious sys- earth; it offered a concrete set of proposals in praxis to realize tems, in my view, are expressions of human behavior, and it is the goal. In answer to Fourier, Saint-Simon, Robert Owen, the kind of experience and the way of life they express that is and other early socialists, his was a "scientific" and "realistic" important. socialism, not merely visionary or utopian. A religious experience or way of life involves at least Yet, in saying this, Marxism disposed itself to a religious these components: (a) It offers a solution to the problem of transformation. Given the insecure and often tragic character the meaning of human life. (b) It requires commitment. This of human existence, Marxism offered a new ideal in which the means that there is some moral dedication or devotion, some limitations and failures of life, based on a corrupt social sys- binding character in a set of ideal beliefs that stimulate moti- tem, could be overcome; and it held the promise of a new, vation and action. (c) A religious commitment, as distinct transformed life in which justice could prevail. It became a from other kinds, is a basic or fundamental commitment to secular religion of hope, aimed at alleviating fear and focus- those ideals that function as first principles. (d) Moreover, it ing on a better tomorrow. differs from mere commitment to a philosophical outlook,

Spring 1983 37 which is rationally grounded, or from a commitment to basic bad, constructive and destructive religions. Some create a postulates or axioms that guide scientific inquiry, because it is more serious problem than do others in their excessive leap of at base infused or charged with emotion and passion. It ap- faith beyond the evidence. Some are based in fantasy and peals to the whole person, going beyond thought and involv- mythology to such a great degree that they distort most of the ing feeling and action. (e) To be religious also implies an ele- positive elements of life. ment of faith, an affirmation that results in one's staking his life on a certain style or course of action. Most religionists Was Marx a Humanist? and theologians recognize the role of faith in religious belief. To avoid confusion over this last element, we must make There is a great irony in the development of Marxism. Marx is an important distinction between at least two meanings of the one of history's great thinkers. Heir to the humanism of word faith. First, faith may be a belief that something is true Greece and Rome, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, he of the world, that is to say, "real," even though it has not been expresses the most eloquent values of the free mind. Indeed, tested or proved. Thus the belief in God as an ultimate reality his most lasting contribution may be not so much his theoret- is a belief in an alleged propositional truth: The believer has ical explanations of society and history — instructive as these faith that God, or X, or some other entity, really exists, may be — but his contributions to moral philosophy. though this cannot be fully demonstrated. Because of this Was Marx a humanist? If so, in what sense? leap beyond the evidence, this type of faith is only a reinforce- First, many consider Marx a humanist because he re- ment of a psychological belief-state. When someone asks a jected theistic religion and defended atheism. As a material- believer "Why do you believe in God, or in X?" he may reply, ist, Marx could not propose a spiritualized view of nature. "Because I have faith," that is, he believes because he believes. Mind or consciousness does not have any independent reality, There are several nontheistic religions, as well as theistic ones, but is only a reflection of matter or body. This view enabled that contain this kind of propositional assertion; for example, Marx to condemn religion for obstructing human develop- certain types of belief in the Dialectic or in evolutionary Prog- ment. "Religion," he maintained, "is the sign of the oppressed ress are of this sort, functioning similarly to the God-belief. creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of On the other hand, there is a second sense of faith that is soulless conditions"; or, in his famous phrase, it is "the opium not propositional, but prescriptive and directive. One may say of the people." The abolition of religion and its promise of an that he believes in some moral ideals that do not now fully illusory happiness is a necessary condition of the demand for exist in any perfect form. What one affirms by saying that he "real happiness."2 believes in them is that he hopes that they will come into being Marx shared with other humanist thinkers a distaste for or prevail. Here there is faith in an ideal rather than an idea. supernaturalism and defended a naturalistic world-view. But This kind of faith is normative. philosophical or abstract atheism is incomplete, he admonished in his early work Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts. Communism begins with atheism; but atheism itself is "Marxism became a secular religion of hope, abstract; "communism is at once real and directed on aimed at alleviating fear and focusing on a better action. "3 "Communism, as fully developed naturalism, equals tomorrow.... In the name of an earlier call for the humanism, and as fully developed humanism equals emancipation and liberation of humanity, there has naturalism." It is, says Marx, "the genuine resolution of the conflict between man and nature and between man and man." emerged a clever new state religion more regi- It is "the riddle of history solved."4 One cannot simply negate mented than any of its predecessors." God, as the atheist avers; one must then postulate the existence of man. Communism is the next step, "hence the actual phase necessary for the next stage of historical development Now, some forms of Marxism try to give focus to life, in the process of human emancipation and rehabilitation."5 and in doing so they fulfill all the criteria of religion. They Marx's view that merely rejecting God is hardly sufficient offer (a) meaning and purpose to human existence, and they is indisputable: One must take still other steps forward. involve (b) commitment to certain (c) basic principles and Although he thought the next step was his own theory of com- ideals that (d) go beyond reason, express passion, and (e) in- munism, we may question also whether this is adequate or volve a degree of faith, not simply in an idea but in an ideal. sufficient. Even to move in that direction leaves many prob- Marxism evokes commitment to a hope of a better tomorrow, lems of life unsettled. The core of his humanism can best be not through an immortal soul but through a utopian society. seen in his discussion of the relations between his proposed But more, much like some powerful, moving, even communism and humanistic values. It is clear that Marx was fanatic religion, Marxism in some of its manifestations has not interested in communism, that is, the abolition of private seized and captured the imagination and dedication of its devo- property and the destruction of capitalism, for its own sake, tees. This is the primary secret of its appeal: not doctrine, but a but rather for what it achieved. Communism as such is not passionate commitment to faith. I am not saying that religious the end of human development: Man is. Marx wanted man to faith is always bad; given the human condition, some religious be free, spontaneous, creative, to realize his potentialities. commitment — moral and affirmative in character — may be Instead, he found him repressed, thwarted, deflected from necessary for many people. There are, however, good and satisfying his real needs and capacities. This deadening of

38 human freedom, he thought, occurred because of the exis- Labor Theory or the Surplus Theory of Value under capital- tence of economic classes; destroy and transform them by ism. Jan Narveson does an admirable job in the preceding essay. means of communism and man might at last be emancipated. The question I wish to raise here is whether all human aliena- Freedom and autonomy are the ultimate ends, but they can- tion may be traced to estranged labor. Surely modern man is not be achieved within the structure of society as we know it. estranged and his labor is fragmented, depersonalized, often Marx insisted in the Communist Manifesto that "the freedom devoid of significance; he functions as part of the machine of the individual is the basis of the freedom of all"; and in Das factory and organization system. Moreover, income is dispro- Kapital that "the development of human power, which is its portionately and unjustly distributed in many societies in own end," is the genuine "realm of freedom."6 The Grundrisse which capitalist production prevails. (1857) also shows the underlying continuity of Marx's But even if we were to solve the problem of estranged thought.? Humanistic concepts thus may be found through- labor and redress unfair wage rates, other forms of alienation out his work and were not merely a phase of his idealistic might ensue. Alienation is pluralistic and cannot be given a youth. simplified explanation; there are various kinds of alienation, It is the division of labor, according to Marx, that based on ethnic, religious, and cultural differences; racism; fragments life and compels humans to focus their energies biological, psychological, and personality traits; the relation primarily on one form of activity. It is the existence of private of man to nature; and so on. Not all of these may be attri- property and the fact that their labor is appropriated by buted to the alienation of labor. someone else that deprives the workers of their humanity. Can communism alone solve even the problem of alien- The worker becomes a slave of the objects that he produces. ated labor? It has not been solved in communist economies; a But more, his labor, controlled by others for profit, itself new bureaucracy and new class have emerged and the worker becomes a commodity. "What then constitutes the alienation is again estranged from his work in large industrial organiza- of labor?" Marx asked.8 It is the fact that labor is made "ex- tions. The worker in present-day Poland eloquently ternal to the worker, that is, it does not belong to his essential demonstrates this fact. If Marxism is offered as a solution to being." In his labor, man the worker "does not affirm himself the problem of alienated labor and cannot solve it, then but denies himself," does not feel content, does not freely Marx's recommendations for social and economic reconstruc- develop his energy, but mortifies his body and mind. The tion may be thrown into question. worker thus "feels outside his work, and in his work feels out- Leaving these considerations aside for the moment, side himself." His labor is coerced, not voluntary. It does not however, we must look at Marx's general theory of human satisfy a basic need, but is merely a means to satisfy needs nature, including his observations on labor. According to external to it. The worker is thus estranged from both the Marx, man is first a producer, and it is the social conditions product of his labor and the act of production. Since he under which he labors and produces that define his being. depends upon nature for his life, he is also estranged from "For the socialist man, the entire so-called history of the nature and from his species' life; his nature as a human being world," says Marx, "is nothing but the creation of man through becomes alien to him. As a consequence he is estranged from human labor."9 Accordingly, if we can remedy that condi- others, who stand to him in a special kind of relationship. The tion, we can resolve the main problem of social existence. worker is under the yoke of another, who, because of the existence of private property, can control him and consider him as a commodity. The only thing a serf or proletarian has to sell is his labor power, and the lord or capitalist purchases it at a low price, debases human values, and forces the worker into a state of subsistence in which his deepest qualities cannot be fulfilled. Money and exchange value comprise the final debasement. Man must sell himself for minimal wage, barely enough to keep his family alive. The indictment continues: Because of profit, rent, and interest, the owner extracts the real source of value, the labor expended, from the worker and retains it for his own use, as in the case of capitalism, for capitalist accumulation. The Surplus Theory of Value on one hand is a description of capital formation in capitalist economies and on the other involves a moral indictment. "Real value" is created by labor, thought Marx, but under an unjust system of social relations it is never fully returned to those who have created it. Marx shows a deep sympathy for the plight of the workingman. Marxist humanism not only exalts freedom but equality and fraternity as ends to be achieved in a just society. Marxist humanists are impressed by the moving ethical character of Marx's analysis. This is no place to enter into a critical analysis of the

