SMITH@SLACVM.BITNET (08/25/86)
In-Reply-To: POLI-SCI-REQUEST AT RED.RUTGERS.EDU -- 08/17/86, 16:21
More on Commutheism:
Keith Lynch says that communism has all the characteristics of a
religion and listed some of those characteristics. He should have
added two important dogmas of the philosophical underpinnings of
communism (i.e., Marxism) to his list:
1) All human attributes (even the moral sense --what one thinks
is right and wrong) are the result of economic evolution.
2) Uncompromising belief in the labor theory of value.
I have often had difficulty in believing that human action could
ever be understood in such terms, but still many people think
that such dogmas could form the basis for a `scientific' view
of `organizing' humanity. To me it just looks like a way of
disguising the more believable goal of `controlling' humanity
(for the sole gain of the Party). This is because 1) can be used
to discredit opposition because they `grew up that way'. As Marx
said in the manifesto--"those who disagree with communism on
religious, philosophical, economic, or ideological grounds are
not worthy of serious consideration". Also 2) is basically
an application of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics to the
citizenry in the form: You can't win--you can only break even &
we (i.e., the Party) won't let you break even either. Value is
really too subjective to be computed just on the basis of labor
involved --- unless making choices is `not allowed'.
J.R. Smith
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