No, Karl Marx Wasn’t a Hideous Racist
Centrist pundit Andrew Sullivan thinks Karl Marx was “one of the most repellent anti-Semites and racists of the 19th century.” That’s nonsense — Marx’s political project was all about expanding human freedom and fighting oppression in every form.
Karl Marx’s deepest commitment was to human freedom. It’s a commitment that led him to produce a body of work that continues to reward the attention of readers who are serious about remaking society in accordance with “Enlightenment values.” (Robert Diedrichs / Wikimedia Commons)
Andrew Sullivan really, really hates Karl Marx. He writes in his recent essay “When Will They Cancel Karl Marx?” that “the woke” are hypocritical because they’ve “canceled” Enlightenment thinkers like Thomas Jefferson, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant for their racist beliefs — whereas Marx remains uncanceled.
Marx, Sullivan says, was “one of the most repellent anti-Semites and racists of the 19th century.” Oh, and Marxism has had a “uniquely murderous role in human history.”
Every one of these claims is nonsense.
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