Karl Marx the man – His Origins and Motivations
The ideas of Karl Marx have made a sizeable impact on the political and economic structures of societies in both the East and West over the past century. Marx is often voted as one of the world’s most influential thinkers and has influenced other political figures such as Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro and Pol Pot. Although Marx never held political office himself, in the 20th century the political figures he influenced sized power and installed dictatorships to ruthlessly subjugate populations to embrace Marxism. Every aspect of citizens’ lives was to be subject to Marxism. In the outer workings of society, this subjugation affected education, the workplace and whether there would be enough food to eat. In the inner workings of the individual, the very ideas in their heads and the words they were allowed to speak were controlled. There were no days off or corners to hide away from the spotlight. The only freedom was of that to obey the communist manifesto, created by the party elites. These elites were self-styled as the enlightened ones. All forms of authority structures found in entities such as the family unit, enterprise and employment, the Church, education, healthcare etc. were brutally oppressed. The voice of the Party was the only voice that mattered.
Karl Marx was born a German citizen (1818 –1883) and was a self-declared atheist and believed that theology must submit to the philosophical ideas of man. He primarily concerned himself with the struggle between the working and ruling classes with a belief that capitalism brought about oppression of the working class. As a political activist his aim was to bring down capitalism and usher in socialist policies.
Marxism – by Nature Anti-God, Anti Judeo-Christian Heritage
Given that Marx himself was a self-declared atheist it is unsurprising that all subsequent levels of Marxist expression from socialism-lite (politics on the Left) to full-blown tyrannical communism, are by nature anti-God. All expressions of a God of Creation are regarded as a “false consciousness”. Historically, within communist states there has been either outright brutal oppression of religion, or the permission of a state-controlled expression that ensures the organisation is sanitised of any its potency.
A Useful Exception – Socialist Tolerance of Religion in the West
However, outside of official communist states in the West there is a third approach. Here, socialism embraces certain non-Judeo-Christian religions as they are useful as a means to tear down the established order. An example of this is the pro-Islamic support voiced by politicians on the left in the Western world. The Western world is by and large, founded on Biblical principles and Judeo-Christian heritage is therefore a competing ideology that Marxist thought desires to erase. By being more accepting of the Islamic faith, even to the point of sympathising with terrorists, this propagates relativism (all-truths are equal) which has the hidden purpose of de-legitimising Judeo-Christian thought that has served us so well. It is no surprise that following the horrific massacre in Israel by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, there have been numerous reports in the western press that police forces have in part, turned a blind eye to the hate and intimidation expressed on our streets. Or that the leadership of higher education institutions are permissive of antisemitism. It is no surprise as our national institutions have been targeted by leftist agendas for decades. This targeting has successfully managed to re-engineer the cultural values of our institutions.
The Difference Between Old and New Marxism – Factory Owners MK II for the New Marxism
Marxism, due to its repeated failings to liberate nations and individuals has had to re-invent itself to propagate. Whatever system it finds itself in, it looks to find aggrieved minorities and promises them liberation if the system can be made to embrace its ideology.
The original historical context for the struggle was that of factory owners (ruling classes) who were unfairly treating their workers. Factory workers (the aggrieved group) were therefore pitted against the factory owners who were seen as capitalist oppressors. The promise was of a re-distribution of wealth to the workers. What happened in the 20th century with unfettered Marxism was complete and utter impoverishment that led to the mass starvation of hundreds of millions. Marxist discourse is selective with historical fact to meet its own ends. But despite this it remains tricky to circumnavigate the same dire outputs of every socialist experiment.
To get around these inconvenient facts, new factory owners (ruling classes) and factory workers (the oppressed) have to be found. The most recent Marxist reinventions that are in full swing today were incubated in the Universities of California in the 1960s. What started as Political Correctness has now evolved into an all-embracing politics of identity. The aggrieved groups are now fostered along the lines of race, gender and sexual expression. Those not embracing identity politics are therefore the new oppressive ruling classes.
