IS COMMUNISM CHRISTIAN?

Evening Star, Issue 22455, 28 September 1936, Page 11

IS COMMUNISM CHRISTIAN?

SO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In your footnote- to my letter .iiuier the above heading you ask, " What has ‘ Christian ’ Communism to do with events in Spain?” and go on to give alleged atrocities by Communists in that unhappy land. Events in Spain right do\yn through historyare having their repercussions how—the Holy Inqusition, for instance, in the name of Christ, with its tortures, burnings, and killings. Communists do not do that. There have been most outrageous crimes committed by both sides. The greatest of all is jo import Mohammedans to t kill their own fellow countrymen, and* those same people profess to be Christians , too. There are some anarchists in the ranks of the loyalists, but these are as distinct from Communists in their principles as chalk is from cheese. My argument was basqd on the Christian, principles of Communism and its affinity to Christ’s teachings in its humane aspects, its application to all alike regardless of -social standing. Your footnote was‘ followed' by another letter under the' name of “ Presbyterian,” which gave a still better case of Christian spirit embodied in Communsm, The end of your footnote says: entire political opposition in Russia has been blotted out.” My re>ly to this that it is like some of your )tnor> replies to correspondents, in .•hieh you suppress yourself in such fort, sharp words as “ Add nothing,” ‘ Not" helpful.” There is no need for ppofeition in Russia because political crife is non-existent. The laws are ramed for the publicans and sinners—he people. ’ All of them—that_ is ‘ why ” Communism is Christian. .Vhat’s in a name?—l am, etc., 1 B. E. Kite. September 26. [lf political strife in Russia is nonexistent, the reason seems to be sufficiently apparent in facts admitted. Our correspondent appears , to argue that a difference of political views affords full justification for blotting out an opposition. We should have thought that “ tortures, burnings, and killings ’* were an exact description of the works of Communism in Spain.—Ed. E.S.] to TUB EDITOR. Sir, —“ Anti-Communist ” in his letter seems to make the comment mistake that our laws are founded on moral law or Christian ethics. Such is not the case. Our laws are founded on the ancient Roman and pagan ideas of property, irrespective of how that property was taken from the community in the first place. We carry out the law just as the ancient. Roman Governor Pilate said of Christ, “ I find no fault in this man,” washed his hands, and then handed him over to be" scourged and crucified. Was John Bowring a Christian when he wrote “In the Cross of Christ I glory,” and at the same time was dealing in the opium traffic; or, again, John Newton when he wrote ‘How sweet the name of Jesus sounds,” while sitting on the hatches with * cargo of human slaves down below, which he was waiting to transport af a profit? Is it a Christian state of affairs when a drunken black-, guard can blacken his wife’s eye if he is prepared to pay a fine of 7s 6d, yet the same man will get 60 days’ hard labour for poaching a rabbit? After all, the woman is only a human being: the rabbit is , property. 1 deny that Communists preach hatred of others; they leave that to others like Hitler and Mussolini. The Communist works for the day when class distinction shall cease, .when, as the poet says, Knowledge shall cause the flag of peace •’ . Through earth to bo unfurled, Produce the parliament of man, And federate "the world. f I read the Bible aright I see the statement “ And God beheld all that Te had made and pronounced it good.” further on He said, “ To you it shall be for meat.’’ Has “ Anti-Commun-:st ” seen the statement,' “ It shall be your right to withhold and destroy till .ho residue shall fetch a certain price?” Once again I road, “ In the sweat of they brow shalt thou eat bread,” but nowhere do 1 see that others shall enjoy luxury cruises and cocktail parties from the sweat of another man’s brow, and themselves offer no useful service to, humanity. “ Anti-Communist ” misquotes Marx. What he did say was that all recorded history was the history of class war,” and in that he was right, but the workers wore not to blame. Just let me state one instance out of thousands. When the Tolpuddle martyrs were transported for their audacityin asking 9s a week, who declared war? ±llS said thea, ‘‘ you are sen-

fc.iccd not for anything you have done. ■ lit for the effect your action mayhave.” The fact that we have law a all, let it be good, bad, or indifferent, proves that to a certain extent a ready we are Communist. Every man i; not allowed to be a law to himself, yet we tolerate anarchy in distribution o goods, currency, and credit, not to mention wilful destruction, and although professing to be Christian have the effrontery in times of drought or Hood to call for a national day of p ayer.—l am, etc., , C. S. MacArthur. September 26.