Spring 1983 39 Communism is the means by which alienation is to be solved society is often essential, that it is sufficient is questionable. and human nature fulfilled; the materialistic condition of a A new social system may bring in its wake even more terrible society determines its philosophical, ideological, scientific, forms of oppression. There are questions for which we today aesthetic, moral, and religious expressions—elements that have no easy solution, particularly in the light of the Marxists' reflect the underlying conditions governing the mode of pro- efforts to remake economic and social structures. That they duction. Expand the forces of production and reconstruct the have succeeded in ameliorating the life of the average working relationships of production and you can engender a creative man or improving his economic and cultural standard of burst of man's aesthetic, moral, and intellectual talents. It is living, in comparison with other economic systems in the precisely this materialistic interpretation of history—which world, is doubtful. Mere seizure of the instruments of pro- Engels thought was Marx's major contribution—that is in duction is no panacea. To transfer power without humanizing question. Are the forces and relationships of production, "in it makes little advance in the human condition. the last analysis," "ultimate" and "decisive" in determining An essential indication of Marx's ethical humanism is the human history, as Engels thought? Or can other elements in central role that he entrusts to reason. This faith in reason at the superstructure determine the mode of production? There least is continuous with the humanism of classical Greece. For is a direct relationship in history between the technological Marx, the history of mankind has heretofore been governed level of production and the way of life of a people. A slave by blind and uncontrolled forces, of which the participants society is based upon slave power; an agricultural society, have been unaware. Moral reconstruction can occur only with upon animal power and agricultural techniques; a fishing social reconstruction; and this can only be achieved by a community of course builds its life about the sea; the steam rational understanding of the causes of our alienation and a engine, fossil fuels, and atomic energy have led to dramatic reordering of society in terms of them. In short, Marx, in- leaps in technology and in the way communities live and work. sofar as he expresses a profound trust in reason and science, The great recent changes in society can be traced to as he understood them, is a direct heir of the Enlightenment. technological advances related to scientific discovery and He uses reason to attack illusion, not only the mythol- invention—intellectual and ideological elements that in- ogy of religious illusion, but the pomposity and narrowness tervene in the forces of production. "Consciousness" may of moral shibboleths. He shows that religions and moral have a more significant role than elements in the so-called ideals often mask underlying economic and class interests. material base. Consciousness is not merely a reflection of this Values are relative. To glorify them as abstract and eternal is base. The productive ability of a people does not depend to miss their historical role in a social system and their conse- simply upon the relationships of production and whether or quent limitations. As Marx wished to develop the social not they are fetters on the forces of production; rather it sciences, he relied heavily on scientific modes of explanation. depends upon a constellation of values, moral and philo- It is true that his science is limited by its Hegelian rationalistic sophical concepts. History cannot be understood as a product and metaphysical components. Nevertheless, it was "scientific of one factor, as Engels recognized, because other factors socialism" that Marx talked about, based, in principle at intervene and modify the social structure. Although the eco- least, upon the use of the scientific method. He envisioned the nomic interpretation of history may be, within limits, an use of applied reason, functioning as an "art" or as "practical analytic guide, it is not a total theory of society; nor does it wisdom" in classical terms or as a "policy science" in recent serve, by itself, as a sufficient ground for normative morality terms. The crucial point is that Marx thought the solution to or social policy. _ human estrangement could come about in part by a self- What is unique in Marx's theory is that, unlike previous conscious awareness of its existence and in part by a deter- theories, it does not hold that one can save man from aliena- mination to use intelligence in order to redirect social forces tion merely by reforming him or making him rational, or by into new and meaningful channels. He had confidence in espousing ideals of justice and virtue. Emancipation is a man's ability to order and plan his destiny and to rebuild it by socia! problem. It is only by a fundamental change in the use of the natural principles discovered by science. Although social system, not by a conversion of the individual, that the man is a laboring animal, he is also capable of reason; and human condition can be ameliorated. One cannot have a just reason becomes the instrument, once embodied in praxis, of man in an unjust society. It is every man, in social terms, not social transformation. Marx condemns the mere abstract con- each man, that must be the starting point. For Marx, man is a templative use of reason; he lauds its concrete applications. social animal; the essence of him is tied up with his social rela- Marxism, then, is an expression of ethical and humanistic tions. Given this conception, the problem of alienation can courage. Unlike theism, it does not have a low estimate of the only have a social solution; it is the structure that must be capacities of man. On the contrary, Marx had no illusion changed, and the relationships that men bear to one another; about reality. For man, life itself is the chief good, and it can the existing social classes must be destroyed if mankind is to be lived badly or well. All men seek a significant and enriched recover its humanity. existence. If they cannot achieve the good life, it is because In this basic Marxian premise there is both insight and they are dominated by irrational and unjust social forces. limitation. While one must agree that many human problems Release them from these forces and provide positive condi- have a social solution, one need not say that all do. There are tions for the satisfaction of their needs, and the opportunity individual biologically and psychologically based determin- for development and the good life in a just society can be ants of human behavior. Although a change in the structure of achieved. Marx had little doubt about the perfectibility of

40 man; he thought his imperfections could be remedied, his tribulations alleviated, his anxieties quieted; if only man would face his condition and turn his efforts toward justice. Thus Marx's philosophy is life-affirming and optimistic; it has confidence in positive human powers; and it believes that, given proper conditions, they will eventually prevail. This focus is humanistic.

The Religious Perversions of Marxism

The betrayal by latter-day Marxists of Marxism's essential morality and the undermining of its ameliorative view of man is perplexing to serious students of Marx. What we are con- fronted with is the existence of anti-humanistic elements side by side with humanism. These tendencies existed implicitly not only in Marx's theories but in his complex personality. Lewis Feuer in Marx and the Intellectuals draws a highly uncomplimentary portrait of Marx the man.'° According to Feuer, at the same time that Marx was willing to sacrifice himself for humanity, he had an utter contempt for human beings. "Moreover, he seemed to exalt struggle and conflict." Surely, we should not commit the genetic fallacy and condemn a theory because of the personality of its formulator. In Marx's writings we do find a strange mixture of humanism and anti-humanism. Did Marx fully appreciate the subtleties of the human person, and does Marxism as a theory give sufficient weight to these components? Or was Marx so committed to his brilliant insight into the nature of man — the economic determinants overlooked by others — that he ex- On the contrary, one may argue, without adhering to a cluded other aspects of life? In particular, a central conflict doctrine of an absolute moral law, that there should be an emerges in his writings: an intolerance of intolerance, a independent role for an ethical humanism of principles; and hatred of injustice, an impatience with the errors and foibles certain principles can transcend the material base of a society. of ordinary human beings. Thus Marx himself in one sense is Truth, honesty, sympathy, beneficence, and kindness are responsible for the perversions that his theories generated. humanistic virtues that are not time-bound even though they The strange relationship between means and ends is the must be given a contextual interpretation. In any social fundamental paradox that besets Marx and the Marxists. In system, if men are to live and work together in some sort of Marx's view utopian socialists failed to create a just society cooperative endeavor, then certain ethical principles ought to because they did not attend to the practical kinds of action. be respected. But can we use any means to achieve humanistic ends? What Underlying the Marxist approach, however, is a basic, about the tendency to hatred and intolerance? What of the violent intolerance of alternative ideals and points of view use of violence and revolution? If Marx was a humanist in concerning what is "progressive" and what is "reactionary" in ideal ends, he was not a humanist in his moral principles. social movements. One might ask: How can a new world of Engels made clear his belief in the extreme relativism of all cooperative relationships be built on the dead corpses of moral considerations when he said: hatred? Tolerance should be a cardinal principle of any moral idealism that claims to be progressive. This does not mean that we should tolerate unjust conditions, nor that we should We ... reject every attempt to impose on us any moral dogma not seek, when necessary, to radically change attitudes and whatsoever as an eternal, ultimate, and forever immutable behavior. Yet the kind of self-righteous moralism that pervades moral law on the pretext that the moral world too has its Marxist literature is much like the impatient severity that permanent principles which transcend history and the dif- classical theism — especially during the Inquisition — directed ferences between nations. We maintain on the contrary that all against opposing points of view. One cannot help feeling former moral theories are the product, in the last analysis, of Marx's overpowering sneer at those with whom he disagrees; the economic stage which society has reached at that particular epoch. And as society has hitherto moved in class antagon- rather than maintaining indulgence toward contrary opin- isms, morality was always a class morality ... A really human ions, Marx is angry with the hypocrisies and stupidities of his morality which transcends class antagonisms and their legacies opponents. Much of his attitude is predicated upon the notion in thought becomes possible only at a stage of society which that the major division in society is the conflict of classes; has not only overcome class contradictions but has even hence, hatred and struggle against the rulers is inevitable. But forgotten them in practical life ... 1 1 can a new world be built on bitterness? Marx did not blame

Spring 1983 41 the individual member of the bourgeoisie, only the system means is the unresolved dilemma of Marxism. that made him what he was. But intolerance of a system in- The retort usually made to these doubts is that unless evitably spills over to those who occupy its seats of power, there is an uncompromising struggle against capitalism, and also to those who compromise with it. socialism will not come into being. To which the democrat Marx's theory of class only exacerbates existing antago- retorts: But at what price? Is the struggle worthwhile if in the nisms and engenders new ones. Democratic anarchism is process of achieving one's ends one betrays and brutalizes naive; neither a socialist nor a capitalist society can function them by terrible means? To answer affirmatively is to invoke without elites. The need is to make certain that membership in anti-humanism, defended as revolutionary in the name of an elite is based upon ability. Membership should be open to humanism: an anti-humanistic humanism. all, with equality of opportunity and education for people to One of the sources of this intolerance may be traced to a rise to the levels of their capability. An elite should not be first metaphysical principle of Marxism, and the degree of dominated by self-interest, nor selected by considerations of conviction with which it is held. I am referring here to the power or wealth. It must be innovative if it is to contribute to dialectical materialism to which both Marx and Engels were the common good. There is an elite under capitalism, increas- committed. If one is convinced that there are laws in history ingly the corporate managers rather than owners; and there is and that one has discovered them, then those in opposition to an elite under state socialism, the bureaucrats who are the thrust of history are seen as morally wrong; one's cause is members of the Party. Marx's hatred for the elite, which he morally right and just. defends under the guise of class warfare, may do more to But what can be said of this dialectic, which is perhaps limit progress thin to enhance it. The problem for workers in the most important yet the weakest axiom of the Marxist all societies is to get elites to be receptive to criticism, to hold Weltanschauung? Positivists and empiricists have attacked it them to account, to make them more responsive, to humanize on at least two grounds: first, because it is an unverified their use of power. thesis, and second and more devastatingly, because it is non- The overriding problem that has split the world socialist falsifiable. The highly general assumption that history moves movement concerns the means of bringing socialism about. by dialectical laws — thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, and the This problem split the social democrats from the Leninist- contradiction between opposing forces — has not been con- Stalinists, the socialist parties from the communist parties, firmed by the social sciences or historical inquiry. The dialec- and was at the center of debate within the New Left. Marx tical laws of Hegel may be questioned on epistemological recognized that to espouse a moral idealism or utopian vision grounds, as too formal and abstract to allow for concrete is not enough, that preachments are no substitute for action. interpretation; and the more specific economic or sociological He thought we needed an appraisal of the locus of power and interpretation of history, that is, Marx's special application of the ways to destroy or reorder it. No class, he said, ever will- the dialectic to human affairs, though immensely creative, is ingly gives up its power. If mankind is to achieve communism, also so general that it has not been adequately tested; more- it can only be by means of battle. The Marxist must be a over there appear to be many exceptions to the operation of the revolutionary. He must be willing to smash the old social "laws." The dialectic lacks sufficient empirical meaning; yet it system, wrest control from the hands of the masters, and seize is offered to explain facts of social and historical existence. the means of production. Violence may be the only means According to Engels: available to force the issue. According to Lewis Feuer, Marx's socialist program is built upon a strategy of aggression and The materialist conception of history starts from the proposi- hatred, not love or compromise. "To reject violence," accord- tion that the production of the means to support life—and, ing to Engels, was the "parson's mode of thought—lifeless, next to production, the exchange of things produced — is the insipid, and impotent.""2 In defending the use of hatred in basis of all social structure; that in every society that has ap- Germany, Engels said: "In our country it is hatred rather than peared in history, the manner in which wealth is distributed and society divided into classes or orders is dependent upon love that is needed—at least in the immediate future—and what is produced, how it is produced, and how the products more than anything else a shedding of the last remnants of are exchanged. From this point of view the final causes of all German idealism."" 3 social changes and political revolutions are to be sought not in It is true that there are portions of Marx and Engels that men's brains, not in man's better insight into eternal truth and admit the use of peaceful democratic means to achieve justice, but in changes in the modes of production and ex- socialism. Yet this is only one aspect of a revolutionary change." [Italics added.] ideology that extolled the use of violence, emphasized struggle, and ruled out limitation by ethical principles as a kind of The theory promises too much; it is all-encompassing in "modern mythology." All of this has been the seedbed for its effort to reduce the diversity of social phenomena to a Leninist-Stalinist perversions of Marxism, which continues to basic set of final and ultimate causes that are supposed to apply be weighed with an ambivalent and contradictory moral posi- to every society, however important the economic factors tion: It rejects modern society because of the hatred and may be in social systems undergoing change. Marx's theory in injustice, cruelty and oppression in it; it focuses on an ideal the last analysis is a quasi-philosophical-poetic theory more state of moral perfection; nevertheless, it is itself ready to use than a scientific hypothesis. It resists confirmation and is hatred and violence to achieve the good as it conceives it. accordingly, as Karl Popper pointed out, not only uncon- How ideal ends can be reconciled with a morality of evil firmed but nonfalsifiable. How would we go about testing its

