Storming the Skies: Christianity Encounters Communism

In Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, a textbook prepared by Soviet scholars in Moscow and currently being used by members of the Communist Party, U.S.A., this statement appears:

Materialists do not expect aid from supernatural forces. Their faith is in man, in his ability to transform the world by his own efforts and make it worthy of himself.

Here, in essence, is a basic appeal of Communism—a powerfully deceptive yet attractive appeal—that Communism realizes the true dignity of man, enables him to reach the pinnacles of spiritual achievement not possible in any other way. The word “spiritual” is often used by Communist writers, as, for example, when the same textbook states:

In the proletariat the Marxist world outlook has found its material weapon, just as the proletariat has found in Marxism its spiritual weapon.

This Communist emphasis that Marxism-Leninism realizes the dignity of man is a constant refrain of Party literature. “The dominant characteristics of the Communist man,” one Party organ states, “will be an all-embracing humanity and comradeship, a higher sense of freedom, personal initiative and a creative approach to life.” Another Party writer proclaims that Communism “for the first time … gave man the realization of his dignity and intellect.” Nikita Khrushchev, speaking about the Program adopted last year by the Twenty-second Congress of the Russian Communist Party, stated:

The Program is permeated from beginning to end with one aim—“Everything for the sake of man, everything for the benefit of man.”

This exaltation of man, that is, Communist Man, as he allegedly will be trained by the Party, gives a dynamic power to Communism—a power which we overlook at our peril.

Why does it work to the advantage of the Communists? Because the Party, utilizing this appeal, claims—very falsely—that it is working for the welfare of the individual man, woman, and child. “The Communist Party … champions the … interests of the workers, farmers, the Negro people and all others who labor by hand and brain …,” proclaims the latest Party constitution. Party leaders tirelessly assert that Communism takes its stand to end the exploitation of man by man, of class by class, of group by group. “One who is a Communist does not easily affirm that he belongs among the great and millions-strong army of the known and the unknown Communists who … have organized the poor and down-trodden, the oppressed and the despised, the hated and the vilified … who have led in the building of magnificent societies, infinitely better than those they replaced, in one-third the globe. To count oneself part of this most noble and sacred company is no small thing.”

This theme in jingled even in the “poem” of a Chinese “revolutionary” writer who proclaims:

I walk through the street in fetters,

My aspiration becomes even loftier.

I risked a prisoner’s fate,

That workers and peasants may be free.

In this false appeal, the Communists are confronting-directly and openly—our religious traditions. Though the Party proclaims, in open propaganda in this country, that it has no quarrel with religion, it is in actuality saying: “Look, churchmen, you proclaim that you desire to help the poor, the underprivileged, the unhappy. You say that you want to see man grow in nobility. But what have you done? Nothing but make his lot even more miserable. Don’t you know that religion is based on superstition and folk tales? The Church is an inextricable thread in the fabric of capitalism, doomed to destruction along with that debased culture. You are not helping man, but actually degrading him. Admit that religion is an opiate, mere ‘spiritual gin,’ obscuring rather than solving the problems of human existence, making man weak and timid, instead of strong and vigorous.”

Whereas Western bourgeois ideology is caught in a desperate crisis of disbelief in man and the future of civilization, the Marxist-Leninist world outlook inspires a desire to work for noble social ideals.

Here is the measure of the Communist thrust against the Church today. Here is the fanaticism of the Chinese Communist poet who wrote:

The enemy can only cut off our heads,

He cannot shake our faith,

For the doctrine we hold

Is the truth of the universe.

Or the Party poet who proclaimed:

We are young Bolsheviks,

Everything about us is like iron and steel:

Our thinking,

Our speech,

Our discipline!

The Plight Of Communist Man

Perhaps, however, that young poet, in his Communist enthusiasm, unwittingly betrays the inner meaning of the Marxist-Leninist exaltation of man when he uses the words “everything about us is like iron and steel.” For, indeed, if we look penetratingly at the Communist profession of faith in man, in its alleged concern for the plight of the human personality, we find a ghastly chamber of clanking iron and rusty steel. Communism, in actuality, is completely uninterested in man as an individual, as a living entity, as a child of God. The tragic irony of this mid-twentieth century decade is the heart-rending dichotomy between the vaunted claims of Communism to exalt man and its actual relentless and perverse subjugation of him to inhuman tyranny, with millions of men, women, and children behind the Iron Curtain being encased in a Communist strait jacket of conformity, meaninglessness, and spiritual impotence, all in the name of making man the master of his fate!

