By ALEXANDER DOLITSKY
In the early 1980s, I attended a graduate school at Brown University, where only two Soviet-born and raised students attended the time. I was from Kiev, and Boris was from Odessa. Both cities were part of the former Soviet Union. I was a graduate student in the anthropology department and Boris was a graduate student in the math department. We were a novelty and an enigma at Brown University.
At that time, the West and the Soviet Union were in the heyday of the Cold War; every Soviet–like presence was under “microscope” by U.S. authorities and the American public in general. Considering these tense circumstances, I was questioned frequently by Brown students about my country of origin and upbringing; the East European accent has long revealed my foreign identity. Often the follow up question by fellow students was somewhat parochial: “Alexander, are you a Marxist?” And my usual response to the question was, “No, I am an anthropologist.”
With Brown being one of the oldest and most venerable Ivy League universities in the nation, it was surprising to see how little these post–graduate students knew about Marxist teaching, while sincerely embracing it. In my college years in the former Soviet Union, I was well–versed and educated in the Marxist–Leninist subjects: historical and dialectical materialism, scientific communism, scientific atheism, history of the Communist Party and history of the labor movement.
So, on various occasions, I had to explain to my fellow classmates that the communist Karl Marx rejected utopian socialism notions of Robert Owen and Charles Fourier in favor of what he coined “scientific communism.” Marx claimed that changes in the economic structure of society of his time were the result of class conflicts or class struggles between the capitalists (bourgeoisie) and the workers (proletarians). For Marx, classes were defined and structured by the relations concerning: (1) work and labor and (2) ownership or possession of property and the means of production.
In fact, the traditional or classical Marxist economic models and class definitions are no longer applicable to modern industrial societies. Today’s definition of classes and social stratification are no longer linked to a mode of production—factories and plants to the proletariat class and agriculture and farming to the peasants—but defined according to the peoples’ income level and wealth, regardless of their occupation and social status as lower, middle, upper middle, high or oligarch class. Thus, plumbers, carpenters, farmers or educators can belong to any of the income–related classes that reflect their income and wealth level.
I also pointed out to my classmates that in his book “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” published in 1848, Marx stated: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.”
In other words, Marx was not seeking natural or moral laws for guidance; he was turning to the lessons of history and revolutionary uprising against the ruling class of the time. In post-WWII America, there were several progressive far-left scholars and academicians who advanced Marxism and, as a result, influenced millions of Americans in far–left activism and neo-Marxism. Here are few prominent names:
Howard Zinn (1922–2010) was a historian and a professor of political science at Boston University. His approaches incorporated ideas from Marxism, anarchism and socialism. Since the 1960s, he has been a benchmark for civil rights and the anti–war movement in the United States. He was the author of more than 20 books, including two provocative books: “A People’s History of the United States” and “Declarations of Independence.”
Marvin Harris (1927–2001) studied at Columbia University where he also taught from 1953 to 1980, serving as chairman of its department of anthropology from 1966 to 1969. He did field work in Brazil, Ecuador, Mozambique, India and East Harlem, New York. His major book “Cultural Materialism” is based on the principles of historical materialism, a term used to describe Marx’s theory and interpretation of history. Historical materialism posits that history is made because of struggle between different social classes, rooted in the underlying economic base.
Noam Chomsky (1928—) is an American linguist, philosopher, political scientist and activist. He is an emeritus professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and one of the most prominent figures in linguistics. He is also recognized for his political activism, characterized by strong criticism of contemporary capitalism and the foreign policies of the United States. He describes himself as a libertarian socialist and sympathizer of anarcho–syndicalism—one of the branches of anarchism linked to the labor movement through syndicalism. He is a member of the IWW union—Industrial Workers of the World—a group that follows the revolutionary syndicalist theory.
Thus, what is the connection between Marxism of the 19th century and so-called neo-Marxism and far-left activism in America today? Evidently, “white privilege” and “critical race” doctrines, and DEI are an ideological platform and guidance for other neo-Marxist rhetoric such as “systemic racism,” “collective justice,” “Black Lives Matter” and today’s “Antifa.”
The “white privilege” and “critical race” doctrines claim an existence of a social or class division in the society that is based on race conflict, race struggle, race warfare and race advantages between naturally born white people and other people of color.
This rhetoric serves to threaten opposing ideologies, politics and lifestyles. They are the tactics and methods designed to implement “white privilege” and “critical race” doctrines, DEI, and “systemic racism” into our system of governing and to undermine our constitutional freedoms, which are based on the idea of all races being treated equally.
To promote white privilege, critical race doctrines and systemic racism, neo–Marxists and far–left progressives advocate for a complete destruction of Western democracy and what they see as the socio-economic system of oppression—Capitalism.
As my long–time and trusted friend observed in our private correspondence, “Well, I’m afraid it may be too late to save democracy in the U.S.A. I’m afraid it’s all gone too far down the drain already. The corruption is phenomenal, so widespread, and even so right out there in the open now; and the gullibility of the public (especially the educated elite) is also phenomenal. If House investigations in the next two years (and there is so much that needs to be investigated) don’t open American voters’ eyes, then it will be too late to save the U.S. from its demise. I always knew this was coming, but I always thought it would occur after my lifetime, not during it.”
On the positive note, in response to my friend and like-minded individuals, we may not succeed in saving traditional America and its Judeo–Christian values, but if we don’t try and fight for its preservation and traditional continuity then we certainly lose.