42 iror assertions? Perhaps by reference to specific cases, by example In retort, many Marxist scholars talk about capitalism's and illustration of the theory. There are some striking impending collapse in a gigantic economic crash, or of the examples, but these surely cannot confirm a total theory. endemic permanent lowering of the standard of living of the Perhaps what is meant is that theory is tested by verstehen, by workers, or of the future growth of proletarian consciousness. an intuitive method of apprehension. This is appealed to by Some of this may eventuate—history is more often contingent some; but not everyone has the same verstehen or intuition. than determinate or fixed—indeed, the Marxist may help to Some say that Marx's theory can be tested by experience and bring it about by a self-fulfilling prophecy. But verification is by its concrete predictions, but there are serious difficulties always in the future; hence the theory is nonfalsifiable and is here. There is an intimate connection in human affairs be- modified ad hoc so as to account for discrepancies by ration- tween ideas and the events they are supposed to explain; often alization. The test for a Marxist, more often than not, is a the ideas are self-creative, mobilizing the very forces needed coherence test; all parts of his system of concepts and explan- to confirm them. The truth of the sociological interpretation ations must fit together. But under what conditions, if any, of history in part is created by espousal of the theory. The will it ever be said that the theory is false? Apparently none, ideas, rather than explaining human action, create and mold for the true believer. His theory cannot be verified, even in it. Thus Marxism in part is true because many of those who principle. study Marxism believe in it, and behave accordingly! In the last analysis the theory functions, like the God idea, as a Weltanschauung, giving coherence and unity to a "Can communism solve the problem of alienated point of view and moral guidance and direction to a way of labor? A new bureaucracy and a new class have life. While scientific humanism involves commitment to a emerged and the worker is estranged from his critical rational mode of inquiry as tested by experience, work. The worker in present-day Poland eloquent- Marxism in its first principle — the dialectic—abandons ly demonstrates this fact." critical, experimental, and practical reasons and substitutes a vision of moral poetry and mythology for the real world. The Marxist theory, then, like many others in history, is originative of the very factors that it claims operate in history. The Individual This is especially the case when a theory offered as an explanation is actually a prescription. The sociological theory of Another crucial question that may be asked of any theory that history and the language in which it is stated is first and fore- claims to be concerned with man is what happens to the indi- most normative, directive, expressive. A religious component vidual. Marx claims to speak for the individual, to rescue him intervenes in a theory when men no longer consider it dispas- from a repressive social system so that he may lead a free and sionately — to be weighed and tested like all other critical scien- creative existence. But the focus of Marx, as of Hegel, is not tific hypotheses — but emotively, requiring above all allegiance. the individual but the social structure and historical process. If this is the case, then the theory is nonfalsifiable as a descrip- Are there not some problems of life that have only an indi- tive scientific explanation, since it functions primarily im- vidual solution, not a larger social or historical one? Do not my peratively and persuasively. Marxism is, if it is anything, a cares, my values, my tastes and talents have some primacy? moral and religious declaration of intent and promise. What guarantee do we have that the individual will not be But there are a great number of predicted events that did smothered by the social relations that, according to Marx, not occur as expected in the century after Marx's death. define him? I am posing here a primarily moral question, Socialism did not occur by a revolution of the proletariat in concerning the ends of Marxism, not simply its means. It in- advanced industrial societies, but rather in backward, semi- volves a somewhat different conception of human nature feudal, and underdeveloped societies, such as Russia, China, than Marx's. We must ask whether Marx fully appreciates the and Cuba. The proletariat in the advanced industrial coun- uniqueness of individuality, as John Stuart Mill does, for tries did not develop full class consciousness, as expected, but example, in On Liberty. Does he really believe in the free were often the most "reactionary" elements of the society. In creative personality who pursues his own life-style, who the affluent capitalist societies, the worker was not reduced to satisfies his own needs and desires as he wishes, who realizes a subsistence level; instead his condition improved im- his destiny on his own terms? It must be granted that no man measurably. Capitalist countries did not limit production by is an island unto himself, that the problems of the individual monopoly restrictions, but expanded markets by increasing often have social solutions, that individuality is fully realized wages and reducing prices; they did not bog down in only in social contexts. Yet should there not be reserved to economic collapse, but were often restored by compensatory individual personalities some measure of privacy? Marx talks fiscal policies adopted by governments accepting Keynesian about the freedom to fulfill one's nature, but does he appre- recommendations. Socialization of the means of production ciate the liberty to be left alone? May I not make my own mis- did not lead to a reduction of alienation or a marked improve- takes and suffer for them, or discover my own truths and live ment in the standard of living or freedom for the workers for them? Why should others decide what is good for me? beyond what was accomplished in capitalist countries, nor did Why can't I decide for myself, even if I am in error? it destroy the class system, but only replaced an old bureau- Here liberalism and Marxism diverge. For the humanism cratic class with a new one. These are only some of the empir- of the liberal or libertarian humanist, unlike that of the ical factors that confront Marxist theorists. Marxist-humanist, focuses on the individual rather than on

Spring 1983 43

the social good. This emphasis on the dignity and value of the under the dogmas of millennial religion and ideology. Our individual cannot be dismissed as a mere reflection of first commitment should be to the use of intelligence, without bourgeois free enterprise. It transcends each and every social illusion, rancor, or hatred. We need to accept the fact that we system; indeed, a social system can be evaluated by whether are responsible for our destiny. We should seek creative solu- or not it preserves or enhances the rights of free agents. tions to our problems, without escaping to supernaturalism or This difference of ideal ends and values between Marxist- utopian visions. Neither theism nor Marxism provides a humanism and liberal humanism must not be underesti- reliable guide in facing the great challenges ahead. mated; it has immense practical significance. Liberal humanism cherishes civil liberties, intellectual, aesthetic, moral, and Notes political liberties, dissent and heresy. Marxism at times dismisses them or is willing to compromise them in the revolu- 1. Friedrich Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, English transla- tionary struggle. The virtues of the commune are overvalued tion by Edward Aveling, 1892. and the virtues of individuality undervalued. The tragedy of 2. Raya Dunaskaya, "Marxism and Humanism" in The Humanist Alter- modern communist societies is that they have abandoned native, ed. by Paul Kurtz (London: Pemberton, 1973). 3. Ed. by Dirk J. Struik (New York: International Publishers, 1964), these fundamental human rights — as the Soviet Union, p. 136. Poland, Hungary, China, and Cuba illustrate. Moreover, 4. Ibid., p. 135. we may ask whether these rights were ever central in com- 5. Ibid., p. 146. munist theory. Marx said he believed in them and defended 6. Das Kapital, Kerr edition, vol. 3, pp. 944-54. the extension of democracy as a progressive program. Within 7. Karl Marx, The Grundrisse, ed. and trans. by David McLellan (New York: Harper & Row, 1971). Marxist literature, however, there are priorities, and the lib- 8. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, op. cit., p. 110. erty of individualism is not as high on the scale as are social 9. Ibid., p. 145. justice, equality, and fraternity. But can there ever be a just 10. New York: Doubleday, 1969. or humane society in which individual freedom is not 11. Engels in Anti-Dühring (1878, pp. 103-07) quoted in Howard Selsam respected as a first principle? Is not socialism without and Harry Martel, Reader in Marxist Philosophy (New York: International Publishers, 1963) p. 252. democracy as a necessary and uncompromisable principle a 12. Friedrich Engels, Herr Eugen Dühring's Revolution in Science, trans. contradiction? Can the individual be sacrificed to "progress," Emil Burns (New York: International Publishers), pp. 209-10. the revolution, the party, or mankind? Do these not exist for 13. From Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Selected Correspondence, the individual? Moscow ed., 1953, pp. 367-68. On balance, we may say that humanist ideas and values 14. Friedrich Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, op. cit. • are present in Marx. Perhaps it is the fate of all moral vision- This article was adapted from Chapter 2 of The Fullness of Life, by Paul aries to be betrayed by their disciples. Marx's ideas have Kurtz (New York: Horizon Press, 1973; Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1981). become official doctrine, sanctified by the Party-Church, proclaimed and enforced by a priesthood, taken as gospel orthodoxy. The cruel hoax of history is that the great heretic has been invoked to suppress heresy, the dissenter to crush dissenters, the deviationist to crush revisionism. Marxism has become for many an anti-humanistic religion. F' O Neither Jesus nor Marx

The chief lesson to be drawn, I would suggest, is that, although we can learn from Marx, we must go far beyond him. The society that Marx knew in the nineteenth century no longer Coming in Future Issues exists. Capitalist societies have many difficult problems to solve, particularly unemployment and inflation, but the rhetoric of class warfare or the use of totalitarian methods of Senator Lowell Weicker, Sam Ervin, state control hardly leads to adequate solutions. As we move Henry Steele Commager, Richard Morris, and others into a post-technological age, new problems demand new from the symposium "Religion in American Politics" answers. We must be prepared to regulate the free market of capitalism without irretrievably weakening it. We must be Two other views on Karl Marx willing to control and expand technology and science for the social good. But we need to be committed to the free, open, Michael Harrington and Mihailo Markovic and democratic society, and we should resist any compromise of basic moral principles or fundamental freedoms. Barbara Wootton and Brand Blanshard There are no simplified formulas or nostrums — from on "Why I am a Humanist" either Jesus or Marx—that can save humankind. Yet the future, as always, offers exciting possibilities. We should attempt to solve human problems in new ways, without falling