Unmasking Marxism: Recognising encounters with New Marxism
Unmasking Marxism: The Weaponisation of Words and Linguistic Manipulation
Use of terms such as the following can indicate the presence of New Marxist thinking:
| Alienation | Colonial | Disadvantaged | Diversity |
| Empowered | Equity | Exclusion | Extremism |
| Fairness | Gender critical | Gender pronouns | Hate |
| Inclusion | Inequality | Marginalized | National |
| Offense | Oppression | Privilege | Racism |
| Redistribution | Sexism | Trigger | Whiteness / Blackness |
Note that some of these terms are to be rightly recognised as having a legitimate meaning outside of New Marxist thought. Racism is for example a legitimate concept that we need to be aware of and stand against. However, maths educators that state 2+2=4 have been considered racist by New Marxists. The difference here is the words “racist” or “racism” are taken away from their normal use and are transported into some kind of bent reality.
Due to the fact that Marxism needs to be adaptive to its environment to find relevance and opportunity for revolution, and that ideological words are its main tools, new words and phrases have to be created to suit the moment. Academic institutions continue to be a primary incubator of innovation in this respect. Words are therefore the primary weapon of Marxism. The ideology of political correctness is based upon what words can and cannot be used. Use of the wrong words violates the ideals and can lead to prosecution. In the case of hate speech, the wrong words spoken even when there is no hateful intent are gathered as evidence. The Marxist crime of “mis-gendering” is when for example, a schoolteacher refers to a boy as “him” who has self-identified as a “her”.
Language is manipulated to convey a message. For example, “gender critical” is an innovative term to categorise those who believe in the reality of biological sex i.e. male and female. “Critical” has negative associations. It follows that then those who are gender critical have somehow missed the mark and have got it wrong. “Climate denier” is a similar example as is the slur of “hate speech” referring those willing to exercise free-speech.
Unmasking Marxism: Revealing its Power Play Through Threats
Confrontations can be met with threats of social exclusion (cancel culture), loss of employment, or the cancellation of services (e.g. debanking) for vocalising against their accepted truth. Vocalised words alone are enough to illicit harsh responses; actions are not required to cause provocation.
Unmasking Marxism: Revolutionising the Narrative with New Perspectives and Contrarian Ideas
Ideas from the New Marxism present themselves as new and revelatory, yet they lack in joined up thought and reason. They are contradictory to proven historical experience. These ideas infer conventional historical wisdom is wrong (oppressive). What was bitter is now considered sweet, sweet is now bitter etc. Many non-Marxist-aligned commentators have noted that Marxist expression seeks to hate or deconstruct the country it finds itself in. This is done so that citizens loose faith in their heritage and can then be more easily re-programmed with the enlightened ideals.
Unmasking Marxism: Ideology Overruling the Core Mission of an Organisation
New Marxist ideologies can be pursued first and foremost, even to the detriment of the core mission of an organisation. For example, corporations such as the US brewery Anheuser-Busch, that exist to sell consumer goods deciding to promote transgender ideologies. In 2023 the company launched a campaign featuring beers cans with an image of Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender social media influencer. As far as we know, the company was not responding to the core voice of customers. The backlash was substantial, yet they disregarded complaints and marched forward with their promotion. Only following a sizeable impact to the Anheuser-Busch stock price did company executives sheepishly pull the campaign. What were they thinking? So, despite being organisations with the mission of making money from serving their customers, they will even put up with an impact to financial performance (at least for a while) to promote New Marxism. Another example would be healthcare organisations such as NHS Scotland, that refuse a blood donor if the donor does not go along with trans ideologies.
The New Marxism: The Gap Between the Promise and the Reality
New Marxist ideology promises freedom. Contrary to that, it has always delivered oppression.
Examples include:
Manifestations of New Marxism Today
Organisations susceptible to Marxism thinking have typically been those on the political left such as state institutions (central and local government), education and the arts/entertainment. However, in recent years large corporate companies have incorporated such thinking as part of a commitment to ESG and diversity. Here again, despite that neither their customers or employees have initiated a desire for such thinking, policies are set in motion that are not to be questioned. Anyone questioning can find themselves quickly out of a job as Marxist ideology trumps the commercial priorities of the business. Corporates selling to consumers who rely on a high advertising budget tend to be more affected; and corporates that have larger and left-leaning Human Resource departments.
