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Introduction
In his book on the American Civil Liberties Union, Alan Sears of the
Alliance Defense Fund writes that one of the great myths of the 20th
century is that the ACLU started out as a good, patriotic, pro-liberty
organization that somehow strayed off-course. The truth, however, is that
when we look at its history, the evidence shows something quite different.
From the beginning, the ACLU had a definite agenda: to undermine the
foundations of traditional American culture through the manipulation and
exploitation of our legal system.
Likewise, a similar case can be made idealistic notions, Political Correctness is nothing
regarding the origins and the agenda of Political less than an orchestrated attack on Western
Correctness. For many Americans, Political civilization. Its primary targets include (1)the
Correctness is a merely a vague term used to Christian faith and moral values, which cultural
characterize a variety of random ideas and causes liberals believe perpetuate repression, intolerance
with no particular unifying features other than the and arrogant exclusivity; and (2)non-liberal white
fact that they are liberal and new. Or as people particularly white males whom they
Dinesh DSouza has noted, PC ideas and causes believe to be the source of most of the worlds
often seem scattered and unconnected. exploitation and violence.
Otherwise, the assumption is that these ideas and For critics of Political Correctness, it is a
causes are well-intentioned if sometimes a bit pejorative term used to describe ideas, words,
extreme, hyper-sensitive or even silly. But a closer policies and behavior that are considered offensive
look at the history of Political Correctness reveals and inappropriate by the liberal cultural elites who
something quite different. Although sometimes dominate the education institutions, the media
referred to as cultural liberalism, it is more establishments, and much of popular culture in
accurately an expression of cultural Marxism. contemporary American life. For PC advocates,
Far from being just a random collection of labeling certain thoughts, speech and actions
1
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 2
politically incorrect is an effective way to censor the inference being that the federal government
dissenting views or prohibit anything that they was merely the agent of the states and of the
consider... American people.
Out-dated or too traditional; In modern use, scholars trace the term to Mao
Insensitive or discriminatory toward Zedongs Little Red Book [See Ruth Perry, A
certain minorities the requires special Short History of the Term Politically Correct in
protection usually defined as blacks, Patricia Aufderheide, Beyond PC: Toward a Politics
Hispanics, feminist women, homosexuals, of Understanding (1992).] Prior to Mao, the concept
and non-Christians (hence, the emphasis of Political Correctness was used by Bolsheviks to
on left-wing indoctrination programs such suppress all opposing speech and actions that
as diversity training workshops); or strayed from the official Communist Party line.
Unprogressive (i.e., non-liberal) either Since the Party supposedly represented the
politically, socially, or religiously. people, anything that dissented from Communist
The PC obsession with group identity and its orthodoxy was counter-revolutionary,
efforts to grant special protection status to certain politically incorrect, and therefore intolerable.
kinds of people is the basis for the recent trend in In the 1960s the term was adopted by the
hate crimes legislation whereby perpetrators are radical New Left to silence its critics. According
punished for their motives (i.e., their attitudes to New Left ideology, traditional conservative
toward their victims) rather than simply for what beliefs and practices were innately
they have done. Violating the Constitutional authoritarian, repressive, unprogressive,
guarantee of equal justice under the law, hate and therefore unworthy of toleration. In a 1970
crimes legislation imposes stiffer punishments essay, The Black Woman, Toni Cade Bambara
for crimes committed against certain preferred declared that a man cannot be politically correct
social groups, which is a form of discriminatory and a [male] chauvinist too. The concept of
injustice that is unprecedented in American Political Correctness was also used to shield
history. Furthermore, the simple act of criticizing certain minority groups from unfair stereotyping
someone who belongs to one of these specially or insensitive labeling. For example, in the 1960s
protected groups is sometimes deemed a hate the traditional terms colored people and
crime. As William Lind has noted... Negroes were phased out in favor of blacks
For the first time in our history, and then Afro-Americans, which later was
Americans have to be fearful of what they amended to African-Americans or even people
say, of what they write, and of what they of color.
think. They have to be afraid of using the
In the 1990s, due to its association with radical
wrong word, a word [considered] offensive
or insensitive, or racist, sexist, or left-wing ideas, the term political correctness
homophobic.... was used pejoratively by conservatives and
[Unless it is defeated, Political moderates in response to radical left-wing efforts
Correctness] will eventually destroy... to suppress free speech and conduct. In a 1991
everything that we have ever defined as our commencement speech at the University of
freedom and our culture. [William S. Lind, Michigan, President George H. W. Bush noted
The Origins of Political Correctness. the growing movement on campuses to declare
Www.academia.org/lectures.]
certain topics... expressions... [and] even certain
gestures off-limits. Similarly, in The Death of the
The Evolution of a Term West, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan
The term politically correct has been around wrote that Political Correctness is cultural
for a while, but its meaning has changed over Marxism, a regime to punish dissent and to
times. It was first used in an early Supreme Court stigmatize social heresy as the Inquisition
case, Chisholm v. State of Georgia (1793), in which punished religious heresy. Its trademark is
the Court declared that references to the United intolerance.