44 D'Eca Inv Viewpoint lives of a number of religious leaders—from Teresa of Avila to Felix Adler—convinced me that religion is not really religious unless it includes a lively sensitivity to the cosmic— My Humanism the cosmic felt as at-homeness and belonging or, oppositely, as alienation. Felix Adler, after earlier years of alienation, and at the end of a long life of devoted service, wrote that he blessed the universe. In doing so he was no less religious than converted Meth- odist Wesley finding God. The one is no Lester Mondale more and no less "saved" than the other. The universe Adler blessed is to us no mere agglomeration of inert matter set in As a student, a rebelling product of a plants, and human beings is comprehensible motion by an activating and designer spirit. Methodist college, I found haven for heart only as the creative action of a contrasting Why it should exist in the first place—that and mind in John Dietrich's humanist spiritual energy—that of a dryad evolved there should be something rather than Unitarian Church of Minneapolis, Minne- and become omnipotent. More of this anon. nothing—leaves one finger-on-lip overawed sota. There my most vivid and reassuring Even more distasteful is the marked by mystery before which the contrived impression was the number of white-haired resemblance of the Supreme Dryad to this or mysteries of Trinity, transubstantiation, and elderly people in Dietrich's substantial that one of His more vociferous advocates. revelation are only so much superficial Sunday-morning congregation. Without the Held up before us as Lord and Law, hocus-pocus. fears and assurances of conventional reli- demanding unquestioning faith and obedi- Considering the stuff of that some- gion, they faced approaching dissolution ence, He is the projected ego of the television thing—tapering off, in one dimension, into with impunity and evident composure. evangelist multiplied by two, possibly by as worlds beyond worlds of the infinitely small, Now, more than eight years beyond the much as three. That ego, multiplied, reflects and off, in another dimension, expanding biblical three score and ten, and after fifty- a threefold megalomaniac compulsion: to into the galaxies of the infinitely large— eight years of what I would call my humanist domineer politically as well as religiously, to every particle of which is a concentration of quest, each day that is mine to work and play equate intellectual dissent with sin, and to energy, potential with life and mind—how and audit is very much a bonus. What awaits impose a most limited holiness on all and crudely simplistic to look beyond and inevitably in the nearing offing I accept sundry by giving it the authority of the law of behind for a creator when creativity is of the without misgiving or fear—occasionally, the land. Mirroring the ego of His devotees, very essence of the ongoing process. after exposure to medically superannuated deity ranges all the way from the morally I never cease to wonder at the spectacle zombies, with blessing. contemptible, the savage, and the regressive of a middle-aged star pouring its radiance on My humanism is humanism as the word to the goodness of a St. Francis or an Albert the water and soil and air of one of its family was used back in 1912 by the British scholar, Schweitzer. In any case, lamentable or of planets and coming up in a few billion R. W. Livingstone. In "The Note of Human- commendable, He is less suprahuman entity years with a creature at a typewriter ism" chapter in his The Greek Genius and Its than combination of the lows and highs of pounding out an article for FREE INQUIRY! Meaning to Us, he wrote: "Hellenism the things human. Popularly, He is the Presented with the spectacle of that unbe- dispenses with the need for a deity, a future satellite projected into orbit, whose com- lievable stuff, and its equally unbelievable life, and a purely spiritual world. It is not munications originate from well down processing, producing human beings with essentially inconsistent with it; but it can do below, and not from On High. the capacity to cope with adverse natural without them. Abolish them for the Greek, My humanism—mine, as each person's phenomena as well as with biological and he would still live the same life as if they must be essentially and eventually his or competition, what need have I—spiritual were there." hers—dispenses, admittedly, "with the need need, if you please?—for a deity that is a Far from needing deity, as deity is for deity." But in the very process of more effective quickener of spirit? What ordinarily presented by His self-proclaimed dispensing, it becomes what is, for want of need have 1 either for a more sure guarantor representatives, my feelings, when not of any more precise and meaningful term, of orderliness of sky and earth for uncount- indifference, are likely to be those of religious humanism. able millennia beyond any Second Coming? distaste. Markedly distasteful is the linger- It is not religious, 1 hasten to add, in the The world of stars, atoms, hills, trees, ing materialism of the theism that sees in sense that secular humanism has been legally the source and final repository of my being, earth and air and water little more than defined as religious. Neither is it religious in has become increasingly my beloved home inertly mindless physical matter—matter the sense of the word stretched to make it —worthy of the ultimate in environmental whose organization into suns, galaxies, synonymous with the attitudes and practices devotion. Keenly alive here to whatever that make for family fellow feeling, group makes for feelings of at-homeness and A longtime humanist and a Unitarian cooperativeness, national allegiance, and belonging, 1 need no reinforcing and guiding minister for almost .forty rears, Lester ethnic identification. Such, however ritual- revelation of divine command. In that Mondale is a member of the hoard of the ized and energized by patriotic and familial relationship love is as much God as anything International Humanist and Ethical Union feelings, are essentially a sacerdotal totem- I can conceive of: a love that commands and, and the author o/The New Man of Religious ism—religious insofar as they substitute in doing so, gives a perpetual newness to all Humanism and many other hooks. He is a organizationally for what is commonly things 1 see, to all the work I feel called on to half-brother ut the,/ormer rice-president. practiced as religion. do, and to all whom it is my privilege to Long years ago, studies in depth of the embrace as family and neighbor. •

Spring 1983 45 to say, in the untechnical vocabulary of Books Damon Runyon's Broadway, inclined to do the best they can for themselves and their families. Unfortunately, "the system of Capitalism Defended punishments and rewards constraining the individual actions of officials gives them greater freedom to maximize their own personal objectives than private-sector managers ... That is, the absence of competition eliminates the pressure on officials to minimize production costs" (p. 99). Of course there usually is at least some attempt Antony Flew at monitoring the efficiency of such public provision. Nevertheless, almost always, Tomorrow, Capitalism, by Henri Lepage history, law and economics, the theory of "the monitored are able, because of their (La Salle, Ill.: Open Court, 1982), xiv + public choice, anarcho-capitalist libertarian- control of information, to impose the pol- 254 pp. $14.95. ism, and Friedman monetarism" (p. vii). icy that suits them best ... A majority of The whole book, therefore, could serve as empirical studies in fact confirms this, Most American humanists are, in the ac- an invaluable compendium for Left-leaning showing that the attitudes held by elected cepted contemporary misusage of that term, American `liberals', a one-volume guide to representatives generally coincide more liberals, just as most British humanists are intellectual developments in the enemy closely with the interests of the monitored supporters of the socialist Labour Party. So camp. service than with a genuine defence of col- they are going to take some persuading Yet for those who do sincerely want to lective interests" (p. 100; italics in original). before they attend seriously to a book with achieve certain manifestly worthwhile and Tomorrow, Capitalism offers case the aggressively unfashionable title Tomor- public-spirited objectives, as opposed to after case in confirmation of the Center's row, Capitalism and written by a European. merely maintaining their own images as fundamental contention. Let me add But the first big brick may be knocked from properly compassionate persons in good another, albeit still from the United States, the wall of prejudice by the publisher's standing with the professedly progressive in my own field—education. In California reminder: "From Alexis de Tocqueville to establishment, it offers much more than annual per capita costs in the state (public) Assar Lindbeck, it has been European ob- that. For it deploys good reasons for saying schools are over $3,000, compared with less servers who have most perceptively described that various policies that never fail to win than $1,500 in the private schools; while in new developments in America." knee-jerk support in such well-seen circles those cheaper independent schools the other- Henri Lepage, like de Tocqueville, has do not in fact produce the goods that these wise most disadvantaged children achieve written a report based on an American tour. do-gooders claim they do. For instance, markedly better results than their opposite But Lepage's was a tour only of those insti- what minimum-wage laws actually produce numbers in California's state-maintained tutions that have been and are the growing is not jobs for all, or even for more, at the schools. It is therefore with good reason points of what he calls "the new economics." legally raised rates of pay but, instead, that CORE, the Congress of Racial Equal- His report, again like de Tocqueville's, was appallingly high rates of unemployment ity, has adopted education vouchers as a published first in France. Translations into among unskilled juveniles, especially main plank in its platform. For education German, Swedish, Italian, and Portuguese among unskilled black juveniles. vouchers for all would mean competition followed before this first English publica- Lepage compares the track record of and a choice of schools for those currently tion. It is certainly not the sort of book we the U.S. Post Office—in the public service trapped by poverty in often terrible state should have expected to be written by a and hence virginally untainted by sordid schools. French intellectual, or to reach the best- commercialism—with that of the private Tomorrow, Capitalism provides, I seller lists in Sweden. For prominent among United Parcel Service, a big business vul- think, the best available account of the Lepage's "new economists" are stars of the garly seeking profits for its shareholders. most intellectually formidable element in Chicago School, such as Milton Friedman, Between 1962 and 1972 the number of small the American New Right. So it may or may and the leading lights of the Center for the packages carried by the former fell from not be some consolation to humanists in the Study of Public Choice. A Foreword by the 700 to 500 million, while the competition opposite political camp to learn that from director of that center joins the author in quadrupled its volume from 150 to 600 mil- beginning to end Lepage makes not so much seeing all the developments surveyed as lion. Which is not surprising; not, that is, as one single mention of religion, or of the "related to one another" and, "more signifi- once you learn that the average rate per self-styled Moral Majority, or even of any cantly," as providing "intellectual support pound was for the Post Office 9 cents and miscalled "creation science." So humanist for the free market economy." These devel- for UPS between 7 and 7.5 cents (p. 117). liberals can safely expose themselves to opments include "the theory of human capi- For the absolute beginner, the most what to them may seem the frighteningly tal and household production, the economic interesting and most salutary parts of radical ideas of his "new economists" with- theory of property rights, the new economic Lepage's survey concern the work done or out risk of that sort of contamination! inspired by the Center for the Study of Public Choice. The fundamental contention Note Antony Flew is professor of philosophy at the here is that those employed in and for the University of Reading in England. His most public service are, no less than other suppos- recent book is The Politics of Procrustes. 1. See E. G. West, The Economics of Edu- edly less worthy persons, inclined to try to cation Tax Credits (Washington, D.C.: Heritage maximize their own utilities. They are, that is Foundation, 1981), Chapter 3. •

