THE PHILOSOPHY OF REVOLUTION
Mary
Mary begins with the soul and God. "My soul magnifies the Lord; my spirit has found joy in God Who is my Saviour." The whole universe revolves around these two realities: the soul aspiring to an infinity of happiness which God alone can supply.
Marx
Marx ended the first of his books with the words: "I hate all the gods." For Communism there is only matter endowed with its own inner contradiction which begets movement. Since there is only matter, there is no soul. The belief that each man has value, "is founded," said Marx, "on the Christian illusion that every man has a soul."
There is no God, because a belief in God alienates man from himself and makes him subject to someone outside self. There is no God, but man. "Religion is the Opium of the people."
THE FUTURE OF REVOLUTION
Mary
"All generations will count me blessed." She will be an exception to the law of forgetfulness, because the Lord of History has willed that she be venerated through the centuries. History is Providentially determined. The progress and fall of civilizations is due to the determined moral ordering of human life. Peace is the tranquility of order, and order implies justice to God and neighbor. Peace fails when each man seeks his own and forgets the love of God and neighbor.
Marx
History is dialectically determined. It is not God, nor the way men live that decides the progress and decay of civilization, but a law of class conflict which continues until Communism takes over and classes no longer exist. The future is determined by matter. The present generation and all the past can look to a remote future where they will dance on the grave of their ancestors. Certain classes are destined to be the funeral pyre to light future generations, lifting clenched fists over the corpse of Lenin.
FEAR AND REVOLUTION
Mary
"He has mercy upon those who fear Him, from generation to generation." Fear is here understood as filial, namely, a shrinking from hurting one who is loved. Such is the fear a son has for a devoted father, and the fear a Christian has of Christ. Fear is here related to love.
Marx
Communism is founded not on filial but on servile fear, the kind of fear a slave has for a tyrant, a worker has for a dictator. The fear begotten by the revolution is a compulsion neurosis, born not of love but power. A revolution which destroys filial fear of God always ends in the creation of servile fear of man.
TECHNIQUE OF REVOLUTION
Both Mary and Marx advocate the exaltation of the poor, the dethroning of the proud, the emptying of the rich in favor of the socially disinherited, but they differ in their technique.
Mary
Violence is necessary. "The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence." But the violence must be against self, against its selfishness, greed, lust, and pride.
The sword that strikes must be thrust inward to rid oneself of all that would make one despise neighbor.
The transfer of wealth, which makes for the prosperity of the poor, is inspired by an inner charity which loves God and neighbor.
Man has nothing to lose but the chains of sin, which darkens his intellect and weakens his will. By throwing off sin through the merits of Christ, man becomes a child of God, an heir of Heaven, enjoying inner peace in this life and even amidst its trials, and an ultimate and final ecstasy of love in heaven.
Marx
Violence is necessary. But the violence must be against neighbor, against those who own, who believe in God, and in democracy. Egotism must be disguised as social justice.
The sword that strikes must be thrust outward to rid society of all that would despise a revolution based on hate.
The transfer of wealth takes place through "violent confiscation" and the shifting of booty and loot from one man's pocket to another.
Man has nothing to lose but the chains which bind him to God and to property. Thanks, then, to atheism and socialism, man will be restored to himself as the true god.
It is remarkable how Mary begins her Magnificat with her personal experiences, and soon passes on to identify herself with the whole human race. She looks ahead and sees what the effect of the birth of Her Son will be to the world, how it will improve the whole condition of human life, how it will free the oppressed, feed the hungry, and assist the helpless. And when she said these words, her Son was not yet born -although one would think, from the joy of the song, that He was already in her arms. She is singing here a song of pure faith about something certain to happen because God will make it come true, and not predicting the mere revolution of blind material forces.
There is an intrinsic antagonism between her revolution and any other, because hers is based on the true psychology of human nature. Hers is based on the existence of an immense want, so serious and so imperative that every honest heart must crave for its satisfaction. Happy are they who experience, within themselves, the expelling of pride and egotism, and in whom spiritual hunger is fed - who discover, before it is too late, that they are poor, and naked, and blind, and who seek to clothe themselves with the raiment of grace which her Son brings.