States rather than the People of the United Even liberal Newsweek magazine, in a 1990
States was not politically correct. In this sense, cover story on the new Thought Police, noted
the Court was simply declaring that the United the Marxist roots of Political Correctness:
States as a legal entity was technically improper
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 3
reality is that cultures like religions, protect the victims of social injustice from those
political systems and individual human who would exploit them.
beings are all different, and some are 9. The Sociological Orientation.
obviously better than others. The ideology Individualism is a threat to social harmony.
of multi-culturalism, however, promotes a Politics is about group identity, and people are
left-wing socio/political agenda that defined primarily by their race, ethnicity, class,
denigrates the uniqueness of Western religion, sex, and sexual orientation.
civilization and the Judeo-Christian 10. (All cultures may be equally valid, but...)
heritage in order to pave the way for a Western civilization sucks. Throughout history,
radically new kind of society and culture Western civilization and culture have been
based on secular humanistic values.] marked by racism, sexism, homophobia,
Inclusion. No individual or group has a conquest, violence, cultural imperialism,
right to discriminate against anyone else for oppression, exploitation, religious bigotry, etc.
any reason. However, in order to rectify Capitalism, which is based on greed and
past injustices, cultural liberals sometimes exploitation, is unjust and unfair. Traditional
find it expedient to curtail the civil liberties Christianity has been exclusive, intolerant,
of traditionalists and cultural conservatives repressive and oppressive.
such as in the case of hate speech, for
example. A Marxist Dialectic
Religious pluralism. All religions are Contemporary Political Correctness is a form
manmade, and to the extent that there is of cultural Marxism that is derivative of a
any truth or value in any them, all religions naturalistic (atheistic) worldview and a Secular
are (more or less) equally valid (or invalid). Humanistic philosophy. As discussed below,
6. Education and Social Transformation. The Political Correctness follows the Marxist dialectic
primary purpose of education is not to accumulate in terms of its views on history, society,
knowledge and acquire skills but to become a authoritarianism, expropriation and the
useful and productive citizen. redistribution of wealth, tolerance, and sexual
The key to social and political transformation politics.
is through Politically Correct education, a form of Secular Humanism. As an atheist with a
indoctrination that frees people from traditional naturalistic worldview, Karl Marx was
prejudices so as to create a new kind of society. If contemptuous of religion in general and
properly educated [actually, indoctrinated], Christianity in particular. In this regard he was
citizens today can be more enlightened and influenced particularly by the writings of Ludwig
socially-conscious than people in the past. Feuerbach (1804-72), who in The Essence of
7. The Educated Liberal Elite. Those who Christianity (1841) put forth the theory that
have been properly educated in the values of religion is a purely human invention and a
cultural liberalism are the intellectual elite and the generally negative influence because it distracts
natural leaders in society. This is the elite class man from what is real by focusing his attention on
that dominates politics, the legal system, an imaginary afterlife. In the Communist Manifesto
education, the media, social services, the (1848), Marx echoed these sentiments with
entertainment industry, and religious higher comments such as Religion is the opiate of the
education. Although committed to tolerance and people and Man is the supreme being for man.
egalitarian democracy, the liberal elite have the As a militant atheist, Marx failed to appreciate
right and the responsibility to lead others into that religion (or more correctly, the yearning for
correct paths of thinking and living. transcendence) is a basic human need. Intrisically,
8. Social Consciousness. Individualism is we want to know where we came from, why
bad, and people should think and act in the were here, and what becomes of us when we die
interests of the commonweal (the common good questions for which naturalism has no answers.
of society). However, no one should impose Furthermore, religion provides a basis for
his/her moral values on others except for the morality and social concern by challenging us to
liberal elite class which has the responsibility to go above and beyond our own personal interests.
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 5
This is why, in general, people of faith are the it did tend to shift the focus of life somewhat from
most charitable and benevolent people in the a God-centered perspective to one that celebrated
world. In addition, numerous studies confirm that human creativity, human needs, and human self-
religious people are generally more happy, well- fulfillment. But for the next several centuries it
adjusted, and emotionally stable than non- was a generally innocuous term, and many of the
believers. great scholars and intellectuals of the late-
Marxs medieval and early-modern eras described
utopian themselves as Christian humanists.
Communistic During the period of the Enlightenment,
society was in however, the concept of humanism took a
some respects a decidedly secular turn. Enlightenment philosophes
secularized tended to look to pre-Christian classical culture
version of the for intellectual inspiration and their model of the
Kingdom of God ideal society, and for many of these thinkers
a harmonious Christianity represented institutionalized religious
and cooperative repression, theological dogmatism, and
community but antiquated superstition. Unfortunately, traditional
without God. status quo Christianity was not up to the
Blinded by his intellectual challenges of the day, and as Os
prejudices, Marx Guinness has noted in The Dust of Death, As the
omitted the one factor and the one power that 18th century came to a close, all the wisdom and
could actually transcend human selfishness, all the wit apparently lay on the side of the
egoism and conflict, which is why Communistic Enlightenment.