46 Et ee Intviri ' Gerald Winrob, Gerald L. K. Smith, and Conde McGinley, who were the subjects of Roy's book, have since disappeared and The New Fright-Peddlers are mainly forgotten; Fred Schwartz, Carl McIntire, and Billy James Hargis—those viewed with alarm by Walker—have also passed their peak or been accepted into the establishment. Only McIntire is mentioned in the Holy Terror. By ignoring these earlier leaders, the authors have left the impression Vern Bullough that this is a new phenomenon. It is not. However, the issues are new, and this is Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on sections on Falwell, Tim LaHaye, Robert perhaps the one cause for optimism. The America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics Billings, Bill Bright, Jesse Helms, Nelson anti-Semitism of Gerald L. K. Smith has and Our Private Lives, by Flo Conway and Bunker Hunt, Pat Robertson, James Robi- disappeared; in fact, for biblical reasons, the Jim Siegelman (Garden City: Doubleday, son, Richard Viguerie, Paul Weyrich, and a Fundamentalist Right is pro-Israel. Falwell 1982), 402 pp., cloth, $17.95. number of lesser lights. The authors discuss even received an award from a national the "700 Club," Jews for Jesus, the strange Jewish organization. Integration is no Speak Out Against the New Right, ed. by letter-writing campaign against a misunder- longer an issue and, though Jesse Helms Herbert F. Vetter (Boston: Beacon Press, stood FCC regulation—RM 2493—the might well be a racist, he is a much more 1982), 188 pp., paper, $7.95. fundamentalist attack on secular humanism, cautious one than his immediate predeces- the Campus Crusade for Christ, and a sors. Neither is the United Nations still a Religious fundamentalists and ultracon- number of other issues. From the title of the villain. The fight against Communism is still servative politicians have joined forces book, it is obvious that Conway and important (as is Fred Schwartz and his during the past few years to denounce Siegelman are neither dispassionate observ- Christian anti-Communism) but it is played "secular humanism" and enact their version ers nor sympathizers with the Fundamental- down. Nor are the fundamentalists any of Scripture into law. Utilizing sophisticated ist Right. They regard the movement as part longer anti-Catholic. The evil now, of communication strategies and technologies, of a systematic assault on the "soul of course, is secular humanism. Though this they have attempted to (I) establish crea- America," one that must be repulsed. Their makes me and my fellow humanists the tionism as a science, (2) put "voluntary" prejudices are liberal and secular. In spite of enemy, it does represent a change in focus. prayer back into the public schools, (3) this they give an excellent picture of the Creationism is essentially a new issue, eliminate abortion, pornography, and sex movement and the reader comes away with a and interestingly the creationists have tried education (all of which they lump together), real understanding of who and what the to talk in scientific terms, perhaps admitting (4) repress homosexuality, (5) defeat ERA, Fundamentalist Right is. defeat in their past efforts to fight modern (6) support Taiwan, Rhodesia, and Israel, Their failure, however, is in not ex- science. Essentially, the right-wing funda- (7) maintain American control of the plaining the success of these movements or mentalists are now fighting the changes that Panama Canal, (8) crusade against com- the motivations of the leaders whose views have taken place in the past twenty years. munism; and they have promoted a number they summarize. In a sense, Conway and This explains why these fright peddlers, to of other causes, most of which religious Siegelman are ahistorical, and they appear use Walker's term, have temporary success. liberals oppose. to be naive. They believe that only "in recent There have indeed been radical social Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman visited times has there been a movement whose changes over the past twenty years: abortion the centers of the Religious Right and theological platform has elevated the has been legalized, prescribed prayer has interviewed those leaders who would talk Scriptures to a position of supernatural been eliminated in the public schools, the with them. They have given us a valuable in- authority over matters of faith, knowledge, Supreme Court has regarded pornography depth portrait of these leaders and their and everyday life." In the process of stating as protected by the Bill of Rights, homosex- movement. They define fundamentalism as this, they manage to ignore much of uality has come out of the closet, and the Jerry Falwell, one of the subjects of their American history as well as the history of feminist movement has altered the defini- study, uses the term: "militant opposition to religion. Protestantism started out with this tions of sex roles. These are threatening liberalism" and its "accommodation to same emphasis on Scriptures, and one need changes, and one response is to revert to the cultural change." For Falwell, and for the only look to the Concordia Seminary security of the past. This is the appeal of the authors of Holy Terror, fundamentalism is struggle in St. Louis to find that even in Fundamentalist Right. If such an analysis is "reactionary evangelism," a "revolt" against mainline denominations like Lutheranism accepted, it would indicate that we human- the spread of "rationalism" and "secularism" there is still such an emphasis. ists must broadcast the message that, though in modern society. Jesus is viewed by The authors also ignore past critics of we have worked for most of these changes, fundamentalists as the ruling figure of the ultra-right religionists and books about we did so because we value the individual, universe and the source of their perceived them that have appeared in almost every we support the family, and the changes in the feelings of righteousness and omnipotence. decade. Brooks Walker wrote The Christian long run will make ours a better rather than Included in the book are chapters or Fright-Peddlers in the sixties, which was a worse society. We have to emphasize that it also published by Doubleday. Ralph Lord is possible to have moral responsibility in a Vern Bullough is the dean of natural and Roy's Apostles of Discord appeared in the world of situational ethics. Conway and social sciences at the State University of New fifties, and the list could continue back Siegelman's failure then, in my mind, is that York College at Buffalo. through John Roy Carlson in the forties and they haven't put things into perspective. to the beginning of this century. They look with alarm at what is going on,

Spring 1983 47 but they do not respond effectively. Vetter's book is a collection of media presentations critical of the Fundamentalist The Ethical Culture Movement Right. Some pieces are taken from the Cambridge Forum, others from the General Assembly of the Unitarian-Universalist Association of 1981. Included are talks by Harold Beryl Levy distinguished Americans from various fields: Norman Lear, John Kenneth Gal- Felix Adler and Ethical Culture: Memories excised all references to Zion, dropped bur- braith, Seymour Martin Lipset, Leo Pfeffer, and Studies, by Horace L. Friess, ed. by densome ceremonies and rituals, and dis- Helen Caldicott, George F. Kennan, Gloria Fannia Weingartner (New York: Columbia carded Talmudic legalisms. Deceptively Steinem, Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, and University Press, 1981), 271 pp., $22.50. secure (as it tragically transpired), these en- others. Some are clarion calls to action, lightened German Jews put the ghetto some are more information-giving, and Up to the time of his death in 1933, Felix behind them and reduced the entire Jewish some are portraits of individual leaders of Adler met once a month with the other Lead- tradition to a Protestant-type religion, con- the New Right, such as Richard Scaife, who ers of the Ethical Culture Society in New sidering themselves to be, as one of them is overlooked by Conway and Siegelman. York to share his vintage thoughts. Adler put it, "Germans of the Mosaic persuasion." If the reader finds himself or herself had been professor of social and political The religion in turn was reduced to a feeling isolated in the struggle against the ethics at Columbia University. Three of his concentration on "ethical monotheism." Fundamentalist Right, this collection former students who have in turn joined the ("What does the Lord require of thee? To should serve as a tonic. There are a lot of Philosophy Department at Columbia — do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy people out there who are opposed to what it James Gutmann, John Randall, and Horace God.") The mission of the "chosen people" is attempting to do. The message of Speak Friess—and I were invited to these meet- was held to be the religious mission of per- Out Against the New Right is that we are the ings. I was at that time a graduate student. petuating such ethical teaching in the name majority; we need to reassert our values and Gutmann, a lifelong friend and col- of the one true God, Yahweh. As Felix Adler to point out the simple-mindedness of the league of ,Friess, wrote the Foreword to later remarked, they saw themselves as con- Fundamentalist Right's assumptions. We Felix Adler and Ethical Culture. stituting "the Swiss guard of monotheism." also need to understand what drives the Randall wrote his book Our Changing Felix Adler's father, one of these Reform fundamentalists and how to deal with the Civilization in order to combine "Felix rabbis, had come to New York to head issues. Though both of these books give us Adler's moral insight and sensitivity" with Temple Emanu-El, where assimilated Ger- some of this, there is a lot of work to John Dewey's critical and experimental man Jews, more fortunate in America, felt be done. • temper» comfortable with this dispensation and Friess remained closest to Adler. He frowned upon the nascent Zionist move- joined the Society, married Adler's young- ment. (Stephen Birmingham describes them SECULAR HUMANIST est daughter, studied under Adler's direc- in his best-seller Our Crowd.) tion, and eventually became a Leader of the After graduating from Columbia Col- DECLARATION Society while at the same time heading the lege, Felix Adler was sent to Germany to new Department of Religion at Columbia. prepare for the Reform rabbinate. (There Endorsed by 58 leaders of thought. Now He worked on these "memories and studies" were no graduate schools in America at that available in handsome booklet form. up to the time of his recent death. (The edi- time.) But Adler's study of higher criticism $1.95 each (plus $1.25 for postage and tor made some finishing touches.) of the Bible and his exposure to Kant's handling) I had been invited to apprentice as a philosophy undermined his faith. Leader of the Society, but I preferred to pursue a tougher course and followed my Launching Ethical Culture Secular graduate work in philosophy with law Humanist school. As a graduate student I had assisted Returning to America in 1873, this young Declaration Friess and Herbert Schneider with their man boldly announced that the "best spirits Religion in Various Cultures and contrib- of the age are turning their backs upon their uted an analysis of Reform Judaism in religion" (p. 36). America. He resolved to face forward—combining an academic career in philosophy with the The Soil of Reform Judaism founding of the Ethical Culture movement. Reform Judaism is the soil from which Adler conceived himself to be in the Adler sprang. Originating in the eighteenth line of the Hebrew Prophets, including century in Germany during the Aufklartïng, Jesus, who placed decent behavior above Reform Judaism shucked Orthodoxy, trans- dogma and cultus. Adler sought to bring Order in bulk: 10 or more copies at lated the prayer book into the vernacular, this tradition to its logical and transformed 4007o discount (plus $3.00 for postage). culmination for a democratic, industrial, Harold Beryl Levy is professor emeritus of and technological society. (It was all right S.H.D. philosophy, Hofstra University, and a to speak of the one Lord as our shepherd in Box 25 Central Park Station member of the faculty of the New School a pastoral society under a king.) Buffalo, N.Y. 14215 for Social Research. The new movement served a sociological need for emancipated and educated

48 Jews who did not want to renounce religion altogether or be converted, just as it still serves a sociological need for similar couples of mixed marriages. But the movement December Dusk inspired respect and attracted others because of Adler's impressive erudition and plat- A precariousness steals over things at dusk form eloquence as well as his efficacious when darkness bleeds the light away and energy as a civic reformer. As his colleague, our shadows stretch their long fingers. the pioneering social worker John Elliott, Objects change then. Even the sound once remarked to me, Adler also knew how of the old house changes and grows dim. to raise funds. The Ethical Culture Society was less The trees' menace creeps along the floor than a religious congregation; it called itself while fear brushes against the bones. a "fellowship" and eschewed prayer. It was We draw the curtains, light the lamps; more than a philosophy club because its they cannot contain it, this whisper philosophic preoccupation was ethically which curls around us. directed, though without any prescriptive requirements. The Society welcomed those We shiver at our image of any religion or none who shared its con- in the darkening glass, our eyelids cern for ethical development, personal and flutter, our blood beats social. It's a misfortune, Adler wrote, that against our thin skins. "non-religious persons have been compelled to be religious." He was joined by secular- ists and left-wing Christians, especially Uni- —Maria (Allan tarians who shared Emerson's prophecy that the future belonged to "moral science." Maria Gillan's first volume of poetry, Flowers from the Tree of In its barest and most amorphous form the Night, was published in 1981 by Chantry Press. That year she was platform of the Society held that persons also awarded a creative writing fellowship in poetry by the New find their highest value in their interactions Jersey State Council on the Arts. with other lives. Prophetic Judaism was the foundation, Kantian philosophy the superstructure, and the nineteenth century. Meanwhile, in New ideal society. I have never understood why Adler's own thought the capstone. York (under the inspiration of Dr. Felix he insisted that his conception of this "spir- Adler) and in other cities, Ethical Culture itual ideal" (as he called it) should be taken The Philosophic Base Societies arose, which brought together as more than an image or metaphor which is persons from many faiths and no faiths morally meaningful. I once asked him why Kant formulated the philosophic correlate who could unite in promoting religiously he insisted that this brain-child of his moral in his conception of a universal moral law and practically a social ethic. These so- imagination really existed in some super- dictating respect for the dignity of every cieties gave radical expression to the ten- human, supernatural realm (why, to lapse person. Persons are not to be treated only dency which was increasingly noticeable into the lingo of technical philosophy, he as means or stepping stones but as ends in among liberal American faiths generally, should reify it into an ontological or meta- themselves having intrinsic worth. the tendency to subordinate theological dif- physical entity). He replied: "But I do Adler advanced beyond Kant in two ferences to a practical program of social insist!" This absolutistic vestige of philo- respects. Kant proposed a bland universal- reconstruction. They also emphasized .. . sophic "idealism" took no seed among his ism: so act that the maxim of your act can the doctrine that a social order must be successors as Leaders of the Society, who be universalized. Adler sought to stress the judged by the kind of human beings it pro- reverted to Dewey's naturalistic humanism. uniqueness of each person and group. He duces, and not by impersonal criteria."2 (How I wish we could dispense with all this emphasized the distinctive unlikeness. Sec- jargon and labeling!) ond, Adler stressed the striving to discern One could nonetheless view his position and evoke the other's best potentialities, Beyond Humanism? as predominantly humanistic because of its broadening oneself in the process. In Adler's essential focus on human beings and vision such reciprocal functioning led each In urging that we assume more human because it takes its cue from the potential- and all in the direction of an elicitative har- responsibility for the education of our chil- ities in human relations. It is humanistic mony as an ideal. Applying these insights to dren and in the spheres of politics and eco- also because—in contrast to Kant's formal- civic reform Adler was highly influential in nomics, Adler considered himself neither a ism—its starting point is the social patterns promoting better labor relations, political mere moralist nor a mere activist. He put a of our culture. And there is a breathtaking relations, family relations, teacher-student religious cap on his ethics. He refused to be sense in which a humanist can admire the relations, and international relations. branded an atheist simply because he had stretch of Adler's insight. He projected "By 1946," Herbert Schneider tells us, rejected one form of godhead—monotheism. beyond humanity to embrace any beings "Protestants, Jews and Catholics were able He developed his own conception of divin- who might be capable of intercommunica- to unite in a `Declaration on Economic Jus- ity. Here he parts company with humanism. tion, though as yet unknown to us in their tice' which went far beyond anything that His conception of divinity was the per- unfathomable recesses. He anticipated the any one of these groups had attempted in fect simulacrum of his conception of an speculations of astronomers like Carl Sagan

