By Mark Koscak
In 1921, Antonio Gramsci, a committed Marxist, organized the Italian Communist Party. Like all Marxists, his worldview was anti-God, anti-family, and anti-capitalist. Gramsci learned that western society with its Judeo-Christian foundation, and institutions built on this foundation, provided the stability that prevented the implementation of ideas like Marxism.
Gramsci realized that to implement Marxism in the West, his strategy would have to undermine the Christian worldview and its foundations. With this goal in mind, Gramsci developed a plan for a gradual, silent revolution based on deception. Manipulation and infiltration were key aspects of this strategy and also included a secret effort to have communist warriors invade positions of influence in universities, seminaries, government, media, and ultimately, each of the pillars of society. Gramsci realized this effort would take patience. He said it would take a “long march through the culture” to slowly discredit and undermine western society. He believed this slow revolution would eventually lead western society to fall apart, opening the way for totalitarian communism to rescue society from the mess.
Gramsci was just one of many Marxists who believed in the strategy of deception. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev visited the U.S. in 1959 and in a rare moment of candor shared the truth about his views when he said, “You Americans are so gullible! No, you won’t accept communism outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism. We won’t have to fight you. We’ll so weaken your economy until you’ll fall like overripe fruit into our hands.” In reality, Khrushchev was following in the steps of Gramsci and many other Marxists who believed in the strategy of deception, including Vladimir Lenin, who was forthright about the end game when he shared, “The goal of socialism is communism.”
The Root and Fruit of Marxism
Karl Marx said, “To be radical is to grasp things at the root.” As we grasp the root and the fruit of Marxism, it will reveal some radical differences from a biblical worldview.
Marx was an avowed atheist who was openly hostile to religion. He said, “I hate all gods!” He hated Christianity and everything related to it, and he denied the possibility of a soul, a creator, a purpose for life, and evil. A study of Marxism reveals the root of this worldview is atheism.
With Frederick Engels, Marx wrote a manifesto to the world that included the overthrow of capitalism, the abolition of private property, the elimination of the family, and the overthrow of all governments. From an economic viewpoint, Marx hated free markets, capitalism, and their roots in the Protestant Reformation.
Marx envisioned a new society of men without morals for guidance. He wanted to live in a classless and non-competitive society. His goal was to overthrow all existing governments, economies, and societies with Marxism.
Marx valued people only for what they could do for the state. In fact, in this worldview, the value of life is so low that over 100,000,000 people lost their lives due to the rise of Marxism/Communism in the 20th century. This is the fruit of Marxism.
If you look at the root of Marxism (atheism) and the fruit of it (death), you see it is a dangerous worldview. Compare this worldview with Christianity where the root is Jesus, and the fruit is life. As you look at the differences in these worldviews, you find a radical contrast!
In his book, How Should We Then Live, Francis Schaeffer said, “If we are to understand how we should live today, then we must understand the cultural and intellectual forces that brought us to this day.” One hundred years later, Gramsci’s and Marx’s goal of undermining the Christian worldview in the west is coming to fruition. Our Judeo-Christian foundations seem to be crumbling, and the anti-God, anti-family, and anti-capitalist views seem to be gaining ground.
The Bible warns us about deception. Galatians 6:7 tells us we reap what we sow. The education of our children, our grandchildren, and our neighbor’s children is one of the primary means of sowing a worldview. What worldview is being sown into the hearts and minds of your children through their education?
Mark Koscak has been the Director of Development at Providence Academy in Johnson City, TN for 17 years. Mark spent 20 years in the business world in various leadership positions before he was called full-time to raise funds for Providence Academy. He is the creator and director of the Christian Storytelling Concert (christianstorytellingconcert.com), a scholarship fundraiser that edifies the Christian community through story and song. Mark also helps a variety of other schools and ministries with their development programs. Mark is married to Beth, and they have two children who attend Liberty University.
RESOURCES Grave Influence by Brannon Howse The Naked Communist by W. Cleon Skousen God vs. Socialism by Joel McDurmon