societies have been among the most tyrannical A half-century later, in the mid-1800s, science
and brutal in all of human history. also appeared to turn against traditional Biblical
Marx held a cynical and unbalanced view of faith. The old geocentric theory of the universe
Christianity and Christian history that distorted had already been refuted for nearly 300 years in
reality. While he was correct in observing that the work of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and
religion (including nominal Christianity) has often others, and now, with Darwin, biology also
been used by the rich and the powerful to serve appeared to turn against the belief that humanity
their own interests and preserve the status quo, he is a special creation of God. Instead, evolution
failed to appreciate that the Gospel of Jesus Christ i.e., nature was thought to replace God as
is a message of liberation. When clearly and the explanatory cause of all that exists.
honestly proclaimed, it actually confronts and Furthermore, it didnt help that the new social
condemns the forces of exploitation and sciences of historical and textual criticism
oppression that have plagued all societies and appeared to cast serious doubts on the divine
cultures throughout time. inspiration of the Bible. As a result, many
Secular Humanism as a man-centered Christians, not wanting to be left behind,
philosophy that derives from a naturalistic abandoned traditional Biblical beliefs for modern
worldview. Historically, it dates back to classical theories and philosophies more compatible with
Greece in particular, to the Sophist philosophers science and modern thought.
who replaced the traditional pantheistic/pagan Since the dawn of Christianity, but especially
worldview with an anti-religious one. Sophism in modern times under the influence of
was best summarized by Protagoras in his famous Feuerbach, Darwin, Marx and Freud, there has
dictum, Man is the measure of all things (in always been within naturalism a special hostility
contrast to the gods being the measure of all toward the Christian faith. At the turn of the 20th
things). century this antipathy was most explicitly
One of the first references to the term expressed by Friedrich Nietzsche in works such as
humanism was in Renaissance era, and as The Anti-Christ, in which he railed:
originally used it had no anti-religious intentions. I condemn Christianity: I bring against
Essentially, Renaissance humanism honored the the Christian Church the most terrible of all
dignity and the sacredness of human life, although the accusations that an accuser has ever
had in his mouth. It is, to me, the greatest of
all imaginable corruptions; it seeks to work
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 6
overthrow their capitalistic oppressors, and old problem of class envy and class conflict:
establish a pure communistic (classless) society John Adams: In every society where
based on the egalitarian principle, From each property exists there will ever be a struggle
according to his ability to each according to his between rich and poor.
need. James Madison, writing in The Federalist:
However, the transition from competitive The most common... source of [conflict]
capitalism to cooperative communism wouldnt has been the various and unequal
occur overnight, as human beings have been distribution of property.
conditioned historically to think and act Abraham Lincoln, writing in 1837: These
individualistically rather than cooperatively. The capitalists generally act harmoniously, and
evolution toward a pure classless society must be in concert, to fleece the people.
guided by a dictatorship of the proletariat, an Of course, the massive social and economic
elite class of enlightened intellectuals (such as upheavals brought on by the emergence of
Marx, for instance) who would socially engineer modern capitalism and Industrial Revolution only
the process. exacerbated classist biases and tensions, as Marx
Anticipating postmodernism, Politically correctly noted in the Communist Manifesto:
Correct Neo-Marxism is predicated on the belief Society as a whole is more and more
that all history is driven by power relationships. splitting up into two great hostile camps:
Certain groups defined by race, religion, sex and Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.
class dominate others that are the victims of A decade before Marx, the platform of the
oppression and injustice. In order to create an Working Mens Republican Political Association
equal and just society, the liberal elite class in of Penn Township, Pennsylvania stated the same
particular, politicians, judges, educators, theme:
entertainers, and the media must mold public There appear to exist two distinct
opinion and promote legislation and values that classes, the rich and the poor; the
moves society toward the liberal utopian ideal. oppressed and the oppressor; those that
Social Theory. Sociologically-based live by their own labor and they that live by
the labor of others; the aristocratic and the
stereotyping, social polarization and class conflict
democratic; the despotic and the
(and even class warfare) are integral aspects of republican, who are in direct opposition to
classical Marxist social theory. Classical Marxism one another in their objects and pursuits.
divided society into good and bad people
Likewise, consider the Populist Manifesto of
along broad socio/economic lines. The good
1892:
were the productive classes i.e., the proletariat
On the one side are the allied hosts of
class of common laborers, factory workers, the monopolies, the money power, great
artisans, farmers and peasants who worked with trusts and railroad corporations, who seek
their hands. The bad were the predatory the enactment of laws to benefit them and
exploiters the bourgeoisie class, the capitalists, impoverish the people; on the other are the
industrialists, bankers, managers, landlords, farmers, laborers, merchants, and all other
clergy, etc. people who produce wealth and bear the
In contemporary Neo-Marxist thought, this burdens of taxation....
kind of simplistic social stereotyping is Throughout his extended political career,
perpetuated, except that now the good are the William Jennings Bryan often echoed these same
victimized minorities feminist women, blacks, sentiments:
Hispanics, homosexuals, etc. and the bad are On the one side stand the corporate
white males, non-feminist white females and interests of the U.S., the moneyed interests,
Christians. aggregated wealth and capital, imperious,
The division of humanity along broad arrogant, compassionless....
sociological lines rather than according to Like Bryan, Mary Lease was another Populist
individual character has been a recurring theme firebrand orator in the 1890s:
since ancient times, but it usually has been cast in Wall Street owns the country. It is no
economic terms. Racial and sexual politics is a longer a government of the people, by the
uniquely 20th century concept. But long before people and for the people, but a government
of Wall Street, by Wall Street and for Wall
Marx, notable Americans commented on the age-
Street.