Spring 1983 49 about the possibility of other and different generation differently attuned. acies, in metaphysics as well as in human beings in galaxies beyond galaxies trying to One such lasting contribution is the relations. reach us with their signals as we try to reach founding of the Ethical Culture schools to them with ours. Adler's "cosmic outreach- develop the "whole child in his humanity" ings," as he called them, could also embrace as teacher and student link collaboratively. our present alertness to our ecological co- Friess informs us that these schools, en- In this book, mediating between Dewey fraternity with the rest of nature. hanced by Dewey's philosophy of educa- and Adler, Friess performs one of the stan- Adler conceded the inevitability of tion, have been widely emulated. Friess dard functions of philosophers. He brings frustrations in the face of ideal yearnings, once told me that Adler thought such Adler more plausibly into a later generation but he accepted these frustrations as a price schools were an integral part of Ethical Cul- by minimizing the theology, the transcen- one pays for the vision of humanity's ideal. ture and that the true success of the move- dentalism, the absolutistic metaphysics, and Here again was a point I could never under- ment should be measured by their conjoint the mysticism, and by accentuating the stand. Why should one posit an unreach- establishment in other cities. humanistic components. By temperament able ideal and then look to it for consolation A second contribution, less widely ac- Friess was not a polemicist but a harmonizer. because one is frustrated in achieving it? I knowledged but doubtless especially appeal- In his epilogue, "Ethical Culture Since recall his saying that friends may desert us ing to Friess as a student of comparative Felix Adler," Edward L. Ericson, the chair- in the course of a lifetime but the "spiritual religions, is Adler's shift of institutional man of the Board of Leaders of the Ethical universe," as he sometimes called it, remains religion itself from worship of an individual Culture Society, presents his own view of anchored. This view evidently held deep god to the interrelation of persons so as to the emphases in Ethical Culture today, meaning for him, but he did not expect bring one another into "mutual maturing" — which may be summarized as follows: others necessarily to adopt his personal a happy phrase freshly minted by Friess to religion. replace Adler's "divine life" (when in a theo- 1. The supreme worth of each person. logical mood) or "life of love" (when in a 2. The centrality of the ethical factor Gutmann's Critique humanistic mood). There is a kind of sub- as a concern for raised levels of limity of reciprocal caring. The participial social justice. In his incisive Foreword, Professor Gut- form of Friess's expression connotes a sense 3. Democratic society as the only form mann makes a criticism of Adler's ethical of process and growth and not a static state. consistent with human dignity. precepts in which I concur. He suggests that Though Friess does not say so, his use of 4. Freedom of critical intellectual Adler is imposing an artificial and self- the word "maturity" as the key term of search. conscious over-ride on our natural and praise also brings to mind Harry Stack Sul- spontaneous associations in the family and livan's American development of psycho- No wonder, then, that Ericson and in our other social relationships. I would analysis as "interpersonal relations." The Howard Radest (head of the Ethical Cul- suggest further that it might even be an "mutuality" brings to mind Buber's existen- ture schools) are contributors to FREE impediment to a free and easy relation un- tial focus on the bottom line of "reality" as INQUIRY and are welcomed by its editor for warped by this constant ethical nag. Indeed an I-Thou relationship. Friess sees Adler as their "longstanding commitment to the it is even impossible to effectuate Adler's presenting a third religious view to rival ideals of humanist philosophy." preachment when one encounters, as one so Western obeisance to God and Hindu union I have concentrated on Friess's exposi- often does, total opaqueness or when the with the infinite. The keystone of Adler's tions of Adler's philosophy and religion, cash nexus creates an adversary or a market contemplated religion is a reverence for the but the reader will wish to know that, relationship, not to say an exploitative one. diversity of ethical interrelations of persons though this book is not a biography, it does But, as Gutmann points out, it is an appo- and groups (an ethical multiverse) so all- cover the development of Adler's career as a site insight for fruitful teacher-student en- inclusive and far-reaching as not to remain young man, as a student in Europe, his counters. A teacher tries to bring out the at its humanistic point of departure. marriage and children, his colleagues, his peculiar excellences of a student — and, by Because he died in 1933, Adler did not involvement in America's growth. Horace stretching out to the student's offerings, confront our severe problems: Hitlerism Friess had a lovable and ingenuous candor develops himself. Anyone who knows Jim and its implications not only for Jews but which pervades this book. He calls it "Mem- Gutmann will recognize a self-portrait in for human rights generally, technology in ories and Studies" because it is not a con- this description of a great teacher. its impairment of our natural environment, ventional biography; nor is it an intellectual the population explosion's overcrowding analysis. It is both more and less than these. Friess's Appraisal our sphere, genetic manipulation, computer- It is these as they are interwoven with Friess's ized relationships, atomic potentials, and own life. Except for Boswell, I know of no Shortly before his last illness, Friess, in a Soviet unpredictability. Nonethless, a new author who has devoted himself more un- reminiscing mood, told me he held himself generation, Friess suggests, may still find in stintingly to the revelation of another's to be not an innovator but an interpreter. In Adler's honoring of mutual worth and mind and character as refracted through the this respect he was not unlike most profes- maturing an impetus to further rewards. author's own autonomous integrity. sors of philosophy, for few are blessed with I recall that after one of his talks Adler the gift of original genius. But Friess was asked me if I knew of a book on Jewish Notes more than an interpreter of Adler, not only mysticism. I believe that inquiry was not in being mercifully selective by sparing us because of his vestigial interest in Judaism 1. Letter to Gutmann quoted in "John Her- Adler's Victorian views on sex, but in his but rather, as Friess points out, because man Randall, Jr.: In Memoriam," Journal of the appraisals of Adler's contributions, those there was a mystical element (not wholly ex- History of Ideas, July-Sept. 1981, p. 497. he deemed of continuing value, despite the plicable in ordinary rational terms) in 2. Schneider, Religion in Twentieth Century fact that Adler's reputation had faded in a Adler's tenacious hold on ethical suprem- America, p. 97. •

50 tend that political action is an inevitable Counterpoint manifestation of a humanist philosophy. The question is not "Politics or no politics," Humanism and Politics but, rather, "Which form of political action is appropriate for humanist organizations?" I strongly support Paul Kurtz's position in dissolved. Most of the Radical Humanists With its central emphasis on moral values "Humanism and the Politics of Nostalgia" in India support certain ideas in regard to and its underscoring of man's Promethean (FI, Fall 1982). I often say that humanism is political and economic organizations capacities to transform social being, a method of arguing, a method that rules suitable for a society of free men and humanism demands action in the political out appeals to a holy text or to the authority women. But there is no insistence on con- arena. To set the bounds of humanist ac- of a prophet or, indeed, anything suppos- formism on any of the generally accepted tion at the threshold of private conscience, edly superhuman. This is a method of argu- opinions. The only commitment is to the or within the family and interpersonal life, ment that leads not to a unique result, but basic values of freedom, rationalism, and or confine it to education does an injustice to a variety of possible answers to the enor- secular morality. to the call of moral imperatives and the mously complex issues of human societies. fulfillment of "the whole person." Such a In fact I (and I suspect most human- V. M. Tarkunde, Chairman position is not only self-contradictory, but ists) glory in the infinite variety of humans Indian Radical Humanist Assn. in today's world it is artificial and unsavory. as a powerful and strong feature of the New Delhi, India Furthermore, the fact that humanist groups human character that does much to prevent are "left-leaning" is also traceable to the our societies' becoming uniform and ant- As a participant in the Eighth Congress of dynamics of humanist postulates. With its like. A uniform and monolithic humanist the International Humanist and Ethical embrace of the modern, scientific and movement would worry me and hence I Union at Hannover, and delegate to its board critical stance toward authoritarians, it is welcome a wide spread of humanist views. from the American Ethical Union, I read hard to see how humanism could be any- When it comes to issues of defense Paul Kurtz's article with mixed reactions. thing but progressive, and progressive (like the neutron bomb), I am sure that all I concur with Kurtz that contemporary readily translates into liberal. humanists (indeed, all sane people) abhor humanism should avoid identification with Paul Kurtz seems to be among those war; but in the immensely difficult task of political and partisan ideology. But Kurtz who wish to reconstruct humanist organiza- reducing the risk of war there is no uniquely has failed to clarify an alternative that is tions to have equal appeal to conservatives safe way, and thus there is room for a va- faithful to humanism in practice as well as and liberals alike. This yen for political riety of views. My own is that the risk of theory. On the one hand, he contends that neutrality is ultimately a move for depoliti- war is minimized by a nuclearly armed humanists should scale down political proc- cization, which, as noted, is chimerical and NATO, so strong conventionally that there lamations and actions, but, on the other, he practically untenable. Conservatives have a is no need to plan for an early use of nuclear feels that the solution to attacks on Amer- role within humanist organizations, not as weapons. Like Kurtz, I respect other views ican deployment of the neutron bomb, for equally fitted fellow travelers, but as but am horrified by any insistence that such example, should be matched by contextually creative minorities who ensure that the views are self-evidently right. Such insistence condemning the presence of Soviet SS-20 prevailing political directions of those offends against the very definition of missiles aimed at Central Europe. Likewise, groups be as broadly informed as possible. humanism with which I started! his criticism of the IHEU resolution on the Kurtz is worried that a politicized Israeli siege of Beirut and his proposed humanism will alienate those of good will Sir Hermann Bondi, Chairman resolution condemning the Iran-Iraq war. who do not share a particular political Natural Environment Research Council Agreed. But it is hard to see how a policy of slant. Perhaps. But by the same token, the Swindon, England fairness in political criticism can be equated depoliticized and, in my view, denatured with a curtailing of political interests. (By humanism he advocates would also be I read Paul Kurtz's article with great interest. the way, I was the only other board member unappealing to many. Those to whom a It gives several interesting details about the to oppose the Israel resolution, not because bedrock commitment to democracy is Hannover conference. it was political in substance, but because I essential to their humanism will realize that I am in general agreement with his hold grave concern for the imbalanced today's political defeat may be transformed views on humanism and politics. The treatment Israel has generally received from into tomorrow's victory. This is what a humanist movement should not be asso- international organizations.) commitment to democratic process ciated with any political party. Humanists He states at one point, "I don't mean to ultimately means. are bound to be democrats, for humanism suggest an absolutist prohibition against all What is called for within humanist is clearly inconsistent with any form of political positions. Some political issues no organizations is not the avoidance of authoritarianism; but humanists should not doubt have an urgent moral imperative, political struggle, but rather the vitalization be required to have any further political and we may need to take a strong stand." of a sophisticated political consciousness commitment. This follows a note of approval for the Nor- that is progressive and creative without be- I also agree with the view, implicit in wegian humanist model, which eschews ing narrowly ideological or partisan. It Kurtz's article, that resolutions on contro- politics in favor of a "basic re-creation of should also be founded on the prevailing versial political issues should not be intro- human ideals and with developing a human- wishes of the individuals in each group. duced in IHEU conferences. ist outlook based upon science." Clearly The Radical Humanist Association in there is a tension here that is intrinsic to Joseph Chuman, Leader India emerged from the background of a organized humanism. Ethical Culture Society radical democratic political party—when it Whereas Kurtz advocates a retrench- of Bergen County was decided that the party should be ment from the political arena, I would con- Teaneck, New Jersey