Examples of Supporters of New Marxism:
Local Government – supporting political causes for which they have no remit – e.g. flying of flags by county and city councils in support of Palestine.
Devolved Government – the SNP (Scottish devolved government) trying to pass bills that make the state the ultimate authority for children, over and above parents.
Central Government – re-defining marriage. Making consultations to ban ”conversion therapy” in support of promoting an LGBT agenda. Legalising what can be considered state theft – e.g. inheritance tax. Excessive taxes. The socialisation of wealth. The ignoring of sound economic principles including money printing. More and more intrusion of the state into the lives of individuals and families. Restricting free speech. Implementing socially engineered agendas the electorate are not asking for nor have been consulted about.
Intranational Government – the WHO (World Health Organisation) issuing recommended syllabuses for promoting gender ideologies to young school children. Or the promotion of abortion and sexual perversion wrapped up in a human rights argument. Reports of the EU (European Union) quietly requesting Theresa May (UK Prime minister, 2016-2019) to enact gay marriage within the UK. The UN (United Nations) working to restrict religious liberty or handing out aid to countries on condition of them embracing their ideas (e.g. abortion with as few constraints as possible) – a hypocritical form of ideological colonisation. Semi-secretive and influential groups like the WEF (World Economic Forum) who gather the world’s elites to discuss policies behind closed doors, inaccessible to the media.
Large Corporates – use of transgender models to promote product.
Embracing of BLM (Black Lives Matter) causes by the BBC and other state media organisations. BLM are a self-declared Marxist-aligned organisation. De-funding the police (an authority structure) was a key aim that has since caused much destruction in the US. Not to mention sky-rocketing murder rates in cities whose leaders are under the spell of BLM.
Banking & Finance – closure of accounts without explanation for individuals and organisations that don’t line up with woke agendas.
The NHS (the state-owned UK National Health service). Aggressive promotion of LGBT ideologies. Dismissal of scientific fact. Dismissal of the nuclear family.
Entertainment & Media. Narratives often include agendas that deconstruct Judeo-Christian ethics and replace them with Marxist ethics.
Police Forces – arresting individuals for expressing free speech under the banner of “hate crimes”. Displaying support to the point of participation in gay pride events. Reports of leniency shown to supporters of leftist ideologies e.g. Hamas supporters, BLM and Just Stop Oil activists.
Primary & Secondary Education: promotion of LGBT ideology to children primary schools. Sacking teachers who merely question the syllabus.
Higher Education – revising history to put Western democracies in a negative light. Cancelling speakers. Squeezing in Marxist thought (gender, race) into any academic discipline as possible, even Mathematics. Incubating New Marxist ideas. Anti the Judeo-Christian tradition, Pro-Islam.
In Conclusion – Confronting Marxism in your Sphere of Influence
Given that Marxism believes itself to be morally superior and that it is only right to shut-down competing thought, merely speaking up is a great start. Since Marxism has not experienced any degree of success, it consequently has to re-invent or re-word itself to garner support. It cannot propagate itself with factual proofs or examples from history (this has to be avoided due to a dismal track record) and this presents us with an opportunity. The opportunity is to speak up and use economic and scientific fact, rational argument and compound these with examples from history where relevant. Add to this that we should avoid coming under the spell of New Marxism wherever it is manifested. By nature it is dictatorial. It wants you to become subject to it so don’t let it bully you.
Confronting New Marxism requires backbone. Your opinion and rationale will seldom be appreciated. This is especially so when they realise that their core tenants are being called into question. And, conversations are likely to have no noticeable effect at least in the short term. It may be that an individual who takes too much delight in railing against the established order as a favourite pastime will never abandon their thinking. But, the downward trend to wholeheartedly embrace New Marxism in organisations can be abated or even reversed if people will stand up and speak truth. By positioning ourselves with an attitude of perseverance and the knowledge that real truth sets people free, we can all have an effect in our homes, schools and places of work