TO THE EDITOR. Six*,- —I have written on this subject with two objectives in mind. The first is to urge Christian-inclined people to ready live up to Christ’s teaching of love and brotherhood, and to think and act along communal lines in preference to the customary selfish attitude. Secondly, 1 want my Communist friends to realise that Christ’s teaching fulfils and. surpasses their highest desire—in fact' that without the influence and moral vitality derived from contact with Christ humanity could not carry out the communal idea, Christ’s' spirit works a change in the human soul, resulting in a new outlook, and a new outlook is surely needed if one is to cease living for self and commence living for others. To place a vast subject in condensed and precise language, Communism must be Christianised or fail in its objectives, and, if I may use the term, Christianity must be communisod or it also fails. Communism with hate enthroned is misnamed. Christianity. with self enthroned is also misnamed. Christians have drifted from their moorings and dragged their anchor if they can accumulate riches produced by another’s labour or bo indifferent to the tact of undernourished children. The wealth of religious bodies as well as that of professing Christians is a glaring contradiction and a hideous paradox in view of the basic principles laid down by Christ, and they become more hideous in view of the poverty and misery suffered by many whose labour has produced riches which they are forbidden to enjoy. Communism clashes with religious profiteers; magnificent churches clash with the slums erected on church property, and are a direct contradiction in principle. Communism would not destroy the magnificent churches, but it would insist that the people’s dwellings should be In keeping. Christion Communism has certainly nothing to do with events in Spain or Russia. Had the Christian church been working to bring about Christ’s ideal, had its influence not been crippled by association . with the so-called upper classes, it could have led the masses to a new era in those countries without the necessity of a bloody conflict. The appeal is being made to tho Christian church of our fair land to break its fetters and declare itself on the sit' of the oppressed, to edase profiteering, and follow Christ in sacrificial service, advocating an abundant living for all, since God’s supply is superabundant. The preaching of a moral code which makes unnecessary, accumulation a crime against society would greatly assist the inauguration of Christian Communism.—l am, etc., G. A. Herring. September 26. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —“ L. Eudorf ” persists in an endeavour to prove that Communism is Christianity by quoting the opinions of Cole and Middleton Murry. Let us, instead, see what the Communists say in the Communist Manifesto. They tell us that there is now “ no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest,” than callous “ cash payment.” “The most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism,” have been “ drowned ” “ in the icy water of egotistical calcula tion.” For “ exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions,” there has been substituted “ naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.’-’ Well, we will take Marx’s word for it. He has observed that religious fervour and chivalrous enthusiasm have been destroyed in some people, and in their stead there has appeared “ naked self-interest and naked, shameless exploitation.” _ Now, let us inquire in whom this disappearance of good things and their replacement by evil things is to be found.- Wo ask the bourgeois has ho lost his religious fervour, chivalrous enthusiam. etc. He answers “No.” Wo ask him is he guided by “ naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.” Ho says “ No.” Instead he says; “ Let ns settle any differences through tho ballot box. Come, let us reason together and. vote on it. Let us in our

difficulties temper justice with mercy, and practise mutual give-and-take. Who can assert that at the present time in New Zealand tho bourgeoisie is behaving badly, even though it is being expropriated on a fairly magnificent scale by our Government? Now let us ask the Communists what are their feelings about religion, chivalry, and expropriation of others. Wefind their answers to our in their own Manifesto. The Communists and Marx openly profess atheism. They speak in the quotation 1 have already made of “ religious allusions.” Religion and morality are for them “ opium for the people.” “ Law, morality, and religion are,” to the Communist, “so many bourgeois prejudices, behind which lurk in ambush just as many bourgeois interests. The quotation given above would seem to imply that the' Communist regretted the drowning of religious fervour and chivalrous enthusiasm, but that is not tho case really, for he boasts that he has kicked free of it all. Where do we find naked exploitation? The Communist openly professes it, and exhibits it absolutely naked. He does not feel any shame in recommending it. Addressing the bourgeoisie it is said: “In one -word you reproach us w’ith intending to do away with your property. Precisely so; that is just rvhat we intend.” This naked assertion of exploitation may be good or bad in one’s opinion, but it is shameless and naked. It is also brutal, for we are told that Communists “ openly declare that their ends can be obtained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions.” Your correspondents. Mr Herring and others, are free to think if. they do, that this naked, shameless, brutal exploitation is justified, or they may not think it, but it is certainly not Christianity.—l am, etc., Anti-Cohmunist. September 26.