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   [406] The adolescent writings of Marx display a spirit of Christian devotion,   
   coupled with a deep desire to sacrifice himself on behalf of humanity. Though   
   Marx found it difficult adjusting with society, and even with his peers (to   
   whom he often seemed    
   cold and arrogant), he nonetheless desperately yearned for acceptance. This   
   psychic complex is not uncommon among converted Jews, whose shame regarding   
   family heritage and past beliefs tends to create psycho-logical blocks when   
   mixing in their adopted    
   community, especially when that community is decidedly anti-Semitic. Having   
   rejected friendship or association with Jews, and not feeling fully accepted   
   by, nor even internally worthy of their new (Christian) community, such   
   persons tend to become    
   isolated in their own real or imagined kingdoms. Their nature is, however,   
   quite loyal, and they generally place tremendous value on their few friends.   
   Philosophically, they lean toward universal suffrage, but Judaism often takes   
   on all the qualities of    
   whatever demons they want to exorcise. Hence, in 1844, Marx wrote an article,   
   “Zur Judenfrage” (About the Jewish Question), in which he used some extremely   
   anti-Semitic language while, nevertheless, supporting political emancipation   
   for the Jews.    
   According to Marx, “The chimerical nationality of the Jew is the nationality   
   of the merchant, of the moneyed man generally… What is the secular basis of   
   Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly cult of the Jew?   
   Huckstering. What is his    
   worldly god? Money… Out of its entrails bourgeois society continually creates   
   Jews… Emancipation from huckstering and from money, and consequently from   
   practical, real Judaism would be the self-emancipation of our era.” Of course,   
   such attacks on Judaism    
   were not simply unnecessary, inaccurate and unjust, but they were unproductive   
   in every respect. Marx's Protestant friend, Friedrich Engels, would no doubt   
   have supported Marx even had Marx indeed been Jewish; and Marx's rival, Michae   
    Bakunin, never abated his anti-Jewish attacks on Marx, despite Marx's sincere   
   conversion to Christianity and his later adoption of an atheistic stance.   
   Furthermore, while Judaism may reasonably be associated with capitalism, so   
   also may Protestant    
   Christianity, and to an even greater extent. Finally, what is perhaps most   
   ironic of all is that while Marx denigrated the Jews for making money their   
   worldly God, he himself sought to enshrine materialism as the be-all and   
   end-all of life. Such an    
   approach clearly cannot be the path of emancipation from money or even from   
   the Judaism which he had come to despise. Unknowingly, Marx remained a Jew by   
   his very own standards of measurement.   
      
   [407] Even the lifestyle of Marx was similar to that of the prophets. In 1849,   
   Marx was tried for treason as a consequence of his radical remarks. Despite   
   the fact that he was acquitted by a bourgeois jury, he was still banished from   
   his beloved Germany,    
   and France also refused to accept him unless he agreed to live quietly in   
   Brittany. Declining that offer, Marx chose to live in London. There Marx and   
   his wife, Jenny, lived a life of extreme poverty, subsisting on a small but   
   regular allowance from Marx'   
   s wealthy friend, Engels, and on the fees for occasional articles which Marx   
   wrote for the New York Tribune. Unfortunately, Marx often did not have enough   
   money to cover even his basic necessities, such as medicine for himself or for   
   his children. Much    
   of the time Marx was himself quite ill and, ultimately, three of his children   
   died, apparently due to lack of proper nutrition and medical treatment. On one   
   occasion – after the death of his daughter, Franziska – Jenny had to rush   
   about frantically in    
   order to borrow money for a coffin. Nevertheless, out of pride, revolutionary   
   fervor, faith or religious zeal, Marx simply could never bring himself to seek   
   paid employment. In 1882, Marx died, after passing the last 34 years of his   
   life in poverty and    
   in exile.   
      
   [408] Many early socialist movements, such as Christian socialism, discarded   
   the atheistic and materialistic outlook of Marx. Even today, Catholic monks   
   and nuns in underdeveloped countries find little difficulty ignoring the   
   atheistic veneer of Marxism    
   while associating with its basically Christian social ideals.   
      
   [409] The idea of a society bereft of government is, of course, quite   
   implausible. The real problem is not so much the institution of government but   
   rather the quality of government. Ignoring all of the practical exigencies,   
   Marx chose to live in a fool'   
   s paradise, where he imagined that any government bearing the stamp of the   
   Communist Party would be sufficiently righteous to work automatically in the   
   most efficient way for its own self-destruction. However, in practice,   
   wherever communism has been    
   established, it is Marxism which has withered away, not the organs of the   
   State.   
      
   [410] It is curious to note that Marx was a prophet who was not really   
   recognized in his own land. Like Jesus, the people Marx courted the most   
   rejected him, and those whom he most abused eventually became his ardent   
   admirers. Ironically, Jesus once    
   admonished a Gentile woman for not knowing what she worshipped; and,   
   similarly, Marx once declared, “I do not trust any Russian.”   
      
   [411] In China, Red Flag, the Communist Party Journal, recently estimated that   
   almost one-third of the country's 60 million young laborers are not motivated   
   to work. Certainly this problem is no less severe in Russia. Indeed, a popular   
   joke circulating    
   in Russia is about the “six paradoxes of communism”. The joke begins with the   
   observation that there is no unemployment, but no one works. (The rest of the   
   joke goes as follows: (2) No one works, but productivity increases; (3)   
   Productivity increases,    
   but there is nothing in the stores; (4) There is nothing in the stores, but at   
   home there is everything; (5) At home there is everything, but no one is   
   satisfied; (6) No one is satisfied, but everyone votes yes.)   
      
   [412] We mentioned earlier that Protestant Christianity, especially Calvinism,   
   gave a strong religious incentive to work. Additionally, it should be   
   remembered that that religious sentiment was closely linked to the expectation   
   not only of heavenly favor,   
    but also of greater economic reward. That is why Protestantism not only   
   encourages capitalism but, to a very large degree, depends upon a system of   
   capitalism.   
      
   [413] Acts 4:34-35.   
      
   Here Christianity has been given credit for inspiring much of Marx's economic   
   philosophy, but we should carefully note that the early Christian community   
   which is described in Acts may best be understood as a mere sect or, at most,   
   an offshoot of the    
   larger Jewish community. In Chapter 6 “Of Prophets and Kings – The Christ   
   Conspiracy”, the numerous similarities between the early Christians and the   
   Jewish Essenes have been discussed at some length. However, today the Essenes   
   no longer exist – they    
   have long ago merged themselves into the Christian faith. Although it would be   
   technically correct to assert that Marxism has its roots in Judaism,   
   nevertheless it is more likely that Karl Marx derived his social vision first   
   and foremost from the    
   scriptures associated with the Christian religion rather than those of Judaism.   
      
   [414] Acts 4:31-5:11. (This is the passage at the beginning of this chapter.)   
      
      
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