Page 102 - The Intellectual Struggle Against Darwinism

100 THE INTELLECTUAL STRUGGLE AGAINST DARWINISM

sizing Darwinism's importance for communism.
Marx demonstrated his admiration towards Darwin by ded-
icating his most important work, Das Kapital, to him. He penned
these words in the German edition of the book: "To Charles
Darwin, from Karl Marx, a true admirer." 26

Engels expressed his admiration for Darwin elsewhere:
"Nature operates not as metaphysics, but as dialectic. In that regard, the

name of Charles Darwin must be remembered above all others." 27
Engels praised Darwin in a manner comparable to Marx,
saying, "In the same way that Darwin discovered the universal
law in organic nature, so Marx discovered the universal law in the
28
history of mankind." The connection between Darwinism and
Marxism is a fact accepted by everyone today. Even in biogra-
phies of Marx, this connection is emphasized. One biography of
him describes the link in these terms: "Darwinism presented a whole
string of truths supporting Marxism and proving and developing the
truth of it. The spread of Darwinist evolutionary ideas created a fertile
ground for Marxist ideas as a whole to be taken on board by the working
class… Marx, Engels, and Lenin attached great value to the ideas of
Darwin and pointed to their scientific importance, and in this way the
spread of these ideas was accelerated." 29
Mao, one of the bloodiest murderers in history, was also a

confirmed Darwinist. As a result of Mao's commands, some 10
million people were killed directly, while another 20 million who
refused to obey him died in prisons. Mao describes the philo-
sophical basis on which he built this order this way: "The foun-
dation of Chinese socialism rests upon Darwin and the Theory of
Evolution." 30
Being a Marxist and an atheist and a firm believer in evolu-
tionism himself, Mao mandated that the reading material used in