COMMUNISM

A DIDACTIC POEM

BY TORSTEN SCHWANKE

DEDICATED TO OUR LADY OF FATIMA

WRITTEN OCT 13, 1937

Communism today, 

To a greater extent 

Than has been the case 

With other similar movements of the past, 

Contains within it a false idea of salvation. 

A false ideal of justice, 

Equality and fraternity in labour 

Suffuses all its teaching and activity 

With a certain mysticism, 

Which inspires the masses, 

Won over by deceptive promises, 

With the suggestive enthusiasm 

Of a rousing movement. 

This could happen all the more easily 

In our time, which is beset 

By extraordinary misery 

As a result of a faulty distribution 

Of the world's goods. 

This false ideal also boasts 

Of having been the stimulus 

Of a certain economic progress, 

Which in truth, in so far as it is genuine, 

Is derived from quite different causes, 

Such as the increase 

Of industrial production in countries 

Which were little developed in this respect, 

Or from the exploitation 

Of an immense wealth of mineral resources, 

Or even from the use of brutal methods 

Of labour to achieve gigantic 

Achievements at depressed wages.

The doctrine, which communism 

Often enough conceals 

Under deceptive covers, 

Still stands essentially today 

On the principles of so-called 

Dialectical materialism 

And historical materialism 

Promulgated by Marx, 

The only correct interpretation 

Of which the theoreticians 

Of Bolshevism believe they represent. 

According to this doctrine, 

There is only one original reality, 

namely matter with its blind forces, 

From which plants, animals 

And man have developed. 

Human society, too, 

Is nothing other than a manifestation 

Of this matter, which develops 

In the manner indicated 

And strives with inescapable necessity 

In a constant struggle of forces 

Towards the final balance: 

The classless society. 

It is obvious that in such a system 

There is no longer any place 

For the Idea of God, 

That there is no longer any difference 

Between spirit and matter, 

Between body and soul, 

That there is no longer any survival 

Of the soul after death, 

And therefore no hope for another life. 

Appealing to the dialectical side 

Of their materialism, 

The communists maintain 

That the struggle which leads the world 

To the final balance 

Can be accelerated by man. 

That is why they strive to intensify 

The class antagonisms in society, 

And so the class struggle, 

With all its spitefulness and destructiveness, 

Becomes a kind of crusade 

In the service of the progress of humanity. 

But all powers, whoever they may be, 

That oppose these 

Systematically practised acts of violence 

Must be destroyed as enemies 

Of the human race.

Furthermore, communism 

Robs man of his freedom, 

Of the spiritual basis 

Of his moral conduct of life; 

It deprives man's personality 

Of all dignity and moral support 

In the turmoil of blind instincts. 

As far as the relation 

Of the individual to the community 

Is concerned, it does not recognise 

Any natural rights 

Of the human personality, 

That according to it it is nothing 

But a simple wheel 

In the structure of a machine. 

In the relations of human beings 

With one another, it proclaims 

The principle of absolute equality, 

Denying any superordination 

And any authority that might be 

Founded by God, 

Including parental authority; 

But whatever so-called authority 

And subordination exists 

Among human beings 

Derives exclusively from the community 

As its sole source. 

In this system there is no longer 

Any right of ownership for the individual, 

Neither to the treasures of nature 

Nor to the means of production, 

Since such a right would have to lead 

To the acquisition of further goods 

And thus to the power 

Of one human being over another. 

Precisely for this reason, 

This form of private property 

Must be radically eradicated, 

Since it is the beginning and source 

Of all economic enslavement.


For a doctrine which in this way 

Ddeprives human life 

Of all consecration and spirituality, 

Marriage and the family 

Are consequently a purely arbitrary 

And bourgeois institution, 

Or even the result 

Of a certain economic development; 

One denies the existence 

Of the marriage bond 

With legal-moral obligation, 

Which would be withdrawn 

From the discretion of the individual 

O society, and consequently 

Also its indissolubility. 

In particular, for communism 

There is no bond of any kind 

Between woman and family and home. 

It proclaims the principle 

Of the emancipation of woman, 

Snatches her away from domestic life 

And the care of her children, 

Rather draws her into the public sphere 

And into collective production 

To the same extent as man, 

And shifts the care of the home 

And the child to society. 

Finally, the right of education 

Has been taken away from the parents 

And made an exclusive right 

Of the community, in whose name 

And on whose behalf alone 

It may be exercised by the parents.

What would become of human society 

If it were to be built 

On such a materialistic basis? 

It would become a collective being, 

Structured solely according 

To the requirements of the economic system. 

