Shafarevich & McAtee On The Irrationality Of Marxism

“For the very reason that the basic driving force of socialist ideology is subconscious and emotional, reason and rational discussion of the facts have always played only a subordinate role in it. the socialist doctrines are reconciled with contradictions with an ease reminiscent of ‘prelogical’ primitive thinking, which functions outside any framework of consistency, as described by Levy-Bruhl. They are equally unconcerned with the fact that socialist conclusions are radically at odds with experience. Most astonishing of all is that these contradictions do not diminish the impact of the doctrine in the least.

Marxism reflects all these traits to a remarkable degree. Well known thinkers have pointed out numerous fundamental
contradictions, each of which would have been sufficient to demonstrate the groundlessness of a theory that lays claim to be scientific. For example, Berdiaev demonstrated that the concept of dialectical materialism is contradictory, since it attributes to matter a logical category — dialectics. Stammler showed that the idea of of historical determinism postulated by Marxism contradicts its own appeal to influence history, since it is equivalent to taking a conscious decision to turn with the earth around the sun. (Sergius Bulgakov paraphrased this as follows: ‘Marxism predicts the onset of socialism just as astronomy predicts the beginning of the lunar eclipse, and to bring about the eclipse it organizes a political party.’) The very heart of Marxist doctrine — the labor theory of value — was demolished by the work of the Austrian school (in particular by Bohm-Bawerk) and has been abandoned by political economy. Yet even without this heart, Marxism proved to be capable of survival.”

Igor Shafarevich
Socialist Phenomenon

So, in Marxism we have a philosophy that has been shown to be inherently contradictory in several of its key claims ( Dialectical Materialism, Labor theory of value) and just flat out wrong about several of its observations (Historical determinism, Capitalism always precedes and yields Socialism). Second, we see that Marxism is a theory wherein the theory is reversed engineered only after the desired conclusions are embraced. Further, we have the clear death delivering record of Marxism in the works of men like Robert Conquest, R. J. Rummel, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn and yet despite all this the death loving, self-destructing, man enslaving, Satan glorifying, doctrine of Marxism lives on and is even at this moment being pursued in this country.

What else can this drive to death be characterized as, except as the social order of Hell as inspired by Lucifer himself?

And yet despite this clear testimony that Marxism is anti-Christ to its core we have a whole school of thought (R2K) that has arisen and is telling the Church that the Church has no authority to speak to anti-Christ Marxist social theory from the Pulpit.

Author: jetbrane

I am a Pastor of a small Church in Mid-Michigan who delights in my family, my congregation and my calling. I am postmillennial in my eschatology. Paedo-Calvinist Covenantal in my Christianity Reformed in my Soteriology Presuppositional in my apologetics Familialist in my family theology Agrarian in my regional community social order belief Christianity creates culture and so Christendom in my national social order belief Mythic-Poetic / Grammatical Historical in my Hermeneutic Pre-modern, Medieval, & Feudal before Enlightenment, modernity, & postmodern Reconstructionist / Theonomic in my Worldview One part paleo-conservative / one part micro Libertarian in my politics Systematic and Biblical theology need one another but Systematics has pride of place Some of my favorite authors, Augustine, Turretin, Calvin, Tolkien, Chesterton, Nock, Tozer, Dabney, Bavinck, Wodehouse, Rushdoony, Bahnsen, Schaeffer, C. Van Til, H. Van Til, G. H. Clark, C. Dawson, H. Berman, R. Nash, C. G. Singer, R. Kipling, G. North, J. Edwards, S. Foote, F. Hayek, O. Guiness, J. Witte, M. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson, Mencken, Lasch, Postman, Gatto, T. Boston, Thomas Brooks, Terry Brooks, C. Hodge, J. Calhoun, Llyod-Jones, T. Sowell, A. McClaren, M. Muggeridge, C. F. H. Henry, F. Swarz, M. Henry, G. Marten, P. Schaff, T. S. Elliott, K. Van Hoozer, K. Gentry, etc. My passion is to write in such a way that the Lord Christ might be pleased. It is my hope that people will be challenged to reconsider what are considered the givens of the current culture. Your biggest help to me dear reader will be to often remind me that God is Sovereign and that all that is, is because it pleases him.

One thought on “Shafarevich & McAtee On The Irrationality Of Marxism”

  1. I suspect R2K is nothing more than the crystallization of the contemporary Christian Zeitgeist. When popular preachers who, so far as I know, have not formal connection to Rk2, rejoice at the coming of multiculturalism, we are doomed. They anachronistically see the current milieu as a “repeat” of the conditions in which early Christianity “thrived”, and so they think we can now have a great revival.

    Far from denouncing Marxism from the pulpit, modern ‘conservative’ pastors surreptitiously promote it. They are radicals beneath the surface.

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