The Ten Planks
of the Communist Manifesto
1848 by Karl Heinrich Marx |
How "Marxist" Has the United States Become? |
Although Marx advocated the use of any means, especially including violent revolution,
to bring about socialist dictatorship, he suggested ten political goals for developed countries such as the United States.
How far has the United States -- traditionally the bastion of freedom, free markets, and private property -- gone down the
Marxist road to fulfill these socialist aims? You be the judge. The following are Marx's ten planks from his
Communist Manifesto.
1. Abolition of private property in land and application of all rents of land to public purpose.
The courts have interpreted the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868) to
give the government far more "eminent domain" power than was originally intended, Under the rubric of "eminent domain" and
various zoning regulations, land use regulations by the Bureau of Land Managementproperty taxes, and "environmental" excuses,
private property rights have become very diluted and private property in landis, vehicles, and other forms are seized almost
every day in this country under the "forfeiture" provisions of the RICO statutes and the so-called War on Drugs..
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
The 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913 (which some scholars maintain was
never properly ratified), and various State income taxes, established this major Marxist coup in the United States many decades
ago. These taxes continue to drain the lifeblood out of the American economy and greatly reduce the accumulation of desperately
needed capital for future growth, business starts, job creation, and salary increases.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
Another Marxian attack on private property rights is in the form of Federal &
State estate taxes and other inheritance taxes, which have abolished or at least greatly diluted the right of private property
owners to determine the disposition and distribution of their estates upon their death. Instead, government bureaucrats get
their greedy hands involved .
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
We call it government seizures, tax liens, "forfeiture" Public "law" 99-570 (1986);
Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment
of "terrorists" and those who speak out or write against the "government" (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation
of property without due process.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state
capital and an exclusive monopoly.
The Federal Reserve System, created by the Federal Reserve Act of Congress in 1913, is indeed such a
"national bank" and it politically manipulates interest rates and holds a monopoly on legal counterfeiting in the United States.
This is exactly what Marx had in mind and completely fulfills this plank, another major socialist objective. Yet, most Americans
naively believe the U.S. of A. is far from a Marxist or socialist nation.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the state.
In the U.S., communication and transportation are controlled and regulated by the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established by the Communications Act of 1934 and the Department of Transportation
and the Interstate Commerce Commission (established by Congress in 1887), and the Federal Aviation Administration as well
as Executive orders 11490, 10999 -- not to mention various state bureaucracies and regulations. There is also the federal
postal monopoly, AMTRAK and CONRAIL -- outright socialist (government-owned) enterprises. Instead of free-market private enteprrise
in these important industries, these fields in America are semi-cartelized through the government's regulatory-industiral
complex.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into
cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
While the U.S. does not have vast "collective farms" (which failed so miserably in
the Soviet Union), we nevertheless do have a significant degree of government involvement in agriculture in the form of price
support subsidies and acreage alotments and land-use controls. The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture. As
well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Evironmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management,
Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.
8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of Industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
We call it the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor. The National
debt and inflation caused by the communal bank has caused the need for a two "income" family. Woman in the workplace since
the 1920's, the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, assorted Socialist Unions, affirmative
action, the Federal Public Works Program and of course Executive order 11000. And I almost forgot...The Equal Rights Amendment
means that women should do all work that men do including the military and since passage it would make women subject to the
draft.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction
between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.
We call it the Planning Reorganization Act of 1949 , zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate
Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public "law" 89-136.
10. Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children's factory labor
in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. etc.
People are being taxed to support what we call 'public' schools, which train the
young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based "Education"
.
So, is the U.S. a "free country" today? Hardly! Not compared to what it
once was. Yet, very few Americans today challenge these Marxist institutions, and there are virtually no politicians calling
for their repeal or even gradual phase-out. While the United States of America may still have more freedoms than most other
countries, we have nonetheless lost many crucial liberties and have accepted the major socialist attacks on freedom and private
property as normal parts of our way of life. The nation, whose founders included such individualists as Thomas Jefferson,
George Mason, James Madison, John Adams and Patrick Henry, has gradually turned away from the principles of individual rights,
limited constitutional government, private property, and free markets and instead we increasingly have embraced the failed
ideas and nostrums of socialism and fascism. We should hang our heads in shame for having allowed this to happen.
But, it is not too late to reverse these pernicious burdens and instead
enact pro-freedom reforms to put our nation back on track again. It can be done.
In some ways the Left has a head start over us on the pro-freedom Right.
The enemies of American freedom do admittedly dominate the entertainment industry, television news media, and academia --
but we have the tremendous strategic advantage that reality (including man's nature) is on our side; so, unlike the socialists
and "liberals" (welfare-state fascists), we are not in the position of having to advocate a system which constantly tries
to "make water to go uphill" -- or force human beings into a rigid utopian staitjacket based on the whims of some clique of
central planning bureaucrats. We know that individual freedom for peaceful people within a constitutional republic works in
practice; our country's history demonstrates that. The piecemeal abandonment of those principles and institutions which once
made America great has proved to be a a dead-end road to failure. That is why I tend to be a long-term optimist even though
things often look pretty glum in the meantime. Just as Prohibition was eventually repealed, I feel encouraged that such key
statist achievements as the income tax, government schools, fiat money/central banking (the Federal Reserve), "environmentalist"
regulations, property forfeiture laws, and other Marxist planks and leftist institutions can be rolled back and repealed altogether,
although it may take several decades.
Those who would carry forward the ideas and principles of self-ownership,
private property, free markets, laissez faire, the rule of law, and constitutionalism which informed America's founders must
become more active on the key ideological battle fronts. We need more influence not just in politics, but in areas of entertainment,
academia, journalism, think tanks, churches (we need our own individualist Walter Rauschenbushes), literature, art, and other
venues of expression and activism.
Marxism and socialism have proved to be colossal failures all over the
world. As Frederic Bastiat wrote in his classic The Law just prior to his
death, "let us now try liberty"!
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