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 8
The turn of the 20th century was a time of great their character. This should be the ideal, but it
reform movements as both the Populists and the would hinder the goals of the cultural Marxists
Progressives challenged the traditional who want to radically change American society
socio/economic status quo. Although their and culture through persistent agitation. A key
emphases were different, the Populist/Progressive tactic in their assault on traditional American
coalition pushed a broad-based agenda calling for values and institutions is the perpetuation of racial
cleaner government and less political corruption; and sexual politics.
female suffrage and a more democratic political Authoritarianism. Theoretically, the ultimate
system; governmental regulation of trusts and goal of Marxism has always been a classless (or
corporations; a healthier and safer work communistic) society in which everyone is equal.
environment; better pay and shorter hours for Since this goal defies the realities of human
workers; consumer protection legislation; nature, it takes a special class of people in society
disability insurance and pension plans for with the power to impose egalitarianism on
workers; women and child labor laws; and laws to everyone else. In Marxs writings, he called this
limit the workday to 10 hours. As one reformer interim phase between the fall of capitalism and
put it, The real heart of the movement is to use the dawn of communism the Dictatorship of the
the government as an agency of human welfare. Proletariat. Naturally, he inferred that this was a
Many of the most outstanding Americans of benevolent dictatorship (at least, benevolent after
the era were caught up in the great humanitarian all the counter-revolutionaries in society had
and reform causes of the day, and bourgeois been liquidated), but for the hundreds of millions
progressives such as Helen Keller often sounded who have had to endure Communist
as radical as the socialists: Dictatorships of the Proletariat in places like the
This country is governed for the richest, for Soviet Union, China, Eastern Europe, Cuba,
the corporations, the bankers, the land North Korea and elsewhere, it has been anything
speculators, and for the exploiters of labor.... but benevolent.
There is a natural competition and conflict Like their patriarch Marx, Neo-Marxists are
between these competing groups that can only
convinced that those who oppose their agenda are
be resolved by a survival of the fittest.
witless traditionalists with no social consciousness
In the early 20th century the main difference and no regard for social justice. Therefore, the
between middle-class reformers such as Jane cultural elite class has a moral responsibility to
Addams or Helen Keller and socialists such as protect the victims of social injustice the poor,
Eugene Debs was a matter of degree, not kind. racial and ethnic minorities, feminists,
But although their rhetoric often sounded alike, homosexuals, radical left-wing political
there was at least one fundamental philosophical ideologues, et al. from the bigotry and
difference between them. Many Progressive exploitation of troglodyte conservatives.
humanitarians believed capitalism could be Furthermore, because their cause is so
reformed and made humane under proper righteous, the cultural elite is justified in using any
government regulation, unionization, and new means necessary to suppress dissent and control
technological innovations. Furthermore, they did society and culture for the common good of the
not believe, as did the socialists and Marxists, that people. Therefore, a certain amount of
there is an inevitable and unreconcilable conflict censorship is necessary in order to suppress
of interests between the bourgeoisie and the politically incorrect opinions in the interest of a
proletariat classes. In time, of course, this proved more fair, just and harmonious society as
to be generally true as decade-by-decade the defined by the cultural elite, of course.
working conditions, incomes, and standard-of- Theory of Expropriation and the
living for the working classes gradually improved. Redistribution of Wealth. Classical Marixism
Social and economic progress is not a zero- taught that following the revolution, the
sum game in which someone must lose whenever proletariat had the right to expropriate the land,
someone else wins. In an equal opportunity factories, and other property of the bourgeoisie.
society in which all race- and gender-based legal Of course, in the initial stages all land had to be
restrictions have been eliminated, it is possible (so expropriated by the state and the Peoples Party
far as any manmade system allows) to have a (i.e., the Communist Party) until the Dictatorship
truly trans-racial and trans-gender society wherein of the Proletariat had prepared the masses to
people succeed or fail according to the quality of
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 9
transition into a pure communist society. But at Furthermore, it wasnt just radical reformers
least theoretically, an essential component of the and socialists who expressed outrage over the
theory of expropriation was the redistribution of disparity between the privileged elite and the
wealth and power in order to punish the rich for common working classes. In 1886 the writer and
their sins and reward the victims of social social commentator, Samuel Clemens (Mark
injustice. To rally support among the working Twain) wrote...
classes for a Communist revolution, Marx called Who are the oppressors? The few: the
for a heavy progressive or graduated income tax king, the capitalist and a handful of other
along with the abolition of all rights of overseers and superintendents. Who are
inheritance, but ultimately his aim was to the oppressed? The many: the nations of
the earth; the valuable persons; the workers;
confiscate the wealth of the capitalists and the
they that make the bread that the soft-
bourgeoisie and redistribute it to the common handed and idle eat. Why is it right that there
folks, as he wrote in the Communist Manifesto: is not a fairer division of the [resources] all
The distinguishing feature of around? Because laws and constitutions
Communism is... the abolition of bourgeois have ordered otherwise. Then it follows that
property.... Modern bourgeois private laws and constitutions should change and
property is the final and most complete say there shall be a more nearly equal division.
