Weakening the Iron Fist of Marxism

“Working men of all countries, unite!” the infamous closing to the Communist Manifesto, which established the principles that became Marxism. Marxism, however brilliant in theory, was ineffective in enticing followers. The success of Communism depended on the proletariat, or working class, for a radical revolution, however it conflicts with the loyalties of the proletariat. Despite Marx’s ravings that the church is a machine of the bourgeoisie, the proletariat remain loyal to the clergy and have been equally affected by the growing sense of nationalism in Europe, due to this, it is unrealistic to demand a radical revolution of them.  Marx demands revolution anyway, and in doing so weakens his own cause.

Marx argued that the church is a system of control used by the bourgeoisie to maintain control of the proletariat. “But Communism,” he argued, “abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality….” Though the separation from church may be accepted by the scholars, who are already moving in the direction of atheism, due to the publication of The Origin of the Species, it has no sway over the proletariat who have shown undying loyalty to the church their entire lives. Additionally, the church saw Marxism as a threat and as a result, the clergy discouraged communist sympathies. The church, being perhaps the single largest influence on the proletariat, had a huge impact on the failure of Marxism to arouse revolution amongst the workers. The proletariat are in no position to simply drop all religious beliefs, the fear is already instilled in them. They believe in God’s wrath and they fear it, because of this fact, they are not ready to give up religion, as Marx demands of them.

The era following the publication of the Communist Manifesto could be appropriately dubbed an era of nationalism. Nationalism began to snowball across Europe in the late 19th century instilling loyalty from the proletariat. By the late 1800’s, both Italy and Germany have found some form of unification through a strong sense of nationalism. Both France and England were proud of the success of their individual industrial revolutions causing nationalism to spread among the proletariat. This newfound sense of national pride and loyalty made the working class less apt to flood to the communist banner, and, more importantly, less apt to adopt the idea of a radical revolution, which is what Marx required of them.