Its sole task would be the production 

Of goods by collective labour 

And the enjoyment of the earth's goods 

In a paradise 

In which each person would give 

According to his strength 

And receive according to his need. 

Communism grants the community the right, 

Or rather the unlimited authority, 

To force individuals 

Into the yoke of collective labour, 

Without regard to their personal welfare, 

Even against their own will 

And even to the use of force. 

The moral and legal order 

Would be nothing other 

Than an outgrowth of the respective 

economic system, 

Thus of purely earthly origin, 

Changeable and invalid. 

In short, a new epoch 

And a new civilisation 

Would be brought about, 

The fruit of a blind development: 

A humanity without God.

In this utopian society 

Without class distinctions, 

When all have finally become 

True collective human beings, 

The political state, which today 

Is only a means of power 

In the hands of the capitalists 

To subjugate the proletarians, 

Will lose the precondition of its existence 

And dissolve; in the meantime, however, 

As long as this happy state 

Has not yet been reached, 

The state and state violence 

Are for communism the most effective 

And universal means of reaching its goal.

This, venerable brethren, is 

The new gospel 

That Bolshevik and atheistic communism 

Offers as a message of salvation 

And redemption to humanity! 

A system full of error and fallacies 

That contradicts common sense 

As well as divine revelation. 

It is the overthrow of every social order, 

Because it destroys its last foundations! 

It is a misjudgement of the true origin, 

Nature and purpose of the state! 

It is disenfranchisement, degradation 

And enslavement 

Of the human personality!

But how was it possible that a system 

Which has long been scientifically outdated 

And disproved by actual development, 

How was it only possible, I ask, 

That such a system could spread 

Wth uncanny speed 

Throughout all the countries of the world? 

The explanation is the fact 

That few have fully seen through 

The true nature of communism; 

Most thus succumb to the temptation 

That approaches them with dazzling eyes. 

Under the pretence that one only wants 

To improve the lot of the working class, 

To eliminate the real abuses 

Of liberal economic management 

And to achieve a better balance 

Of property relations on earth 

(Aims which undoubtedly 

Have their full justification), 

Tking advantage, furthermore, 

Of the economic crisis, 

It is possible to draw into the sphere 

Of influence of communism 

Even those circles of the population 

Which fundamentally reject 

All materialism and all terror. 

Just as every error always contains 

A grain of truth, so this same piece of truth 

Which I have designated, 

And which is skilfully brought 

To the fore at the right time and place 

In order to conceal the repulsive 

And inhuman cruelty of the principles 

And methods of Bolshevik communism, 

Also seduces more than usually gifted people 

And makes them in their turn apostles 

Among the young intelligentsia, 

Who are still too little able 

To perceive deeper errors. 

On top of this, the standard-bearers 

Of communism know how to take advantage 

Of the principles between the races 

And the various opposing political systems, 

Even exploiting the perplexity 

Of a science without God 

For themselves in order to nestle 

In the universities and support 

The principles of their system 

With bogus arguments.

In order to be able to explain 

How communism succeeded 

I gaining acceptance 

Among very large masses of workers 

Without any examination, 

One must bear in mind 

That they were already prepared 

For this by neglecting their religious-moral life 

Under the demands of liberal economy: 

With work shifts even on Sundays, 

They were not even given time 

To fulfil the heaviest religious duties 

On Sundays and feast days. 

No thought was given to building churches 

Near the workplaces 

Or to facilitating the work of the pastors. 

Yes, they even continued to promote 

And cultivate secularism. 

Today one sees the fruits 

Of those errors ripening 

Which were often enough marked 

By the Popes, 

And one should not be surprised 

That in a world which has already been 

Widely alienated from Christianity, 

The communist heresy is spreading.

Furthermore, the rapid spread 

Of communist ideas, 

Which are penetrating into all countries, 

The large and the small, 

The highly cultivated and the less developed, 

So that no corner of this earth 

Is any longer free of them, 

Is explained by a truly demonic propaganda, 

Such as the world has perhaps not yet seen, 

A propaganda directed by a single centre 

And extremely skilfully adapted 

To the living conditions 

Of the various peoples, 

A propaganda which works 

With great financial means, 

With gigantic organisations, 

With international congresses, 

With innumerable well-trained forces, 

A propaganda which advertises 

With leaflets and magazines, 

In cinemas, in theatres, with the radio, 

In the schools, in the universities even, 

And which gradually seizes 

All circles of the population, 

Even the better ones, 

Without their even being aware 

Of the poison which is gradually 

penetrating their minds and hearts.

Another powerful tool 

For the spread of communism 

Is a veritable conspiracy of silence 

Among much of the non-Catholic world press. 