Here is the Communist confrontation of the Christian church. Communism is a false secular religion. As such, it is attempting to expropriate the outgoing love, concern, and humanitarianism which, over the years, have been the inner heart of the Christian faith. Though bitterly atheistic, Communism claims to bring to a higher degree of perfection basic moral principles than does the Church! In the name of love it is forging chains of hate; in the name of humanitarianism it is fashioning inhumanity; in the name of freedom it is imposing tyranny.

Actually, both in Communist theory and Communist practice, man is viewed not as an exalted but as a servile creature. The Soviet authors of Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, in a discussion of materialism and idealism, say: “Man is only a particle of multiform nature.” “What has raised him high above the level of the animal world?” ask the authors. The answer is explicit—and herein lies the true Communist conception of man: “His life and labor as a member of society.”

Under Communism man is not an individual, a child of God, endowed with certain inalienable rights, who can make a distinctive contribution to society, who is sacred because he bears the Divine Image.

No, this “particle of multiform nature” assumes value because “it” exists as a member of society, as a part of the collective, as a part of the larger social mass. The Communist thinks of man not as an entity with respect within himself, but only as a tool. What can he contribute to the ongoing ambitions of the state? What can he produce? And how fast? How can he help the revolutionary cause? What can he do to carry out the will of the Party? He is a utilitarian statistic, a production gauge.

Hence, Communism treats man as a thing rather than a person; as a material substance to be indoctrinated, manipulated, and directed for the revolutionary movement rather than as an individual with inherent dignity of his own.

This leads to tyranny. Communist policies of state are determined not by what is good for the individual, but by what is paramount for the state; not in terms of what can be done to increase the creative power of the citizen as a child of God, but in terms of how that person can best advance the interests of the Party. Communism is not genuinely interested in the inner feelings of man—his loves, his fears, his hopes. Sympathy is considered a weakness; sentiment, a bourgeois “hangover.” The true Communist Man is one who puts aside “childish” things, such as personal interests, and labors obediently for the state. The “morality” of Communism demands that the individual give unstintingly of his time, talents, and energy, never asking how he personally will benefit:

A Party member should unreservedly submit to the interests of the Party. He should be strict with himself and public-spirited and should have no personal aims or considerations.

Under Communism the fight is always against what is called “individualism”—the tendency of the individual to think and act in his own personal interests rather than those of the Party. The Communists, asserts Ho Chi Minh, President of North Viet Nam, in a lecture recently reprinted in Political Affairs, organ of the Communist Party, U.S.A., must always “come to grips with the enemy within: individualism.”

The Church’S Great Task

The Church today has a vital responsibility in unmasking the false pretensions of Communism to be the exalter of man, the source of the ennobling virtues of love, justice, and humanitarianism. A demonic secular morality, clothed with phrases stolen from our Judaic-Christian heritage, must not be allowed to pose as the spiritual fount of man’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations. More than any other institution, the Church is in a position to rip aside this false posture, to expose these Communist teachings for what they really are—a swindle of incredible proportions.

At this Christmas season, we might ask, “What can Christians do to answer the false claim that only in dialectical materialism can man find the true grandeur of his spirit?”

1. Know what you believe as a Christian. Far too many church members today are not sufficiently cognizant of what they believe as Christians. The Communists know for what they stand. Do we as Christians?

2. Attend church and Sunday school regularly. Make worship and the study of God’s Word a part of your daily life.

3. Be a personal witness for your faith. In Communism, we are facing a dynamic, dedicated ideology. “To sacrifice … even one’s life without the slightest hesitation and even with a feeling of happiness, for the cause of the Party … is the highest manifestation of Communist ethics.” Christians must live as men of God, standing firm on their beliefs, making their lives shine in the service of the Creator.

4. Take seriously the Christian mission of love, justice, and truth, which is the inner heart of the Gospel’s teachings. By our prayers, our personal witness, our daily lives, we should make the light of the Church shine so brightly that the false pretensions of Communism to represent these virtues will wither away.

5. Live that optimism and hope which are inherent in the Christian faith. The Communists are geared for a long fight. “We clearly understand that the cause of Communism is a ‘100-year great task.’ We must fulfill the great mission which historical evolution has devolved upon us.” Christians have a faith which gives strength, courage, and vision. Never must they allow the fanaticism of the Communists to surpass their own dedication and evangelism.

Reporting to the Twenty-second Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev proclaimed—with great enthusiasm—that the Communists were “storming the skies”—“in the figurative and in the literal sense of the word.”

Yes, “storming the skies” they are—not only by Sputniks but by denying the Supreme Creator of all the universe.

But in this defiance, they are writing their own epitaphs—the doom of tyranny and inhumanity.

Here is our hope—and our challenge.

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