The Greening of

Once upon a time things were simple. The Trinity was intact: Marx had sent Lenin as his only begotten son, carried by the spirit of Dialectical Materialism. In his martyrdom Lenin laid hands on Stalin, empowering him to build the church in Moscow, and this was done. The sacred books were there preserved and mediated. Heretics there might be, but clearly they were demon-possessed and had only to be driven from the temple. The Marxist-Leninist Library, duly circulated by International Publishers, Lawrence & Wishart, and other propagators of the faith, spread the gospel, on which the pope in the Kremlin spoke the last infallible word should doubts arise about interpretation.

We know what cracks began to appear in this splendid edifice through the perversities of man and the connivance of the Enemy, but do we all know how wide and deep they are? The monolithic church could not survive the death of its terrible patriarch, and there was a Protestant revolt. But a quieter revolution, accompanying the rivalry of Mao and Moscow, has eroded the very source of spiritual charisma, the Books of Marx and Engels.

RS

About the Author

Roland Stromberg

Once upon a time things were simple. The Trinity was intact: Marx had sent Lenin as his only begotten son, carried by the spirit of Dialectical Materialism. In his martyrdom Lenin laid hands on Stalin, empowering him to build the church in Moscow, and this was done. The sacred books were there preserved and mediated. Heretics there might be, but clearly they were demon-possessed and had only to be driven from the temple. The Marxist-Leninist Library, duly circulated by International Publishers, Lawrence & Wishart, and other propagators of the faith, spread the gospel, on which the pope in the Kremlin spoke the last infallible word should doubts arise about interpretation.

We know what cracks began to appear in this splendid edifice through the perversities of man and the connivance of the Enemy, but do we all know how wide and deep they are? The monolithic church could not survive the death of its terrible patriarch, and there was a Protestant revolt. But a quieter revolution, accompanying the rivalry of Mao and Moscow, has eroded the very source of spiritual charisma, the Books of Marx and Engels.