George Washington in his farewell address stated: “Virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.” In other words, if a society is to remain free, self-government must be referred to individual citizens governing their own behavior. This is the most critical foundation of American exceptionalism, from its very inception.
As prominent American sociologist Charles Murray noted in his book Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, “America will remain exceptional only to the extent that its people embody the same qualities that made it work for the two centuries of its existence. The founding virtues are central to that kind of citizenry.”
Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine, in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enroled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer in the Russian Center. In the U.S.S.R., he was a social studies teacher for three years, and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He lived first in Sitka in 1985 and then settled in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and has been the Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted about 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, and Clipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. He was the Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Russian Old Believers in Alaska; Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During WWII; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in WWII; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka, and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.
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Very well written and unfortunately, accurate. I pray for my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren! What America awaits them?
Mr. Dolitsky,
I hear from some that Mr. Trump is lacking the character needed to be our nation’s leader. I sigh to myself knowing the mental squalor with which we same people reduce ourselves. George Washington, Charles Murray, Clarence Thomas and Jesus Christ have it right when they say in one way or another: Heal Yourself. Should we all do that, our nation will follow. The 10 Commandments are a great place to start.
Thank you for the lessons.
Aye, ’tis so.
Christ is King.
It is ONLY, Him, through us, that will save this country founded with ALL Honor and Glory intended for and directed to Him.
There is little doubt that Barack Obama’s knowledge and perspective of United States history is strongly shaped by the writings of Howard Zinn.
Excellent piece! Thank you!
That was a very interesting read, for the 1st time in my life you have made me really realize how much the Communist have been targeting and patiently working to undermine our unique and precious system of Democracy!
Thank you!
Thank you, again!
My friend, via private correspondence, shared with me the following thoughts: “Under our unique freedoms and the protective cloak of academic freedom and liberal arts education we have allowed neo-Marxists to infiltrate our colleges and universities and, in some cases, our secondary schools. Faculty in turn recruit and bring in more like-minded staff until they are the dominant philosophy. There is no longer open discussion, debate or dialogue. It becomes propaganda and our children as students have been indoctrinated. It is also reinforced by the media, the entertainment industry, the Democrat party and popular culture.”
Alex, your humor is delicious. “…are you a Marxist? No, I am an anthropologist.” Well written by someone who knows what Marxism is. Thank you. The next two years will indeed tell the story of whether traditional America survives or not. I am a bit like your friend. I too am afraid it may be too late to save democracy, but we will never know if we don’t try to save it. Please keep up the good work.
Marvin Harris is also Jewish lol. Communism has always been a Jewish movement. Hence why 80% of Lenin’s commissars were Jews and butchered 80,000 clergy in Russia.
It is a very rare opportunity to review commentary on actual practised Marxist doctrine from an educated former citizen of a former communist country.
Marxism does not acknowledge that people have souls created by God. That all men are born fallen, and God is the ultimate authority. The Marxist doctrine replaces defining the actual strife of spiritual warfare, greed, prejudice and hatred with class struggle.
When Marxist ideology is forced on a society, spirituality must be destroyed. The Soviets killed off most of the priests and closed the churches. The leaders wanted the state to be perceived as having absolute authority, and belief in God was a threat to the states’ authority.
In America and western Europe neo-Marxist theory is concentrated amongst the exceedingly ignorant and morally depraved upper class and university faculties. It is so discombobulated that graduate students end up ignorant, confused, hostile to logic and reason, and incapable of being productive or grounded for leadership positions they inherit.
Separation of church and state was set in the constitution only to insure a specific state religion was not embedded, as was the tradition in all the European nations.
It was expressly not to be used as a weapon against society and deny our youth the opportunity for education, as the framers were well aware that only a moral and God fearing society could retain self governance.
The governance of our country has settled on one of the multitude of neo Marxist offshoots, most closely similar to Italian fascism of the 1920s – 1940s. Unelected perpetual power held by a merger of large corporations and an administrative state autocracy.
The shallow intellectual exercises of DEI, systemic racism, existential man caused climate change morph into government policies which lead to anarchy and are fatal to national stability, prosperity and cohesion.
As usual, thorough and substantive comments, Brian!!
I hereby nominate Dolitsky’s ‘Explaining Classical Marxism and American Neo-Marxism’, as Must Read Alaska’s Column of the Year !!!
Former KGB agent Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov who defected from Russia told us all about the communist plan for America forty years ago.
‘https://bigthink.com/the-present/yuri-bezmenov/’
Forty years later, it’s amazing to see how spot on he was. If you have time watch the whole interview.
Great mini-dissertation explaining the old and the new Marxism, Alexander. The common thread that jumps out at the reader is that Marxism, whether old school or reconstituted, seems to require these things:
1. Forced discipline by dictators;
2. Complete sacrifice of individualism;
3. Participation in activities that divide
people and index them into identity groups;
4. Punishment for failure to observe the above.
Julia, I submitted to MRAK a new article on “Three sources and components of Marxism” that will be published soon and it will clarify your question(s). Please note that the Soviet far-left socialist regime had established all categories of governing a society outlined in your comment, under the name and teaching of Marxism-Leninism.
Great article Alexander. My dad used to ask,
“If a few Americans think socialism and communism is so great, why aren’t they moving to the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba?”
Alexander just answered the question.
Thank you Alexander
Best and warmest regards
Denise and Larry