European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker showed up recently in Trier, the birthplace of Karl Marx, to pay tribute to his memory. This was followed by a series of exhibitions, including the unveiling of a gigantic statue of Marx, sponsored by the Chinese regime, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the creator of modern communism.
To come from a country that experienced Marxism in practice—as I do, being from Slovakia—is to shudder over such fawning. What does it mean, or portend, when Juncker honors an architect of collectivist tyranny and oppression at a time when many democracies are struggling?
It means we should study and honor history, of course. We know from history that systems based on ideologies that pit one group of citizens against another—the very essence of Marxist class warfare—degenerate until they turn against humanity itself.
Juncker’s argument that “[Marx] stands for things which he is not responsible for and which he didn’t cause“ is mostly inaccurate. Knowledge of and experience with Marxism tell us the exact opposite. As for the practice, we do not have a single example of Marxist theory being applied with positive results. Would Junker and others have us believe that, if only we tried harder, we could one day ”get Marxism right” in our politics?
Marxism and Faith
For those of us who consider ourselves persons of faith, Juncker’s affection for Marx and Marxism is especially troubling.Perhaps the most elaborated upon account of why Marxism inevitably enslaves the human person was provided by the Catholic Church, the church of which Juncker claims to be a member. In its encyclicals, the Church recognizes “the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class” and offers an alternative to the enslaving solution put forward by Marx, first in Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), which is considered a foundational text of modern Catholic social teaching. Many of the positions on Marx’s dogmas were supplemented by later encyclicals.
The timing and context are also alarming. To laud Marx when the West struggles both with people losing their faith and their trust that liberal democracy can deliver better lives for all is foolish.
Democracy is facing “competition” from populist demagoguery and is threatened by growing disinformation and propaganda campaigns. The Kremlin is one of the greatest resources for these campaigns.
Putin’s regime is actively trying to revive the power of Russia by blurring the differences between communist regimes and liberal democracies while presenting the Soviet Union in a positive light.
Normalizing Communism
The attempts to normalize the memory of communism are exported to the EU with the tacit support of actors like the Slovak governing party Smer-SD; the Belgian Prince Laurent, who regularly attends events celebrating the Chinese, Cuban, or other regimes; many Western universities, which receive generous “sponsorship” from the Chinese regime; and now Juncker, with his tribute to Marx.The EPP embraces most of the parties of former dissidents and opposition leaders from the post-communist European states. In this regard, the party has an important role to play in safeguarding the memories of the horrors of communism.
Voices that defend Marxist ideology with the excuse that the atrocities were not an inevitable consequence of the theory of historical materialism are dangerous for currently contested democracies. The link between the atrocities and Marxist theory is clear. To put blinders on is irresponsible and dangerous.
Perhaps Juncker and the European Commission need a field trip. They might start with a visit to the labor camps and political prisons across China, whose party-state seems eager to encourage naïveté and willful blindness.