expression of the system of producing and
appropriating products, that is based on In our day, the enforcers of Political
class antagonisms, on the exploitation of Correctness have taken the classical Marxist
the many by the few. theme of expropriation and redistribution of
The expropriation and redistribution of wealth wealth and turned it into a racial (and sometimes
is perennially popular since it exploits the class gender-based) spoils system in education,
envy that is present in virtually all societies government and major corporations. Once PC
throughout history. Among the poor and the zealots are entrenched in a university, a
working classes, there has always been the government bureaucracy or a corporation, they
tendency to view the rich and the powerful with often implement an expropriation program under
fear and loathing. In some societies, of course, the the guise of diversity and enforce it through
class antagonism is considerably more justified, Affirmative Action quotas. When initiated in the
but even in the most free and open societies it will 1970s, the concept of Affirmative Action was
always be a source of contention. Consider the promoted as a way to compensate for past
following comments by the Populist organizer injustices. In some cases there was some merit in
Ignatius Donnelly in 1894: this attempt to level the playing field, but as
This government was founded by plain time goes on such programs merely perpetuate a
men, not millionaires. But we now have racial (or gender-based) spoils systems. Rather
two parties arrayed against each other, than individual merit and competence being the
Aristocracy against Commonality. Thirty decisive factors in admissions, hiring and
thousand families own one half of the promotions, race, ethnicity or gender (or in some
wealth of this country, and they have no cases, sexual preference) now becomes the
part in producing it. They have stolen it from primary criterion.
the labor and toil that has produced the Selective Tolerance. In classical Marxism,
nation.
the bourgeoisie were castigated as counter-
Similarly, the American socialist Eugene Debs revolutionaries and enemies of the people. As
was passionate in decrying the vast disparity vile exploiters, they were entitled to no rights.
between the incomes and lifestyles of the rich and Today, PC Marxists promote racial- and gender-
poor: based cultural diversity as a method by which
I am opposing a social order in which it they can break the social and economic
is possible for one man who does absolutely domination of white males.
nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of
As mentioned previously, the left poses as the
millions of dollars while million of men and
women who work all the days of their lives champions of tolerance, but in reality they are
secure barely enough for a wretched only selectively tolerant when it comes to real
existence. diversity. They have no interest in ideological
diversity if it includes Christians, social
conservatives or moral traditionalists.
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 10
agenda, such as Henry Louis Gates, a literature Western civilization has survived the
professor at Duke (later, Harvard), who invasions of Genghis Khan from the East,
commented in 1991: the Ottoman Empire from the South, and
Ours was the generation that took over two world wars originating from within. But
buildings in the late sixties and demanded whether it will survive its own intellectuals is
the creation of black- and womens-studies much more doubtful.
programs, and now, like the return of the The battlefront is everywhere, but
repressed, we have come back to challenge especially where the young are being taught
the traditional curriculum. [Quoted in DSouza, from the elementary school to the
Illiberal Education. The Atlantic Monthly (March university. The sins of the human race are
1991), p. 56.] being taught to them as the special
depravities of the United States or of
Expanding on this theme, Gates identified a
Western civilization.
rainbow coalition of blacks, leftists, feminists, Deep thinkers like to talk about such
deconstructionists, and Marxists who have things as the oppression of women in
infiltrated academia and are now ready to take Western society when in fact women
control. It will not take long, he predicted. As have had a much lower position in Islamic
the old guard retires, we will be in charge. Then, cultures... and girl babies were often
of course, the universities will become more routinely killed in parts of Asia. It was a
liberal politically. [Ibid., p. 71.] Western nation Britain which put an
Here is a similar testimony from Jay Purini, a end to the burning of widows alive on their
professor of English at Middlebury College: husbands funeral pyres in India.
Slavery is of course the trump card of
After the Vietnam War, a lot of us didnt
critics of Western civilization. But the tragic
just crawl back into our library cubicles; we
fact is that this abomination has existed on
stepped into academic positions. With the
every continent in inhabited by man. The
war over, our visibility was lost, and it seemed
pyramids were built by slaves.... [and]
for a while to the unobservant that we had
Slavery existed in both North and South
disappeared. Now we have tenure, and the
America before the first white man set foot
hard work of reshaping the universities has
in the Western Hemisphere....
begun in earnest. [Ibid., p. 57.]
It was precisely in the West notably in
Academics such as Annette Kolodny, a former England that a moral revulsion against
Berkeley radical and now the dean of the slavery and a movement to stamp it out
humanities faculty at the University of Arizona, everywhere developed in the late 18th
are often quite open regarding their political century.
agenda. According to Kolodny, I see my Gross double standards in judging
scholarship as an extension of my political Western and non-Western cultures have
become so commonplace among
activism. Typical of this mentality is Frederick
intellectuals that few seem to notice it
Jameson of Duke, who describes his academic anymore....
mission as the creation of a Marxist culture in Those who habitually use such double
this country, to make Marxism an unavoidable standards... are some of the most fortunate
presence in American social, cultural and and pampered people in Western society,
intellectual life, in short to form a Marxist including both highly paid media intellectuals
intelligentsia for the struggles of the future. The and academics with soft schedules and
deconstructionist J. Hillis Miller is even more numerous perks. Why these should be
expansive, claiming that his goal is nothing less among the most venomous critics of the
than demolishing beyond hope of repair the West and the most blindly one-sided is
no doubt a long and complex story.
machine of Western metaphysics.
