Cultural Marxism

Some Republicans think Cultural Marxism goes great with economic conservatism — they’re wrong. From Bill Muehlenberg:

Marx and Engels published The Communist Manifesto in 1848. The goal of worldwide revolution did not quite pan out during Marx’s lifetime. Indeed, it might have seemed to him that his hopes were not going to be realized. In fact, things weren’t looking too good when he died in 1883 and only a handful of people bothered to show up for his funeral.

Perhaps Marxism would have been buried with Marx back then, but he still had plenty of avid followers. His vision for the destruction of the West was still carried on by others. In the same year of his death a new movement was launched to continue his dreams.

The Fabians

The Fabian Society was established in 1883 to keep the dream alive. It had the same end in mind, but simply tweaked the means. It was dedicated to spreading socialism by evolution, rather than by revolution. As a clear indication of their new modus operandi, the symbol of the Fabians was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Many famous names can be mentioned here: John Maynard Keynes was a member of the British Fabian Society, and British socialists Sidney and Beatrice Webb were both early active members. And the group’s first pamphlet made clear their aims:

For the right moment you must wait, as [Roman General] Fabius did most patiently, when warring against Hannibal, though many censured his delays; but when the time comes you must strike hard, as Fabius did, or your waiting will be in vain, and fruitless.

It was still a full-fledged communist movement, with one early Fabian Socialist leader, George Bernard Shaw saying: “I am a Communist and always call myself so.” He made clear how subverting the system from within was their desired objective:

Our propaganda is one of permeating – we urged our members to join the Liberal and Radical Associations in their district, or, if they preferred it, the Conservative Associations – we permeated the party organizations and pulled all the strings we could lay our hands on with the utmost adroitness and energy, and we succeeded so well that in 1888 we gained the solid advantage of a Progressive majority full of ideas that would never have come into their heads had not the Fabians put them there.

Gramsci

Many other leaders in the cultural Marxist movement could be mentioned here, including the Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937).  In 1921 he cofounded the Italian Communist Party, but his hopes of a speedy revolution did not materialize.

He came to see that cultural forces, including Christianity, were standing in the way of the revolution. He realized that the most important mission for socialism was to ‘capture the culture’. Thus he began to speak of “the long march through the institutions”.

The revolution could be achieved by taking over the institutions of power and influence, such as the judiciary, education, the media, politics, and the churches. To achieve these aims, during the 1930s he wrote over 2000 pages on how to take down a Judeo-Christian culture from the inside. His influence has been great, as will be seen.

Frankfurt School

The Frankfurt School was established, not surprisingly, in Frankfurt, Germany in 1923 by the Hungarian Communist Georg Lukacs. A major goal of the Frankfurt School was to translate the economic terms and ideas of Marxism into cultural ones.

Read more: BarbWire.com