Christian socialism and the present Left

Spencer Jones

Platypus Review 168 | July - August 2024

WHEN THINKING ABOUT the works of Leo Tolstoy, one would be forgiven if the first books that come to mind are Anna Karenina (1887)and War and Peace (1869); they are his most famous titles after all. However, many might be surprised by what some would call his political magnum opus, The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894). Titled after a verse in Luke 17, this book outlines Tolstoy’s major deviation from standard Christian dogma and doctrine of the Russian Orthodox, and, indeed, the majority of major Church doctrines around the world. Within the book, Tolstoy details how the modern Church has been corrupted by greed and power-lust and that they are no longer representing what Christ stood for. In this book, and in another book, The Law of Love and the Law of Violence (1909), Tolstoy puts his writing chops to excellent use, painting a vivid picture of a religion of peace and community being turned into a religion that authorizes war and destroys communities. While all of this is excellent on its own, there is one particular passage in The Law of Love and the Law of Violence that stands out: “It was equally recognized by the humanitarian doctrines that claim to have nothing in common with Christianity, and which are really nothing else than partial manifestations of the Christian conscience; such are the socialist, communist and anarchist doctrines.”^[1]

Tolstoy, a profoundly pacifist Christian, a man who helped to mentor Gandhi, explicitly endorses the vision of the future sought after by the various forces of the Left.

It should come as no surprise that Tolstoy is known by some to be the father of anarcho-pacifism as well as Christian anarchism. It should also not come as any surprise that Christians, i.e., those who follow the true word of Christ and not just dogma set out by the Church, have consistently stood on the side of the oppressed as well as standing arm in arm with trade unions, socialists, anarchists, communists, and all members of the Left. Why, from the Communist Manifesto (1848) we read the words: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” And in Acts 4 we read:

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.^[2]

This history of Christianity, the teachings of a poor carpenter who rose up against the colonial Romans only to be struck down by the rich and powerful collaborators, stands as a testament that Christianity is not an enemy to be defeated by the Left, but an ally that needs to be recruited. Indeed, the act that started the 1905 Revolution in Russia was a procession of peaceful protestors led by a Tolstoyan priest, Georgy Gapon, which sparked the Revolution with the massacre on Bloody Sunday.

Now one might be curious and right to ask, “What is Christian socialism? How is it different than regular socialism?” Fair questions indeed! Christian socialism, functionally, is quite the same as regular socialism: the workers owning the means of production, the rich being cast down from their gilded thrones, uplifting of the oppressed, the works. However, it is in the reasoning and ethos that Christian socialism differs. Whereas socialism is formulated along the lines of materialism, Christian socialism organizes along more spiritual lines, taking lessons from the Gospels as well as other books of the Bible. Christian socialism maintains that God is on the side of the oppressed, upon the side of the proletariat — not on the side of the rich and mighty — and that it is a righteous cause to cast them down not only because they are oppressors, but because they also typically use God’s name to justify it. As well as this line of thinking, Christian socialism proclaims a general attitude of forgiveness and mercy towards all, that all are worthy of redemption in one way or another. Similarly, many Christian socialists do subscribe to methods of nonviolent direct action, civil disobedience, and pacifism so as to minimize or entirely remove the potential for loss of life in the struggle for socialism. However, this is not to say that all Christian socialists follow this path, as Helder Câmara said, “I respect a lot priests with rifles on their shoulders; I never said that to use weapons against an oppressor is immoral or anti-Christian. But that’s not my choice, not my road, not my way to apply the Gospels.”^[3] We see this throughout history, in the Hussites of Czechia, the Levelers and Diggers of England, the Catholic Workers, Mennonites, Quakers, liberation theologists across the world, and indeed, the Early Church. Each of them believed in principles of equity amongst workers, that a democratic form of government must take root, that land should be held in common, and that God, through Christ, had designated them to be righteous in their cause.