However, spoiled brats have seldom been
Thomas Sowell, a senior fellow at the Hoover noted for their gratitude. [Will Western
Institution of Stanford University, is convinced Civilization Survive Intellectuals Attack?
that the greatest threat to Western civilization Marietta Daily Journal (Oct. 4, 1987), p. 2D.]
comes not from Communist China or Islamic
Jihadism or any other external threat, but from
within specifically, in the elite media and within
our own universities. In the following comments,
Sowell asks, Can Western civilization survive its
own intellectuals?
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 13
Marxism and the Great War war dragged on, the Kaisers government grew
Karl Marx predicted that when the next great less tolerant of dissidents, and both Luxemburg
European war erupted, the working classes and Leibnecht were imprisoned for the last 2
throughout Europe would rise up and revolt years of the war for treasonous activities.
against their capitalist oppressors and the In January 1919 a general strike by workers
bourgeois politicians who controlled these flooded the streets of Berlin with protesters, and
governments. According to Marx, a general the demonstrations quickly turned into street
European war was inevitable because capitalist battles between militants and the Weimar
nations are constantly competing for control of government. Once the violence erupted and blood
vital raw materials and natural resources that feed was shed, the revolt was joined by various left-
their industrial factories. He assumed that when wing groups such as the Independent Social
war came, the class consciousness of the workers Democratic Party (USPD), the Spartacist League,
in the various countries would overcome any and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
patriotic sentiments they felt, and that poor, The government responded by calling in a
oppressed factory workers in Britain and France crack militia regiment, the Freikorps, to quell the
would feel a greater sense of solidarity with uprising, and over a four-day period hundreds of
workers in Germany than with their own upper protesters were slaughtered. At some point in the
classes. melee, both Luxemburg and Leibnecht were
The long-anticipated Great War finally broke arrested and summarily executed.
out in 1914, but to the dismay of Europes Meanwhile, a second revolution was taking
socialists, the masses of workers joined up and place in Bavaria under the direction of the
fought for their country just as theyd always done Marxist politician and journalist, Kurt Eisner.
in the past. But Marx was right about one thing: Like Luxemburg and Leibnecht, Eisner had been
just as he had predicted, the war was an incarcerated during the war for treason. Upon his
unmitigated disaster for European civilization as release from prison near the end of the war, he
it destroyed the fragile political, social, and organized a revolution in Bavaria that overthrew
economic stability of the continent. the monarchy, and he and his supporters declared
Bavaria a free state. A coalition of Communists
Aborted Revolutions in Germany and socialists elected Eisner the prime minister of
In the wake of World War I, two independent the Bavarian Socialist Republic, but in January
Communist uprisings in Germany threatened to 1919 his party was defeated at the polls. A month
topple the newly-established Weimar Republic. later, as he was on his way to present his
In Berlin, the Spartacist Uprising erupted in resignation to the Bavarian parliament, Eisner
January 1919, less than three months after the was assassinated.
official end of the war. Although the revolt wasnt With the failure of the Spartacist Uprising and
initially orchestrated by the Communist Party, it the fall of the Bavarian Socialist Republic,
quickly became associated with the Spartacist Communism failed in its bid to seize political
League, a Marxist organization led by Rosa power in Germany. Throughout the 1920s the
Luxemburg and Karl Leibnecht. Luxemburg was German Communist Party remained a potent
a Polish-born Jew and force, but eventually its arch-rival, the National
a radical Marxist, and Socialists (or Nazi Party), prevailed as the
she was a passionate incompetent and corrupt Weimar Republic finally
and charismatic activist collapsed in 1933.
and organizer. Prior to
the war she was The Soviet Republic of Hungary
imprisoned three times The most successful Communist revolution in
for protesting German Europe after World War I occurred in Hungary
militarism and under the leadership of Bela Kun (1886-1938).
imperialism, and in Kun was born in Transylvania, which was a
the midst of the conflict province in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the
she co-founded the time. (After the war, Transylvania was
Sparacist League along incorporated into the new nation of Romania.)
with Leibnecht. As the Rosa Luxemburg His father was a lapsed Jew and the his mother a
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 14
lapsed Protestant, and as a young man he the peasants. Then, since neither anyone in the
identified with the Hungarian Social Democratic government nor the peasants had any expertise in
Party. running large farms, they wound up retaining the
Prior to World War I Kun worked as an former estate owners as managers. So in effect,
investigative journalist, and later fought in the nothing really changed for the rural masses.
Austro-Hungarian army. Captured by Russian The Hungarian government was more
troops in 1916, he converted to Communism in a doctrinaire than competent, and in short order it
Russian POW camp. Following the Bolshevik drove the economy further into depression.
