Startling Words from Servant of God Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
Many Americans would have a problem with the claim that the United States is a Marxist country.
After all, we stood against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. We despise the cruel treatment of Christians and other religious believers in China. And Communism is more or less a “dirty word” in American politics.
And yet when you look deeper into our own American culture, you find strong signs within our laws and institutions of the principles of Karl Marx, the 19th century founder of socialism and communism. The recent leanings of political candidates who openly admit that they are socialists is evidence of a cause for alarm.
Communism denies divine law and replaces it with an atheistic political system. In Pope Pius’s 1937 classic encyclical on Communism, Divini Redemptoris (On Atheistic Communism), he said,
“…Communism arrogates to itself the right to enforce, in place of the divine law based on the immutable principles of truth and charity, a partisan political program which derives from the arbitrary human will and is replete with hate.”
This teaching was clearly explained by the late eminent theologian and author, the late Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., who said in the 1990s,
“As we come to the close of the twentieth century, we are seeing the gravest crisis in the history of Christianity. In my judgment, at the center of this crisis is the deep penetration of Marxism into our beloved country.”
Fr. Hardon, a member of the former Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus who also taught graduate courses in Marxism and gave lectures in Moscow on two lengthy occasions, outlined these fifteen hallmarks of Marxism:
Marxism promotes a worldly, secular messianic ideal based on the belief that human desires and perfectibility will be achieved in history on earth.
The ultimate stage of this historical progression is a classless communist society characterized by absolute equality and fraternity after passing through stages of exploitation and socialism.
The ideology claims to be validated by the material progress achieved where its principles have been put into practice.
Marxism is rooted in materialist philosophy, asserting that all reality and historical evolution are driven purely by opposing material and economic forces.
It teaches that human progress toward its final goal is accelerated by deliberate conflict, revolution, and the sharpening of societal antagonisms.
The only grave moral failure in Marxism is deviating from the commitment to relentless revolution and violence as a precondition for a future society.
Individuals in a Marxist society must completely sacrifice their personal rights and personalities for the sake of the collective group.
Marxism views absolute equality as the only legitimate basis for human relations, rejecting all divine, civil, parental, and ecclesiastical authority.
To eliminate the root of all economic enslavement and power disparities, Marxism demands the absolute abolition of private property.
Marriage and the family are viewed not as sacred institutions, but as artificial, temporary civil constructs subject entirely to the will of the collective.
Women's emancipation is defined by Marxists as withdrawing from traditional family roles and household duties to participate in public production.
The state assumes total, exclusive control over the education and training of children, stripping parents of any authority in the process.
Economics and technological productivity are treated as the fundamental law of human existence, taking precedence over God, freedom, or moral order.
Total state control over land, credit, transport, and labor completely subordinates the individual to a centralized common plan.
Although a temporary state dictatorship is required during socialism, Marxism predicts that the state will eventually wither away into a harmonious, classless association.
Fr. Hardon ended his lecture with a prayer of Pope Pius XI in Divini Redemptoris. The Pope was speaking to professed Christians.
“We cannot conclude this Encyclical Letter without addressing some words to those of Our children who are more or less tainted with the Communist plague. We earnestly exhort them to hear the voice of their loving Father. We pray the Lord to enlighten them that they may abandon the slippery path which will precipitate one and all to ruin and catastrophe, and that they recognize that Jesus Christ, Our Lord, is their only Savior: "For there is no other name under heaven given to man, whereby we must be saved."
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Kevin J. Banet is a journalist and publicist. He provides marketing for religious communities, non-profits and healthcare services. Kevin and his family live in the Chicago area. His website is VocationPromotion.com.
