Page 182 - Communism in Ambush

COMMUNISM IN AMBUSH
180

tical materialism. He rigorously defended
Darwin because "Darwin applied a consistent
philosophy of materialism to his interpreta-
tion of nature." 130
In 1992, this famous Marxist-Darwinist
went on a trip to Russia. A few years before
this trip, the Eastern Block had split up; one
year earlier, the Soviet Union had collapsed
and the Communist Party no longer existed.
The whole world was convinced that
Communism had fallen. But Gould inter-
Stephen Jay Gould, an ar-
preted the event otherwise. On his return, dent Marxist, was one of
he stated to reporters that, "Y Yes, the Russian the most prominent
Darwinist scientists in the
reality does discredit a specific Marxist eco-
U.S. When the USSR col-
nomics,"—but went on to say that Marx has
lapsed, he proclaimed that
been proven right about "the validity of the Marxism had only grown
larger model of punctuational change." 131 stronger.
According to Gould, Marxism is still
alive.

Communism is Alive as Well

Stephen Jay Gould's commitment to Darwinism is not an excep-
tional case. Among the well-known 20th century scientists who accept
the theory of evolution, many have been Marxists. In the first half of the
last century, individuals like Alexander Oparin and J.B.S. Haldane were
all passionate Marxists who carried out their most important experi-
ments in the name of evolution. Western evolutionist scientists like John
Maynard Smith and Richard Lewontin are still avid defenders of
Marxism.
According to these men, Darwinism and Marxism have the same
meaning. Each theory is based on a common philosophical foundation:
Dialectical materialism, which Marx applied to history, and Darwin ap-
plied to nature. According to these people, the universally held idea that
Communism collapsed along with the fall of the Soviet Union and the
Eastern Bloc is wrong, only "a false interpretation of Marxism" has