Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my concern about David Robertson’s article entitled ‘The six enemies of the West we now face’ in the September issue of en. I was particularly offended by his use of the phrase ‘Cultural Marxism’ as one of the ‘enemies’ we face.
There are a number of problems with this. First of all, there is no such thing as ‘cultural’ Marxism. It is a conspiracy theory created by the far right.
Second, actual Marxism is a political ideology that believes in the emancipation of the working class and in replacing capitalist structures with democratic and socialist ones – not really that scary.
Third, it was Adolf Hitler who put out propaganda against Marxists (which he called ‘cultural Bolshevism’, btw), persecuted them, and had them killed in gas chambers.
Fourth, Marxism is hardly a dominant ideology in British universities or in Western culture generally – it is a minority report at best. We are far more influenced by neoliberalism and laissez-faire capitalism.
Finally, we need to distinguish between democratic socialism and the totalitarian ideologies of Mao or Stalin – they would have been the very opposite of what Marx himself believed in, who maintained a lifelong commitment to democracy.
Progressives don’t actually control the political structures of any major Western democracy – so they can hardly be said to exercise the influence David assigns to them in his article.
What do progressives stand for? They stand for democracy. Many progressives believe in a fairer distribution of wealth. To give you an idea how bad inequality is: just eight billionaires own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity – almost half the world, according to Oxfam.
Progressives would also stand for treating all people equitably – not discriminating against anyone because of their creed, skin colour, or sexual orientation. This means in practice standing up against racism and discrimination. Many would be feminists – standing up for the right and dignity of women in society – who have often been marginalised and unfairly treated. Just as an historian, I can tell you, the contributions of women in history have almost been completely and utterly ignored. A feminist historian would try and correct this imbalance by looking at notable women in history or by considering what life was like for ordinary women in society in a given period.
Basically, David Robertson is talking a load of nonsense – and even engaging with a Nazi conspiracy theory of ‘Cultural Bolshevism’.
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Reynolds
By email