However, it must be said that while these groups bring great pride to the faith, they are often, and understandably, overshadowed by the great shame that is the Church. Now the Church refers not to one particular institution, but the concept of an organized and hierarchical power structure that issues proclamations that say that they are “God given” but are little more than ways to expand their power and wealth and that of the capitalist and statist allies. If Tolstoy is to be consulted again, everything started going downhill when Paul took over, and things really went downhill when Constantine got his hands on Christianity and turned it into Christendom.^[4]Once the forces of empire, in particular the Roman Empire, took a hold of Christianity, they twisted and mutilated it into a ruined and wicked form that resembled nothing that Christ would have wanted. And the worst part about it was that through political machinations, the Emperor of Rome, the seat that had massacred Christians en masse for years, now sat as the arbitrator between various bickering theological factions. Christians had given themselves over to empire for the sake of gaining power and settling petty squabbles through the force of the police state of Rome. As such, we see that Christian power centers in the “Church,” not in the Christian, and that what is being practiced is not “Christianity,” the teachings of a poor carpenter from Bethlehem, but “Christendom,” the teachings of a power-hungry organization that will desecrate anything it touches to gain more power and glory. Disgraced now were the words of St. Basil the Great, an Early Church Father, who said,

Who is the covetous man? One for whom plenty is not enough. Who is the defrauder? One who takes away what belongs to everyone. And are not you covetous, are not you a defrauder, when you keep for private use what you were given for distribution? When someone strips a man of his clothes we call him a thief. And one who might clothe the naked and does not—should not he be given the same name? The bread in your hoard belongs to the hungry; the cloak in your wardrobe belongs to the naked; the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot; the money in your vaults belongs to the destitute. All you might help and do not—to all these you are doing wrong.^[5]

For what it’s worth, anybody who takes up the cause of Christian socialism should be ready, willing, and able to denounce the actions of the Church without hesitation. Those who take up the banner must be ready to atone for the sins of that lot through fighting for those that were oppressed by them so that we may show our quality and the quality of our faith through our actions.

However, as Christians, we are also called to forgiveness of our enemies, including our misguided siblings. Indeed, many who know Christianity only know what they have been taught and have been scorned from researching such matters on their own. The dogma of the Church is a terrifying thing to go against and it is understandable that people wouldn’t be able to challenge it. However, for those who have the means to do so, it is our duty to show the path towards a Christianity that serves all of the people, not just the rich and powerful.
Now, there are many who would speak of Christian socialists in a negative way based upon the oh so famous “opiate of the masses” line from Marx’s introduction to his Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (1843–44).^[6] However, I would propose, as many others have done, that this line is not as negative as it seems and not only that, that it is speaking against something very different than Christian socialism. Upon inspection of the quote, one finds that Marx was not denigrating religious belief, but instead was understanding that religious belief was something that kept the working class going through trials and tribulations — that religious belief was striving for something that the working class could take solace in after being exploited by the capitalist system. However, this belief was an opiate, a drug, given to dull the senses, but not to actually solve the problem.^[7] This kind of religion sounds more akin to the organized religion of the Church than it does to what Christian socialists strive for. Christian socialists would call for a combination of the “real happiness” that Marx calls for, and the “illusory happiness” that he says religion creates so as to not only liberate the working class from capitalism, but also keep a sense of wonder and imagination about what the next possibilities in the world might be.^[8] The work of James Connoly and the early Labour Party of England should be proof enough that socialism and Christian thought are old friends that have been pitted against each other by the powers of the capitalist states, not by some natural enmity.

Of course, words and actions are two different things. We can see that the work of the Church has long tainted the organizing of Christian socialists, yet we have persevered. Especially in the case of South American liberation theologians, not only did they create a framework for theory, but they also set up what are known as “basic ecclesial communities,” which combined the ideology of liberation theology and put them into practice with great success considering that there are hundreds of thousands of them. There is also the Catholic Worker Movement, who, among other things, have members tied to about every anti-war movement across the United States. There is also the case with the Sandinistas who explicitly had several high-ranking members that were part of the liberation theology movement as well as incorporating Christianity into their political platform in a way that saw the Revolution and Christianity united in a common struggle.