Spring 1983 51

Letters (continued from page 3) children are subject to peer pressure and saved. Bible Camouflage teacher pressure to praying in the manner I don't expect you to print this in your approved by the state. magazine. But I challenge you to publish it. My experience with nonreligionists has been Right now I pray in Jesus' name that the that they do not know the Bible and Lybrand Smith Holy Spirit will show you the Way. Amen. therefore their judgments are without Torrance, California value. I am a dedicated nonreligionist and A Response to Humanism Jeffrey St. Clair believe that religion is far more damaging Tucson, Arizona than any group or individual I have encoun- tered who claims to be a secular humanist, I have just today come across a copy of Christian Headstart an atheist, an agnostic, or a nonbeliever. your journal. As a committed Christian, I am of the opinion that the Bible is the that is, a former sinner saved by the Blood The humanist movement has all the signs of most remarkable book I have read in the of Jesus Christ, not on my own merits but a growing force in our society, but Chris- English language. I am of the opinion that on His righteousness, let me respond to tianity has had such a headstart that it is the authors and the editors of the Bible your "secular humanism." going to be very difficult to overcome the were the first nonreligionists: that the Bible First, I was amazed to find so many pre-programmed attitudes of its following. has nothing to do with religion; that the articles and letters dealing with a Person I direct the observation to Christianity only religionists have purloined the camouflage whom you claim doesn't exist! Never in the because it is the most verbal and visual used by the authors and have made of the history of mankind have men tried to dis- religion in the world. camouflage the substance of their power credit and despise anyone the way you Among the problems to overcome are over people... . people are doing to the Person of Jesus the following return statements. God is Christ, God incarnate. The Psalmist was evident everywhere. Look around you, no Frances M. Cox correct when he said, "The fool has said in one but God could have created such excel- Port Charlotte, Florida his heart, 'There is no God!" Why oh why, lence. Who but God would know exactly if the Bible is wrong, if Jesus was an impos- what each living thing would need to func- School Prayer ter, if God does not exist, if Creation is a tion, reproduce, and in fact exist? Also, myth, do you write so prolifically about it? when you try to point out the scientific As always, I found FREE INQUIRY (Fall My beliefs, and the bèliefs of millions reasons for the way things are, their res- 1982) to be stimulating to thought but I of other born-again Christians stand on ponse is: Satan is at work always. Satan is wondered if the following thoughts on their own, and stand on faith, a faith which fooling us into believing what science says. school prayer ever occurred to your writers. no scientist can weigh or examine or test, Satan was once like God, with the same Those who cry that they want "God but which is real, nonetheless. "Now faith is powers of God. He can be just as effective back in the schools" draw the unfortunate being sure of what we hope for (expectantly), in his efforts. You have to distinguish what picture of their God being a toothless old and certain of what we do not see" (Paul, is God-like and what is the work of the ninny whom any Los Angeles Sheriffs Heb. 11:1). We do not listen to ministers of devil. What is contrary to the belief in God Office deputy or any New York City police the Gospel in church or on TV in order to is obviously Satan at work. officer can frog-march into or out of a be convinced of our beliefs. We have had Of course I do not believe in either schoolroom at the order of a civil-law an encounter with the Person of the Lord God or the devil, but it is very difficult to judge. It seems to me that they would be Jesus Christ. And no prating on and on by draw a reasonable conclusion to a discus- better off worshiping the judge or the humanists and their own brand of Godless sion of this nature when all Christians have LASO deputy or the NYC policeman than religion (for that is what it is) can convince to do is close their ears and say, "Away their God. me or anyone else who has been touched by Satan! Get thee behind me!" At the same time, those who want the love of Jesus that it is false. "I know prayer in the schools, including President whom I have believed in!" So why bother to George Roberts Reagan, imply, whether they mean to or rationalize? ... Ocala, Florida not, that the priests, rabbis, and ministers, My reaction to you could be one of to whom we Americans have traditionally hate. But it is not. I love each and every one VISION AND REALISM entrusted the religious training of our of you humanists. Jesus died for you; died 100 Years of "The Freethinker" children, are hopelessly incompetent and and rose and lives today for you. "Every by Jim Herrick that a public-school teacher, who may be of one who calls on the name of the Lord will "Jim Herrick has produced a lively a different faith from that of the children, be saved." Like Paul, you have been and highly readable story, centered or agnostic, or atheist, is better qualified to fighting Him too long. Your hatred shows on the life of one unorthodox jour- teach the children to pray. and proves His existence, because the nal. But incidentally, in his presenta- The next step, it would seem, would be enemy of your souls is goading you to hate tion of the setting of that story, he to hire teachers of only the state-approved him. Renounce sin and turn to God. Jesus has written an exceptionally fascinat- religion to eliminate those who do not com- loves you; I love you, for I was once a ing chapter of British social history, ply with that state-approved religion. humanist and atheist like you, but Jesus covering the past century's changes in At the same time, such prayers would had mercy—His mercy is higher than the beliefs, attitudes and conventions." destroy the Judeo-Christian religious group Heavens are above the Earth—and saved —Baroness Barbara Wootton in her as we know it as children are weaned from me. No one "convinced" me to join a Foreword to the book praying in the manner approved by their religion. It was a miraculous showering of Price: $5.50 (including postage) parents to that approved by the state. As His love. "While we were yet sinners, Christ Order from: G. W. Foote & Co., 702 Hol- has been noted by almost everyone, the died for the ungodly." Stop "kicking loway Road, London Nl9 3NL, U.K. word "voluntary" is no saving grace, as against the gods" as Paul did before he was

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Spring 1983 53

Creationism Loses Again

So far, there are as many reasons to throw out "creation-science" laws as there are laws on the matter. Such legislation requires ON THE BARRICADES public schools to teach the relatively recent creation of all things by a supernatural force alongside the theory of evolution. There were two such laws. But in January, Federal District Judge William Ray Overton of Little Rock, Ark., ruled that creationism is religious in import and that the Arkansas law requiring its teaching violated the constitutional separation of church and state. President Reagan children, who has sought to overturn the In Louisiana last week, Judge Adrian on "Religious Freedom" state law. The Justice said, in effect, that Duplantier took a different tack. The law Alabama officials cannot enforce a 1982 violated the state constitution, the judge said, because it "dictated to public schools Washington, Jan. 31 — President Reagan, state law until he rules on the father's plea. not only that a subject must be taught, but urging the nation to `face the future with (AP, February 2, 1983) also how it must be taught"—and only the the Bible, " received repeated standing ova- Pope Urges Europe to state Board of Elementary and Secondary tions from a convention of Christian broad- Recover Its Soul Education can mandate teaching a course. cast preachers today. He vowed to renew Sponsors of the measure said they his efforts for a ban on abortion, for restor- From this place of pilgrimage at Europe's would appeal. But Martha Eagel, director ing classroom prayer and for tax credits for western edge, Pope John Paul II issued an of the Louisiana Civil Liberties Union, parochial school tuition... impassioned appeal today for the continent which brought the case against the state, Announcing that he would sign a to recover its ancient soul and put it at the considered the matter closed. The voiding Presidential proclamation making 1983 the service of humanity, irrespective of political of two state laws, she said, "establishes a "year of the Bible," Mr. Reagan said the divisions. consistent pattern—creationism cannot be Bible had lessons for the Federal budget.... The Europe the Pope described was imposed on public schools." (New York "I want you to know something, " he equivalent to Christian Europe. He said the Times, November 28, 1982) declared in raising the issue of voluntary history of the founding of its nations "coin- public school prayer. "1 am determined to cides with the penetration of the gospel." Pressure in Palm Beach to Censor bring that amendment back again and again European identity, the Pope declared, "is Humanism in Schools and again and again, until we succeed in incomprehensible without Christianity. "He restoring religious freedom in the United laid claim on behalf of Christianity to "that A growing group of Palm Beach County States." which has ripened the civilization of the parents say they will fight to rid county The audience was again on its feet, continent, its culture, its dynamism, its schools of what they call evil books and cheering, and still again when Mr. Reagan activeness, its capacity for constructive techniques that turn children away from said, "The First Amendment was not writ- expansion on other continents as well; in a God, country, and family... . ten to protect the people and their laws word, all that constitutes its glory." Joining a controversy that is brewing from religious values; it was written to pro- Europe, the Pope asserted, retains its nationwide, Palm Beach County parents tect those values from Government tyran- soul through the continuation of what he here have tried to link humanistic educa- ny. " (New York Times, February 1, 1983) described as its Christian and humanist tional techniques to the religion of secular traditions. Among them he cited the dignity humanism, which emphasizes man's control Justice Powell Suspends of the human person, justice, liberty, over his own destiny, as well as sexual Alabama School Prayer respect for life and tolerance. Europe has freedom, world citizenship and situational contributed most to the development of the ethics. (West Palm Beach Post, September 7, world, the Pope said, "in the field of ideas 1982) Washington, Feb. 2—A Supreme Court as well as in that of work, in that of science Justice today ordered a halt to state-spon- and of art." "Secular Humanist Religion sored prayer sessions in Alabama public The Pope listed as the ills of the world Taught in Public Schools" schools. "secularized ideologies that go as far as to Justice Lewis F. Powell set aside the ef- negate God and limit religious liberty," "The present interest in tuition tax credits fect of a Federal judge's order that had excessive importance given to economic for parents who send their children to allowed such school prayer. In the same success and materialism and hedonism that private, primarily religious schools is a con- order, Justice Powell reinstated a previous attack "the values of the prolific and united tinuation of the struggle for religious injunction outlawing the prayer sessions. family. " For those reasons, he said, Europe freedom and tolerance. Justice Powell's action came only must again find its soul and work to over- .. I believe you could say that the hours after he was asked for help by the come such problems. (New York Times, Catholic school system developed because father of three Mobile, Ala., school- November 10, 1982) the public school system was for all prac-

