By Ted Glick
August 5, 2024
Source: Originally published by Z. Feel free to share widely.
“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. . . [they] were of one heart and soul and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. . . There was not a needy person among them.” the New Oxford Annotated Bible, the book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 44-45 and chapter 4, verses 32 and 34
These words, written almost 2,000 years ago, reveal one major reason why, after Jesus of Nazareth was killed by the Roman empire, his First Century teachings and life example lived on in the hearts, minds and actions of growing numbers of people in Palestine and, increasingly, beyond. The Christian organization met not just the spiritual needs of the masses of Jewish peasants but their very practical needs.
Here is how European socialist leader Karl Kautsky put it in the early 20th century in his important book, Foundations of Christianity: “Jesus was not merely a rebel, he was also a representative and a champion, perhaps even the founder of an organization which survived him and continued to increase in numbers and in strength. It was the organization of the congregation [and its practical serving of people’s survival needs] that served as a bond to hold together Jesus’ adherents after his death. It was the vigor and strength of the congregation that created the belief in the continued life of the Messiah.”
Karl Marx did more than any other person to spread the slogan summing up this early Christian philosophy of action, using the phrase, “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” He wrote this in his 1875 book, Critique of the Gotha Program. But earlier socialists, Christian socialists, particularly Henri de Saint Simon, had used a similar phrase, using the word “work” instead of “need,” but with the same basic intent, in the 1820’s.
Since 1917 there have been socialist revolutions with the objective of creating societies motivated by this visionary approach. Unfortunately, and to be generous, those efforts have not been too successful. The Russian revolution clearly failed, and China is very far from being anything close to the kind of socialist society hoped for by 19th century founders of scientific socialism like Marx, Engels and others. Cuba has made heroic efforts to maintain the socialist vision and make it real, but the decades-long US blockade and other difficulties have undercut those efforts. Other smaller countries which have tried to build socialist societies in this world dominated by the ideology and the reality of mega-corporate, militaristic capitalism have had similar problems.
Does this mean this originally Christian, then socialist vision is an anachronism, no longer relevant in today’s world? I say “no,” a very loud “NO!” Indeed, it is just this vision which those of us committed to working for a very different world must hold onto and translate into daily acts and new forms of organization which embody it.
The original thinkers and leaders of scientific socialism in the 19th and 20th century—almost all of them men, by the way, a very big problem itself—believed that societies living by the words, “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need,” or “their work,” were on the agenda of history because of the development of industry and technology. With this economic development the conditions were being laid for masses of working people to learn from experience as they were forced into large, oppressive workplaces, learn how to join together to improve their and their families’ lives. Over time, this would lead to a replacement of rule by rich capitalists and their enablers in government with a true democracy of working people, the vast majority.
But the industrial working class was very small in China and Russia, both predominantly peasant societies with much less industry compared to Europe and the US. They therefore had less experience with mass organization, a prerequisite to having any chance of systemic change.
Fortunately today, “a different kind of movement is building in the US and elsewhere for fundamental social change. And because the US is a wealthy society, it is practically possible for that movement, when it wins, to rapidly take steps toward a much more just distribution of wealth and power, much healthier social and economic relationships based on cooperation and higher love instead of individualistic competition, and protection for and healing of our threatened climate and environment as a top level priority.” 2)
What should we be doing right now to advance toward these goals? It’s clear to me that for those of us in the US, we need to be going all out to defeat the fascist threat Trump and MAGA represent by doing all we can to bring out an anti-Trump vote for Kamala Harris in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona. Our deeply disrupted climate cannot be made even worse by four years of Trump/MAGA domination. Conversely, their electoral defeat will strengthen and expand our building, independent progressive movement.
There is no more important work right now.
1—Foundations of Christianity: A Study in Christian Origins. Monthly Review Press, 1972, pps. 376-378
2—21st Century Revolution: Through Higher Love, Racial Justice and Democratic Cooperation, by Ted Glick
Ted Glick has been a progressive activist, organizer and writer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution. More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.
ZNetwork is funded solely through the generosity of its readers.Donate
“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. . . [they] were of one heart and soul and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. . . There was not a needy person among them.” the New Oxford Annotated Bible, the book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 44-45 and chapter 4, verses 32 and 34
These words, written almost 2,000 years ago, reveal one major reason why, after Jesus of Nazareth was killed by the Roman empire, his First Century teachings and life example lived on in the hearts, minds and actions of growing numbers of people in Palestine and, increasingly, beyond. The Christian organization met not just the spiritual needs of the masses of Jewish peasants but their very practical needs.