Revolution and the signing of the Treaty of Brest- Inflation and unemployment continued to soar
Litovsk that ended Russias involvement in the while agricultural and industrial production
war, Kun served in the Red Army during the early plummeted to new levels. To control dissent, Kun
months of the Russian Civil War. organized a secret police that orchestrated a Red
When World War I officially ended in Terror campaign.
November 1918, Kun returned to Hungary along In Russia, the Bolsheviks were focused on
with several hundred other Hungarian their own internal problems, and they never
Communists. Immediately, he and his comrades intervened in Hungarys war with the Romanians.
founded the Hungarian Communist Party and With Western backing, the Romanian military
launched a major propaganda campaign against invaded Hungary in the summer of 1919, took
the government. Like most of Europe, Hungary Budapest, and forced the Hungarian government
was economically and socially ravaged after the to capitulate. Kuns short-lived Communist
war. Inflation was out of control, there was regime had lasted only 133 days.
massive unemployment, a lack of housing, and [Post-script: Kuns political career didnt end
food and fuel shortages. Kun, a fiery and intense with the fall of the Soviet regime in Hungary.
orator and a gifted organizer, led a series of strikes Initially, he fled to Vienna, but was incarcerated
and protest demonstrations, and in February 1919 by the government for nearly a year before being
he was arrested as a Communist agitator and released in a prisoner exchange with Russia in
thrown into prison. July 1920. With Lenins patronage, he became an
In the midst of all this turmoil, the Hungarian official in the Communist Party, and while
army was fighting a Romanian independence serving in the Crimean he reportedly ordered a
movement that was supported by the Western mass genocide against thousands of ethnic
Allies. When the Allies threatened to intervene in minorities in the area. In addition, he was
Hungary on behalf of the Romanians, the responsible for the execution of tens of thousands
Hungarian Social Democratic government, of White Russian POWs who had been promised
desperate for potential allies, reached out to the amnesty if they surrendered. (Source: Victor,
USSR. Since Kun was known to have Lenins Serge, Memoirs of a Revolutionary.)
support, the Social Democrats opened As a political ally of Zinoviev, Kun became a
negotiations with him even while he was still in high official in the Comintern. In 1921 he was
prison. The SDs agreed to form a coalition with sent to Germany as a Soviet diplomat, but he
the Communists, and in a strange turn of events failed in his mission to spark a Communist
Kun was released from prison and promptly uprising against the Weimar government. Later,
sworn in as the Commissar for Foreign Affairs in he later worked as a Comintern operative in
the new Soviet Republic of Hungary. Austria and Czechoslovakia.
As the dominant official in the government, Kun had an abrasive personality, and he
Kun moved quickly to solidify his power base. In constantly feuded with other Communist leaders.
a letter to Lenin, he boasted that My personal During Stalins purge of the Old Bolsheviks in the
influence in the Revolutionary Governing Council late 1930s, Kun was arrested, charged with being
is such that the dictatorship of the proletariat is a Trotskyite, imprisoned and executed probably
firmly established, since the masses are backing in 1938.
me. In reality, Kun was even more radical than
Lenin and the Bolsheviks, and under his direction
the Hungarian Soviet nationalized most private
property and converted all agricultural land into
collective farms rather than distribute the land to
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 15
Eastern Europe and link up with the Communists Cultural Marxism: The Early Theoreticians
in Germany.
A New Focus
As a doctrinaire Marxist, Lenin was convinced
In the aftermath of World War I, the great
that Communism was an inevitable historical
continental-wide revolution that many Marxists
process that could not be contained within a
expected never materialized. The working classes
single country such as Russia. He believed that
of Europe never united en masse behind the Red
eventually it would spread throughout the entire
banner, and with the failure of Communist
world, and that the survival of Communism in the
revolutions in Germany, the collapse of Bela
USSR depended upon the overthrow of
Kuns regime in Hungary, and the Red Armys
unfriendly capitalistic governments. As he put it,
defeat in Poland, the Soviet Union was left
As long as capitalism and socialism exist, we
isolated as the lone Communist state. Classical
cannot live in peace. In the end one or the other
Marxist theory had proved insufficient in terms of
will triumph. He was confident that one Western
rallying the masses of Europe, and in the midst of
democracy after another would submit to
the post-war intellectual debates in Communist
Communism until finally the United States would
circles, two theorists redefined Marxism to fit the
drop into their hands like an over-ripe fruit.
times: Antonio Gramsci and Georg Lukacs.
An integral part of the Bolsheviks strategy
Rather than focus exclusively on societys
was the establishment of the Third Communist
economic substructure in keeping with the tenets
International, usually referred to as the
of classical Marxism, Gramsci and Lukacs turned
Comintern. The Comintern was founded in 1919
their attention to the superstructure the culture.
as an agency for the exportation of the revolution
This was a much more comprehensive and
through the organization of cell groups with the
ambitious undertaking, but in the long term it
target countries that would operate as a fifth
would prove to be a brilliant and effective strategy
column. The Comintern churned out propaganda
for undermining Western culture.
for mass distribution along with secret internal
memos instructing foreign Communist parties to
take their ideology, organization and strategies Antonio Gramsci
from the Bolsheviks. Since the Old Europe had Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was an Italian
collapsed and a variety of left-wing groups were journalist, philosopher, and a political theorist. He
vying for influence and power, much of the joined the Italian Socialist Party on the eve of
Cominterns propaganda was aimed at rival World War I, and during the wrote for several
socialist parties. So although in theory an socialist newspapers. After the war ended,
international organization, the Comintern was Gramsci was instrumental in founding the Italian
in fact a propaganda organ of the Bolshevik Communist Party.
