Martin Luther King and Communism

< Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom | 1957 | Martin Luther King Jr

[Austin Willard Wright]

"During the Christmas holidays of 1949 I decided to spend my spare time reading Karl Marx to try to understand the appeal of communism for many people. For the first time I carefully scrutinized *Das Kapital* and *The Communist Manifesto.* I also read some interpretive works on the thinking of Marx and Lenin. In reading such Communist writings I drew certain conclusions that have remained with me as convictions to this day. First, I rejected their materialistic interpretation of history. Communism, avowedly secularistic and materialistic, has no place for God. This I could never accept, for as a Christian, I believe that there is a creative personal power in the universe who is the ground and essence of all reality-a power that cannot be explained in materialistic terms. History is ultimately guided by spirit, not matter.

Second, I strongly disagreed with communism's ethical relativism. Since for the Communist there is no divine government, no absolute moral order, there are no fixed, immutable principles; consequently almost anything-force, violence murder, lying-is a justifiable means to the 'millennial' end. This type of relativism was abhorrent to me. Constructive ends can never give absolute moral justification to destructive means, because in the final analysis the end is pre- existent in the means.

Third, I opposed communism's political totalitarianism. In communism, the individual ends up in subjection to the state. True, the Marxists would argue that the state is an 'interim' reality which is to be eliminated when the classless society emerges; but the state is the end while it lasts, and man is only a means to that end. And if man's so-called rights and liberties stand in the way of that end, they are simply swept aside. His liberties of expression, his freedom to vote, his freedom to listen to what news he likes or to choose his books are all restricted. Man becomes hardly more, in communism, than a depersonalized cog in the turning wheel of the state.

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself."

Martin Luther King Jr., *Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story* (New York: Harper and Row, 1957), 92-93

[Austin Willard Wright]

The King bashers, of course, have rarely bothered to read King in the original....so this deserves a special posting.

King had his problems but the early stages of his movement deserve the applause of conservatives. He was a "doer" who used the tools of the market to fight segregation. BTW, he voted for Eisenhower in 1956. It is true that he became more statist later but he was never a communist. He could have chosen better associates at times but he tended to rely on people who got things done. Had conservatives embraced his brave on the ground fight against state-enforced segregation from the beginning, they could have filled these roles and could have shaped his movement from within. They failed to do this and now have little cause to complain.

[lady lawyer]

Who can argue with King's assertion that we should just people based on character, not on skin color. Unfortunately, so much of civil rights law has now been perverted to make it illegal to judge people on their character, if such a character judgment would impact one group more than another. For example, employers can't ask about criminal history, because some ethnic groups have more criminals than others. An employer can't require a high school education of all its employees, in order to have a higher caliber of employees, because some ethnic groups drop out of high school at higher rates than others. It goes on and on.



I

[Austin Willard Wright]

ping

[Austin Willard Wright]

bttt

[11th Earl of Mar]

Good read. Thanks for the post.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Your welcome.

[JCG]

King was a plagiarist, womanizer and denier of key tenets of his faith. In short, he was a hypocrite of the first rank. To take "King in the original" as anything other than suspect is to believe Clinton in the original: "I didn't have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky...."

America's Fifth Column ... watch Steve Emerson/PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
New Link: Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)

Who is Steve Emerson?

[elbucko]

Who can argue with King's assertion that we should judge people based on character, not on skin color.

Yes! Regardless of King's faults, real or imagined, just as Jefferson's words ring of truth in the Declaration, so do Kings from his Wash. DC speech.

[Austin Willard Wright]

In other words, you don't want to actually read what the man wrote or objectively want to assess his accomplishments.

[JCG]

In other words, you don't want to actually read what the man wrote or objectively want to assess his accomplishments.

In other words, what a known liar says about himself is suspect. For example I doubt "King in the original" has anything to say about his "open bed policy." But his chief lieutenant, Ralph Abernathy, had a whole lot to say about it.

As to King's accomplishments, he did lead the way to ending Jim Crow and that was a good thing.

America's Fifth Column ... watch Steve Emerson/PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
New Link: Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)

Who is Steve Emerson?

[Mike Darancette]

Thank you - It has been a long time since I last read this.

It should be required reading for all elected officials, but I fear that most lack the foundation to understand it.

[lodwick]

huge bumps - thanks!

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Bumped for MLK - a fine American doing the right thing.

Letter from Birmingham Jail.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[rdb3]

But his chief lieutenant, Ralph Abernathy, had a whole lot to say about it.

Yes, Bro. Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy (Kappa Alpha Psi) did speak out about this. He even called Je$$e a liar in public about King dying in his arms.

Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy
March 21, 1926 - April 17, 1990

Birth of Tha SYNDICATE, the philosophical heir to William Lloyd Garrison.
101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that Internet Explorer cannot.

[foreverfree]

bump

[Austin Willard Wright]

Abernathy, of course, also supported Reagan in 1980. Perhaps King too would have had he lived.

King was a flawed man but nobody who studies him can avoid the conclusion that he was brilliant and thoughtful. He was a giant in this respect compared to Jackson, Sharpton, etc. The King of the 1950s, as reflected in this quote, had fundamentally libertarian inclinations on many basic issues. He went off the deep end in the 1960s and led the crazy, statist Poor Peoples Movement (aptly described a sa beg in) but this does not undermine his earlier accomplishments.

[spintreebob]

Second, I strongly disagreed with communism's ethical relativism

As I recall it, this was a major point of discussion between the different factions within the "movement" in the 60's, both before and after King's death. Generally speaking the CORE people(and in Chicago the "Al Raby" people) held to moral absolutes. Certainly that was true of the CORE people I knew in Chicago and Mississippi.

The SNCC people (and in Chicago, many of the Alinsky people) were much quicker to take the attitude later expressed as "whatever it takes".

The movement was not monolithic. In Chicago Leon Depres was the only White liberal Democrat to support the movement. While numerous White Republican State Reps actively supported it. The Democrat machine actively opposed it. Even the Blacks in the Democrat machine blocked renaming South Parkway to Martin Luther King Drive for over 10 years after his death.

But nationally, the image of Nixon adopting the "Southern Strategy" of Howard Phillips and Pat Buchanan set the stage for the next 30 years. Look where Howard Phillips and Pat Buchanan are now in relationship to the Republican Party. Nobody bent principle for political expediency more than those three.

Now somebody pass me the teflon.

[Ditto]

An employer can't require a high school education of all its employees, in order to have a higher caliber of employees, because some ethnic groups drop out of high school at higher rates than others.

Where did you get that?

[PhiKapMom]

Had conservatives embraced his brave on the ground fight against state-enforced segregation from the beginning, they could have filled these roles and could have shaped his movement from within. They failed to do this and now have little cause to complain.

Thanks for posting this. Sometimes have wondered what would have happened if MLK had lived. Bet Jesse Jackson would not have become as powerful as he once was based on his lies.