China: A Marxist Utopia? -- By: Jacob Buday

Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 13:3 (Jan 2017)
Article: China: A Marxist Utopia?
Author: Jacob Buday


China: A Marxist Utopia?

Jacob Buday

Abstract: There is no doubt that China is rapidly expanding. It is therefore important to understand the history and laws of China in order to understand the culture. Marxism has been very influential in China ever since Mao Zedong took control. This has led to atheism being the official religion of China, causing persecutions not just for Christians, but for all other religions in the country. Marxism’s poor understanding of human worth has also led to many totalitarian rulings that have resulted in the mass killing of many people. These rulings are also the result of the leadership presupposing that Marxism is a scientific truth. China’s best chance at improving its standards of living and its attitude toward the West is by removing these presuppositions.

“There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need” (Acts 4:34–35). Many have claimed that this passage depicts the early Christians as living in a communistic environment. It certainly seems as if they were living in some sort of commune. This passage typically surprises Westerners as they have been indoctrinated for years into thinking that Communism is a great evil. However, the passage in Acts shows Christians voluntarily living communally. The distinction is between living communally and Communism.

The Christians were living as a community; they were fulfilling Christ’s command to love one’s neighbor. Karl Marx laid the foundation for Communism in his Communist Manifesto almost two thousand years later. The Communist Manifesto would go on to serve as a basis for the governments of both the Soviet Union and China. Specifically in China, the reductionisms forming the foundations for Marxism had a negative impact on the laws. Many of the laws, rulings, and acts of the leadership of China were totalitarian in nature due to the Marxist underpinnings which in turn were perpetuated by Mao Zedong.

In many ways, the theories of Karl Marx form the basis for the Communist Party in China. The Communist Manifesto helped shape the Party’s ideologies and beliefs. One of the chief principles of Communism is the separation of people into two classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie is the class of capitalist oppressors and the proletariat is the class of workers who do not own the means of production and are being oppressed. Marx arranges these two classes in an eternal struggle throughout history. He writes:

Freeman and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in con...

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