54 1 iiee tical purposes a Protestant school system Mecca, a New Compass Point who do not belong to a church and a large up to about the last 20 years. As a result, percentage of those with a low commitment many Catholics and to a lesser extent some Geneva—Swiss watchmakers have come up to religion. (Charles Austin, in the New Lutheran, Episcopalian and Jewish parents with a miniature precision compass that York Times, December 25, 1982) established their own religious traditions. assures Moslems around the world they are "In the last 20 years or so our society facing Mecca when saying their daily Skepticism in Mexico and its public institutions have experienced prayers. a secularization that has naturally also Called the "Mecca Module," the com- All over Mexico there are shrines to the taken place in the public school system, pass goes for the giant price of $750 for the Virgin Mary and myriad saints that are since it is a part of the governmental com- plain model. Platinum and jewel-studded visited by thousands— in some % cases plex. With that secularization, the moral, models can cost 10 or 100 times that. millions—of pilgrims each year. The ethical, and disciplinary values of the tradi- The same size as an ultra-thin wrist- visitors ask for miracles, give thanks for tional religions could not be taught. Yet watch, the module consists of a small dia- favors granted or merely seek forgiveness those values are part of the learning pro- mond floating in a mineral crystal which is and protection. cess; therefore, the removal of the Judeo- aligned against any of 400 major world But New Jerusalem, site of a reported Christian value system has seen its replace- cities printed in Arabic on a dial. apparition of the Virgin Mary in October ment with the secular humanist value An emerald points directly towards 1973, has suddenly become famous through- system. Mecca. (United Press International) out the country, not because of its miracles "The most unrecognized religion in this but because Mexican news organizations country today is the secular humanist reli- have chosen to denounce those in charge of gion. It is not recognized by the average Evangelist Robison Helps Trash Art Items Worth $1 Million the shrine as charlatans, asserting they use citizen because it covers itself with the man- violence, sex and extortion to promote their tle of being neutral. The public school sys- faith. tem uses the secular humanistic value sys- Fort Worth, Texas— Wealthy businessman The particular targets of the attacks tem; claiming that it is neutral of religion Cullen Davis destroyed more than $1 are 72-year-old Nabor Cardenas, an un- and yet it is as religious as Catholicism, million worth of gold, silver, jade and ivory frocked priest who is referred to as Papa Protestantism, Judaism, or Hinduism. art objects because he felt they were Nabor, and 16-year-old Arcadia Garcia, Even the Supreme Court (in the Torcaso associated with pagan religions, evangelist who claims to receive messages from the case of 1961) recognizes secular humanism James Robison said Monday. Virgin Mary and is known here as Mama as a religion. Mr. Robison said he and Mr. Davis, a Maria de Jesus. Between them they control "The struggle for religious freedom in born-again Christian, used hammers to the lives of the 5,000 or so pilgrims who education will be won when parents can smash the carvings on a parking lot outside have settled in New Jerusalem, some 180 allocate the educational taxes they pay to Mr. Davis's mansion, according to a copy- miles northwest of Mexico City. the school of their choice, whether it is right story in Monday's Fort Worth Star- Since its foundation nine years ago, the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or secular Telegram. sect has become gradually more isolated humanist." (Wes Fitzgerald, in the Rocky Mr. Davis had donated the art objects, from society. According to the faithful, the Mountain News, September 20, 1982) mostly figures associated with eastern Virgin of the Rosary appeared to an old religions, to Mr. Robison last September. peasant widow, Gabina Romero de San- Astronaut Resumes Search for Ark The donation would have paid off chez, with instructions that a shrine be built debts that threatened to end his national here. Then, on Oct. 7, 1973, before a crowd Ankara, Turkey—Former U.S. astronaut television ministry. The art objects had of some 10,000 people gathered by Father James Irwin left by car for eastern Turkey been appraised and were ready for auction Nabor, at that time the parish priest in Sunday in a second attempt to find the re- when, Mr. Robison said, he read a Bible nearby Puruarán, Mrs. Sanchez unwrapped mains of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat, verse that convinced him he should not her shawl and an image of the Virgin ap- where the Bible says the vessel landed after accept the gift. peared "miraculously" on a piece of cloth. the Great Flood. He said Mr. Davis started crying and Soon afterward, construction of the Mr. Irwin, who spent three weeks look- told him, "If you can't have it, then i can't shrine began, with Mrs. Sanchez—who ing for the ark in late August before being in- have it." became known as Mama Salome—claiming jured in a fall, was accompanied on his latest "We went out into the garage, and we to be receiving daily messages from the trip by his wife and son, two archaeologists got hammers, and we went out there in his Virgin of the Rosary on how the religious and a fellow Christian fundamentalist. parking lot and destroyed $1 million worth community should be formed. Word of the American Embassy sources said Mr. of jade, ivory and gold—all of it," Mr. miracle spread through Mexico and bus- Irwin was hoping to make an aerial trip Robison said. (Associated Press, January loads of pilgrims would arrive at the shrine around the mountain near the Soviet 11, 1983) each weekend. border, but it was not clear whether he had Barely two miles away in Puruarán, received permission from the Turkish Gallup Poll Claims Growing though, New Jerusalem was still viewed government. Consensus on Divinity of Jesus with skepticism. "I tell you, they're all Since 1972, foreigners have been pro- mad," said a gas station attendant, who hibited from climbing the mountain for According to a 1982 Gallup Poll, 85 percent warned the visitors against traveling to the security reasons because it overlooks the of the American public sampled believes shrine. "But madder still are those who go Soviet and Iranian borders. (United Press that Jesus was the divine Son of God, a there." (New York Times, November 12, International, September 20, 1982) view also held by 73 percent of the people 1982)

Spring 1983 55

Back issues of FREE INQUIRY are available!

Summary of major articles: Future of Religion, articles by Daniel Bell, Joseph Fletcher, William Sims Bainbridge, and Paul Kurtz. Resurrection Fictions, Winter 1980/81 by Randel Helms. Vol. 1, no. 1: A Secular Humanist Declaration. Also, Democratic Winter 1981/82 Humanism by Sidney Hook. Humanism: Secular or Religious? by Vol. 2, no. 1: The Importance of Critical Discussion, by Karl Paul Beattie. Free Thought, by Gordon Stein. The Fundamentalist Popper. Freedom and Civilization, by Ernest Nagel. Humanism: Right, by William Ryan. The Moral Majority, by Sol Gordon. The Conscience of Humanity, by Konstantin Kolenda. Secular- The Creation/Evolution Controversy, by H. James Birx. Moral ism in Islam, by Nazih N. M. Ayubi. Humanism in the 1980s, by Education, by Robert Hall. Morality Without Religion, by Paul Beattie. The Effect of Education on Religious Faith, by Marvin Kohl and by Joseph Fletcher. Freedom Is Frightening, by Burnham P. Beckwith. The Road to Freedom, by Mihajlo Mihajlov. Roy P. Fairfield. Spring 1982 Repression in Yugoslavia. Vol. 2, no. 2: A Call for the Critical Examination of the Bible and Spring 1981 Religion. Also: Interview with Isaac Asimov on Science and the Vol. 1, no. 2: The Secular Humanist Declaration: Pro and Con, Bible, by Paul Kurtz. The Continuing Monkey War, by L. by John Roche, Sidney Hook, Phyllis Schlafly, Gina Allen, Sprague de Camp. The Erosion of Evolution, by Antony Flew. Roscoe Drummond, Lee Nisbet, Patrick Buchanan, and Paul The Religion of Secular Humanism: A Judicial Myth, by Leo Kurtz. New England Puritans and the Moral Majority, by George Pfeffer. Humanism as an American Heritage, by Nicholas F. Gier. Marshall. The Pope on Sex, by Vern Bullough. On the Way to The Nativity Legends, by Randel Helms. Norman Podhoretz's Mecca, by Thomas Szasz. The Blasphemy Laws, by Gordon Neo-Puritanism, by Lee Nisbet. The Meaning of Life, by Marvin Kohl. Does God Exist? by Stein. Summer 1982—Special 72-page issue Kai Nielsen. Prophets of the Procrustean Collective, by Antony Vol. 2, no. 3: A Symposium on Science, the Bible, and Darwin: Flew. The Madrid Conference, by Stephen Fenichell. Natural The Bible Re-examined, essays by Robert S. Alley, Gerald Larue, Aristocracy by Lee Nisbet. John Priest, and Randel Helms. Darwin, Evolution, and Crea- Summer 1981 tionism, essays by Philip Appleman, William V. Mayer, Charles Vol. 1, no. 3: Sex Education, by Peter Scales and by Thomas Cazeau, H. James Birx, Garrett Hardin, Sol Tax, and Antony Szasz. Moral Education, by Howard Radest. Teen-age Preg- Flew. Ethics and Religion, essays by Joseph Fletcher, Richard nancy, by Vern Bullough. The New Book-Burners, by William Taylor, Kai Nielsen, and Paul Beattie. Science and Religion, Ryan. The Moral Majority, by Gerald Larue. Liberalism, by essays by Michael Novak and Joseph L. Blau. Scientific Creationism, by Delos McKown. New Edward Ericson. Fall 1982 Evidence on the Shroud of Turin, by Joe Nickell. Agnosticism, by Vol. 2, no. 4: An Interview with Sidney Hook at Eighty, by Paul H. J. Blackham. Science and Religion, by George Tomashevich. Kurtz. Sidney Hook: A Personal Portrait, by Nicholas Capaldi. Secular Humanism in Israel. The Religion and Biblical Criticism Research Project, by Gerald Fall 1981 Larue. Biblical Criticism and Its Discontents, by R. Joseph Vol. 1, no. 4: The Thunder of Doom, by Edward P. Morgan. Hoffmann. Boswell Confronts Hume: An Encounter with the Secular Humanists: Threat or Menace? by Art Buchwald. Financ- Great Infidel, by Joy Frieman. Humanism and Politics —essays ing of the Repressive Right, by Edward Roeder. Communism and by James R. Simpson and Larry Briskman. Humanism and the American Intellectuals, by Sidney Hook. A Symposium on the Politics of Nostalgia, by Paul Kurtz. Abortion and Morality, by Richard Taylor. 1 Winter 1982-83 FREE INQUIRY Vol. 3, no. 1: 1983—The Year of the Bible. Special Feature: Box 5, Central Park Station, Buffalo, NY 14215 Academic Freedom Under Assault in California—articles by Please send me the following back issues: Barry Singer, Nicholas P. Hardeman, Vern Bullough, The Play Ethic, by Robert Rimmer. An Interview with Corliss Lamont. Vol. 1, no. 1 , no. 2 , no. 3 , no. 4 Was Jesus a Magician? by Morton Smith. Astronomy and the no. 4 Vol. 2, no. 1 , no. 2 , no. 3 ($5.00) "Star of Bethlehem", by Gerald Larue. Living with Deep Truths in Vol. 3, no. 1 a Divided World, by Sidney Hook. Anti-Science: The Strange I enclose $3.50 plus $1.00 for postage and handling for each copy. Case of Paul Feyerabend, by Martin Gardner. Amount enclosed $ (U.S. funds on U.S. bank)

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