LEADERS of the 75 Communist parties meeting in Moscow—and those conspicuously absent—often argue bitterly about what their faith, Marxism, means. More interesting is the question of what Marxism does. How strong is its influence today? What accounts for its ability to renew its appeal? Who needs it?
As a theory of society, Marxism's "laws" have been mocked by events, such as the increasing prosperity of the workers and the near disappearance of cyclical economic crisis. As a political movement and myth, it has been far more successful. Regimes calling themselves Marxist (and who has a right to say they are not?) rule a third of mankind. Their future expansion, while not as likely as it seemed 20 years ago, is by no means impossible. But neither failed Marxist theory nor entrenched Marxist power explains why Marxism can today provide slogans for the uproar in U.S. colleges and ghettos, courage for guerrillas in Viet Nam, flickers of hope for anxious intellectuals and bewildered peasants.
Functionally, Marxism is a vision, belonging more to poetics than to science or politics. It began as a sensitive man's response to an early stage of a fundamental transformation in the human condition. The great change that had set in by the middle of the 19th century still rolls on, gathering speed and extending its breadth. Today, as in Marx's time, men feel the change as both a threat and a promise. It evokes fear and hope simultaneously. The Marxist vision is a peculiar, sometimes deadly—but for many men an effective—way of perceiving the moving society and relating themselves to it.
Dr. Marx concocted a "total" theory, a consistent set of symbols, to explain the course of history, and he intended his theory to be swallowed whole. The vision derives much of its poetic force from its unity, although few modern men gulp down the whole brew. Outside the Communist countries, formal conversion to Marxism is now rarer than it was a generation ago. Much Marxist influence is indirect and fragmentary. In some minds, fragments of the Marxist vision coexist—illogically—with Christianity or Freudianism. For most, it provides a rationale for criticizing society as it is, rather than a plan for moving toward society as it ought to be.
Alienation and Anarchism
Nevertheless, Marxist influence is still potent, especially where men find themselves in situations somehow analogous to those that surrounded Marx in the Europe of five generations ago. Leaving aside the uses of Marxism within the Communist-ruled countries, groups especially susceptible to the vision today include the peoples of less advanced countries now experiencing early stages of modernization, and certain unassimilated groups (for example, radical U.S. blacks) in advanced countries. Equally susceptible are intellectuals and youth.