Book in Review: Karl Marx (Great Thinkers)

I am a Marx novice, but wanted to get a proper introduction to a thinker whose work has left such an indelible and bloody mark on history. Marxist thought is also making a sweeping comeback in college campuses and in the new Left movement (particularly among the young)--class warfare, class oppression, elevation of the socio political to the primary, lumping the individual into the collective--all ring familiarly of Marx. For this reason I wanted to read an analysis of Marx from a Christian perspective to see where he, as well as the new movements, fall short.

 

Dennison gives a brief and academic analysis of the life and works of Karl Marx. He then charts Marx's view of history and followed by (my favorite part) a Christian Presuppositional Analysis of Marx's view of History. Interestingly enough we see that not all (key word all) of Marxist thought is evil. Marx observed vast injustice in his day through the division of labor--where the rich minority were only getting richer--and the unwashed masses were being used and exploited only to remain poor. He saw the introduction of the factory and the machine only further oppress the proletariat, as work hours were being extended and women and children were employed to likewise fuel the fires of industry. In light of this, Marx thinks of a "better way". He dares to imagine a world of true equality. A world where there is no private property, no financial classes, no division in population, and none of the historical slavery of a worker to his work.

 

In his critique, Dennison shows how Marx's desire for "heaven on earth" while rejecting all religion/supernatural desperately misses the mark. It was C. S. Lewis who said: "If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next...It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither." Marx's communist utopia was undoubtedly aiming at earth, and for many nations around the world in the 20th century it quite literally created hell on earth. The opposite of his intensions.

 

What I think Marx's greatest mistake, however, was his deep misunderstanding of human nature. Dennison touches on this near the end of his critique--but it is more of a cursory point. Marx actually thought that if the economic issues could be fixed, if society could be corrected, if all inequalities could be leveled--then Utopia would be achieved. This is a fatal blunder in Marx's thinking, perhaps the most fatal, for if there is one thing history confirms it is the brutally wicked nature of the human heart. At its core, it is humanity, not society that is deeply flawed. It is we who are greedy, vengeful, violent--not just our external conditions. If all inequality could be solved (by some miracle), humanity would immediately ensure that it doesn't last for a moment--and society would spiral into new inequalities and injustices, only in the reverse of what they were before.

 

All in all, Dennison's book is a good introduction to one of the most influential thinkers of all time. My criticism is that his prose is a little unnecessarily scholastic and lacks a natural, comfortable flow. There were also a few things I wish he would have touched on more significantly (a brief Biblical view of private property, further explanation of the depravity of mankind), but all in all, this short book definitely sparked my interest of getting into Marx a little deeper.