Page 182 - Islam and Buddhism

Islam and Buddhism

ism," is a system of thought going as far back as ancient Greece.

Materialism rests on the assumption that matter is the only thing that
exists. According to materialist philosophy, matter has always ex-
isted, and will continue to do so for all time. Again according to this
philosophy, nothing exists beyond matter.
Naturally, materialism is also reflected in the political arena, with
communism indisputably taking pride of place in this regard. Karl

Marx (1818-83) and Friedrich Engels (1820-95), regarded as the
founders of communism, were also the founders of dialectical materi-
alism. In any case, communism is nothing more than materialist phi-
losophy adapted to the social sciences by Marx and Engels.
Communism is today regarded as an ideology consigned to the
wastes of history, whereas the fact is that it is still exceedingly influ-
ential. The destructive effects of this ideology can still be felt in many

countries.
This is where Darwinism assumes great importance. Since
Darwinism, or the theory of evolution, maintains that living things
were not created but came into being by chance, it has received a wide
acceptance among materialist ideologies, and has been adopted as the
"basic foundation" of communism in particular. All the main commu-

nist ideologues have accepted the theory word for word, and have
based their ideologies upon it.
In a letter to Friedrich Engels in 1860, for instance, Karl Marx said
of Darwin's book that "This is the book which contains the basis in
natural history for our view." In another letter the following year,
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this time to Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-64), Marx said: "Darwin's book
is very important and serves me as a basis in natural science for the
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class struggle in history." Similarly Mao Tse Tung, the founder of
Chinese communism, openly stated that "The foundations of Chinese
socialism rest on Darwin and the theory of evolution." 20

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