regime. For Lenin, the first step in exporting the Gramsci was among the first to recognize that
revolution was to conquer Poland, which had a Marxist revolution was dependent upon
recently regained its national independence changing the values and culture of Western
according to the terms of the treaties that ended civilization, which would require a long
World War I. But Polands eastern boundaries protracted culture war of attrition. Traveling to
were ill-defined, and Polish and Russian troops the Soviet Union in 1922 as a representative of the
had been fighting in the Ukraine since before the Italian Communist Party, he witnessed the brute
end of the war. Lenin considered Poland to be force and tyranny involved in trying to convert
the bridge to Central and Western Europe, and that nation to socialism. His conclusion was that
the most direct route to Berlin and Paris ran Communism was far too radical and too atheistic
through Warsaw. to be accepted voluntarily in the West. What was
In 1919 Trotsky led the Red Army into needed was a persistent and prolonged
Poland but suffered a crushing defeat at the propaganda campaign that would undermine
Battle of Warsaw (or the Battle of the Vistula) in peoples confidence in traditional values and
August 1920. In the succeeding months, Polish religious beliefs, and make them more amenable
forces drove the retreating Russians farther to radical socialism.
eastward, securing Polands independence and Gramsci worked for the Comintern in
stabilizing its eastern borders. Moscow and Vienna, where he was passionately
committed to spreading Bolshevism throughout
Europe. Returning to Italy, he helped create a
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 17
united front of left-wing parties that opposed written of the commanding heights of the
Mussolinis Fascist dictatorship. From 1924-26 he economy the key industries that essentially
represented the Communist Party in the Italian controlled the nations production and
legislature, but in 1926 he was arrested in a distribution Gramscis vision was to undermine,
crackdown against dissidents. In his trial, the and eventually take over, the commanding heights
prosecutor declared, For 20 years we must stop of the culture.
this brain from functioning. Apparently, that As a classical Marxist, Lenin had considered
sounded like a good idea to the judge, and culture ancillary to economics and politics.
Gramsci was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Gramsci, however, knew otherwise, and argued
Eight years later he was released for health that the best way to gain political and economic
reasons, and he died a couple years after that. power was through a prolonged process of
While in prison Gramsci wrote Prison cultural subversion. As he wrote, In the new
Notebooks, outlining his views on the culture war. order, Socialism will triumph by first capturing
He called his working principle and strategy the culture via infiltration of schools, universities,
Critical Theory a systematic and broad-based churches and the media by transforming the
assault on Western culture. Gramsci was consciousness of society. [NOTE: Compare this
convinced that the working classes were blind to comment to the quote from Charles Reich in The
their class interests due to 2 factors: Greening of America at the beginning of this
(1)Capitalists and chapter.]
social conservatives Gramscis Prison Notebook and other writings
controlled the major were among the most influential socio/political
cultural institutions, works of the 20th century, as any scholarly studies
including the media in social theory and popular culture would reveal.
and the education
system. Through Georg Lukacs
constant propaganda, Like Gramsci, the Hungarian Marxist
these traditional philosopher, Georg Lukacs (1885-1971), focused
institutions on the strategic importance of culture in relation
maintained social to a Marxist takeover of Western civilization.
control by promoting Lukacs grew up in Budapest and was the son of a
bourgeois values and wealthy Hungarian Jewish banker. A gifted
creating a consensus Antonio Gramsci scholar, he received a Ph.D. from the University
culture. of Berlin in 1906. He converted to Communism
(2)Christianity was a counter-revolutionary during World War I, and joined the Hungarian
force that continued to exert great influence over Communist Party in 1918.
Western civilization. In the mind of Gramsci and The following year Lukacs served as Peoples
his comrades, Christian morality and ethics Commissar for Education and Culture in Bela
represented bourgeois values and were Kuns Hungarian Soviet Republic, and in this
intrinsically repressive. Christianity kept the position he launched a campaign of Cultural
masses docile and pacified by promising pie in Terrorism a kind of shock therapy designed to
the sky in the afterlife rather than focusing their radically change the culture.
attention on unjust social and political systems in One of Kuns priorities was to introduce a
this world. comprehensive sex education indoctrination
Therefore, according to Gramsci, a priority for program into the schools. The curriculum
Marxists should be the formulation and promoted sexual experimentation, free love,
development of a uniquely proletarian culture that premarital sexual relations, and attacks on
would challenge the belief that bourgeois values monogamous marriage and traditional Christian
and morality were natural and normative. views on sexuality. Children were also
Correspondingly, Marxists could change the encouraged to reject the values of their parents
culture in Europe over time through a process of and the authority of the Church. Unfortunately
cultural hegemony i.e., by infiltrating and for Lukacs and his Soviet comrades, however, the
controlling the cultural institutions that exert the program was deemed so radical that it alienated
most influence over society. Whereas Marx had the working classes and turned them against the
A Brief History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 1 18