Here is how European socialist leader Karl Kautsky put it in the early 20th century in his important book, Foundations of Christianity: “Jesus was not merely a rebel, he was also a representative and a champion, perhaps even the founder of an organization which survived him and continued to increase in numbers and in strength. It was the organization of the congregation [and its practical serving of people’s survival needs] that served as a bond to hold together Jesus’ adherents after his death. It was the vigor and strength of the congregation that created the belief in the continued life of the Messiah.”
Karl Marx did more than any other person to spread the slogan summing up this early Christian philosophy of action, using the phrase, “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” He wrote this in his 1875 book, Critique of the Gotha Program. But earlier socialists, Christian socialists, particularly Henri de Saint Simon, had used a similar phrase, using the word “work” instead of “need,” but with the same basic intent, in the 1820’s.
Since 1917 there have been socialist revolutions with the objective of creating societies motivated by this visionary approach. Unfortunately, and to be generous, those efforts have not been too successful. The Russian revolution clearly failed, and China is very far from being anything close to the kind of socialist society hoped for by 19th century founders of scientific socialism like Marx, Engels and others. Cuba has made heroic efforts to maintain the socialist vision and make it real, but the decades-long US blockade and other difficulties have undercut those efforts. Other smaller countries which have tried to build socialist societies in this world dominated by the ideology and the reality of mega-corporate, militaristic capitalism have had similar problems.
Does this mean this originally Christian, then socialist vision is an anachronism, no longer relevant in today’s world? I say “no,” a very loud “NO!” Indeed, it is just this vision which those of us committed to working for a very different world must hold onto and translate into daily acts and new forms of organization which embody it.
The original thinkers and leaders of scientific socialism in the 19th and 20th century—almost all of them men, by the way, a very big problem itself—believed that societies living by the words, “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need,” or “their work,” were on the agenda of history because of the development of industry and technology. With this economic development the conditions were being laid for masses of working people to learn from experience as they were forced into large, oppressive workplaces, learn how to join together to improve their and their families’ lives. Over time, this would lead to a replacement of rule by rich capitalists and their enablers in government with a true democracy of working people, the vast majority.
But the industrial working class was very small in China and Russia, both predominantly peasant societies with much less industry compared to Europe and the US. They therefore had less experience with mass organization, a prerequisite to having any chance of systemic change.
Fortunately today, “a different kind of movement is building in the US and elsewhere for fundamental social change. And because the US is a wealthy society, it is practically possible for that movement, when it wins, to rapidly take steps toward a much more just distribution of wealth and power, much healthier social and economic relationships based on cooperation and higher love instead of individualistic competition, and protection for and healing of our threatened climate and environment as a top level priority.” 2)
What should we be doing right now to advance toward these goals? It’s clear to me that for those of us in the US, we need to be going all out to defeat the fascist threat Trump and MAGA represent by doing all we can to bring out an anti-Trump vote for Kamala Harris in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona. Our deeply disrupted climate cannot be made even worse by four years of Trump/MAGA domination. Conversely, their electoral defeat will strengthen and expand our building, independent progressive movement.
There is no more important work right now.
1—Foundations of Christianity: A Study in Christian Origins. Monthly Review Press, 1972, pps. 376-378
2—21st Century Revolution: Through Higher Love, Racial Justice and Democratic Cooperation, by Ted Glick
Ted Glick has been a progressive activist, organizer and writer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution. More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.
ZNetwork is funded solely through the generosity of its readers.Donate
Ted Glick
Ted Glick has devoted his life to the progressive social change movement. After a year of student activism as a sophomore at Grinnell College in Iowa, he left college in 1969 to work full time against the Vietnam War. As a Selective Service draft resister, he spent 11 months in prison. In 1973, he co-founded the National Committee to Impeach Nixon and worked as a national coordinator on grassroots street actions around the country, keeping the heat on Nixon until his August 1974 resignation. Since late 2003, Ted has played a national leadership role in the effort to stabilize our climate and for a renewable energy revolution. He was a co-founder in 2004 of the Climate Crisis Coalition and in 2005 coordinated the USA Join the World effort leading up to December actions during the United Nations Climate Change conference in Montreal. In May 2006, he began working with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and was CCAN National Campaign Coordinator until his retirement in October 2015. He is a co-founder (2014) and one of the leaders of the group Beyond Extreme Energy. He is President of the group 350NJ/Rockland, on the steering committee of the DivestNJ Coalition and on the leadership group of the Climate Reality Check network.
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