Now, what does Christian socialism bring to the table in our modern day? What does that syncretic set of beliefs bring to the table that hasn’t already been talked about? Well, Christian socialism might have some insights on how to mend the divide between various factions of the Left through the practice of full communion. Full communion is the act of accepting other denominations into your church as equals and that they are welcome to accept the Eucharist, which affirms that they are full Christians in one’s eyes, even if they are from a different denomination. In more recent times, many denominations, such as the Episcopal Church, have followed this idea of full communion with several different denominations and allow for priests to freely teach at their churches and for laypeople to come and go from any of the churches in communion with one another at will. Christian socialists bring this line of thinking to the table.

We as Christians have great experience of internal divisions and splinter groups, but we also have a great deal of experience bringing these groups into a state of peace and cooperation as well. We Christian socialists believe that a similar type of “full communion” could be taught within the various disparate factions of the Left, and that we could perhaps be facilitators of this process. We understand that many factions don’t like each other for one reason or another, however, many have overlapping goals and methods that far outweigh any cause for animosity, especially in the face of the might of capitalism. However, we as Christian socialists also deeply understand that each movement and sect have their own great history which they treasure deeply. We believe that each sect of the Left would be able to cooperate with each other yet keep their identity as affiliates with whatever ideology they wish, should an agreement of “full communion” be reached. In doing so, not only would it allow for a broader base of support throughout the land for our ideas, but it would also ensure that no one group dominated the discussion and send us down the path of dogma that the Church has done. Just as well, it would allow for the free flow of new ideas and revolutionary thought while keeping the spirit of the revolution alive and kicking.

Onto the matter of reaching those many on the Left believe to be unreachable. It was not that long ago that the labor movement in this country was alive and well in the rural and religious part of America. Ludlow, Blair Mountain — these two famed examples were not places of great metropolises, but small company towns miles away from everyone else, inhabited mostly by immigrants who typically took great solace in their cultures and religious traditions. Those cultures and traditions are something that many people do not want to let go of, and, rather than forcing them to let it go for the sake of supposed “advancement,” we should happily accommodate them and integrate their worldviews and our own into one united worldview.

We Christian socialists come from all walks of Christianity, whether we be Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical, Coptic, or any number of other denominations, we have valuable knowledge at our disposal that would allow for us to shape how we present ourselves to suit any concerns people might have. And let us not forget that while people may be hesitant or outright hostile to us, we are used to it as our lot have been dealing with this for some time. Given time and patience, Christian socialists can and will be able to convince people to cast down their status-quo-loving Church lap dogs, and instead join a new movement of Christianity that is defined by social justice, mutual aid, acceptance of people from every walk of life, and actually doing something rather than sitting through some feel-good sermon that you forget the very next day. People want community, and they also want to be connected with traditions and cultures that have been passed down their families for generations. It is the Christian socialist position that we are in a unique position to do the most amount of good in this area of work. |P

[1] Leo Tolstoy, The Law of Love and The Law of Violence, trans. Mary Koutouzow Tolstoy (New York: Rudolph Field, 1948), 32.

[2] Acts 4:32–35 (King James Version), emphasis added.

[3] Orianna Fallaci, “Entrevistas Históricas: Oriana Fallaci Entrevista Dom Helder Câmara,” Socialista Morena (March 31, 2013), <https://www.socialistamorena.com.br/entrevistas-historicas-oriana-fallaci-entrevista-dom-helder-camara/>, author’s translation.

[4] See Leo Tolsoy, “Church and State” (1891), available online at <https://www.marxists.org/archive/tolstoy/1891/church-and-state.html>, and Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God Is Within You: Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion but as a New Theory of Life, trans. Constance Garnett (New York: Cassell Publishing, 1894), 14.

[5] Quoted in John C. Cort, Christian Socialism: An Informal History (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2020).

[6] Karl Marx, “Introduction,” in Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, in The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. Robert C. Tucker, second ed. (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1978), 54.

[7] See Roland Boer, “Religion: Opium of the People?,” Culture Matters (December 12, 2017), available online at <https://culturematters.org.uk/index.php/culture/religion/item/2692-religion-opium-of-the-people>.

[8] Marx, “Introduction,” 54.