I speak of a conspiracy, 

For there is no other explanation for the fact 

That a press so eager to bring 

Even minor daily events before its audience 

Has brought itself to remain silent 

For so long about the crimes 

Committed in Russia, in Mexico 

And in a large part of Spain, 

And to report relatively so little 

About such a vast world organisation 

As Moscow's communism. 

This silence is partly due 

To political short-sightedness; 

It is also abetted by various secret powers 

Which have long been bent 

On destroying the Christian social order.

Meanwhile I have before mine eyes 

The sad effects of this propaganda. 

Wherever communism has had 

The opportunity to establish itself 

And to establish its rule - 

I think here with special fatherly sympathy 

Of the peoples of Russia and Mexico - 

It has endeavoured (by its own admission) 

By all means to radically destroy 

Christian culture and religion 

And to erase every memory of them 

Even in the hearts of the people, 

Especially the youth. 

It expelled bishops and priests from the country, 

Sentenced them to forced labour, 

Shot them, killed them in inhuman ways; 

It suspected, oppressed, persecuted, 

Dragged simple lay people into prisons 

And before the judge 

Because they had stood up 

For the true religion.

Even where the scourge of communism 

Has not yet found time to take full effect, 

As in my dearly beloved Spain, 

It has unfortunately appeared, 

As if in recompense, 

With an even cruder violence. 

Not only has this or that church, 

This or that monastery been destroyed, 

But possibly every church and every monastery, 

Eery trace of the Christian religion, 

Even where outstanding monuments 

Of art and science were concerned! 

The communist rage of destruction 

Was not limited to the murder 

Of bishops and thousands of priests, 

Religious and nuns, 

Always looking for those 

Who were especially zealous 

For the workers and the poor; 

No, it has made its victims 

Of laymen of all ranks 

In even greater numbers, 

Has slaughtered them in droves up 

To the present time, yes, 

Oe can say day after day, 

And this solely because they were 

Good Christians, or at least 

Enemies of communist atheism. 

And this gruesome work of destruction 

Has been carried out with a hatred, 

A barbarity and a cruelty 

Such as one would not have thought possible 

In our century before. 

There can no longer be a prudent private citizen, 

A statesman, if he is only conscious 

Of his responsibility, 

Who would not shudder at the thought 

That what is happening in Spain today 

Might perhaps be repeated tomorrow 

In other civilised nations.

It cannot be said 

That these wild riots are merely 

A temporary phenomenon, 

Such as accompany great revolutions, 

Isolated outbreaks of bitterness 

Which occur in every war. 

No, they are the natural fruits 

Of a system that lacks any inner restraint. 

Restraint is necessary for the individual, 

But it is also necessary for the whole. 

Even the uncultivated peoples 

Pssessed it in that natural law 

Which God has implanted 

In the heart of every man. 

Wherever this law of nature 

Was truly observed, 

The nations of antiquity were seen 

To rise to a greatness which even today, 

More than is actually right, 

Astonishes certain easily inspired historians. 

But if the very Idea of God 

Is torn from the hearts of men, 

Then they are necessarily driven 

By their passions 

To the cruellest barbarism.

This is precisely what we are 

Unfortunately experiencing today: 

For the first time in history 

We are witnessing a coldly planned 

And precisely prepared struggle 

Of man against all that is divine. 

Communism is anti-religious by nature 

And regards religion 

As opium for the people, 

Because supposedly the religious 

Doctrine of a life beyond the grave 

Distracts the proletarian 

From his commitment 

To the Soviet paradise, 

Which is of this earth.

But one does not resist with impunity 

In defiant hatred the law of nature 

And its Author. 

Communism has not even managed 

To achieve its aim 

In the purely economic field 

And will not manage to do so. 

While it is true that in Russia 

It has helped to rouse men and things 

From centuries of dormancy 

And to achieve a certain progress 

In the material field 

By all kinds of means, 

Often unscrupulously applied, 

I know from unsuspected testimonies, 

Even from the most recent times, 

That even here it has not been able 

To fulfil its aim 

According to the promises made, 

Despite the slavery 

Into which terrorism has forced 

Millions of people. 

In the field of economics, too, 

There is a need for a moral sense 

Of responsibility, which, however, 

Has no place in a purely materialistic 

System such as communism. 

The only substitute for this is terrorism, 

As we see in Russia, 

Where the old comrades 

Of common conspiracies and struggles 

Are killing each other; 

A terrorism which is not even able 

To stop the decay of morals, 

Let alone the dissolution 

Of the social fabric.

In saying this, however, 

I do not in any way wish to condemn 

The peoples of the Soviet Union 

In their entirety, 

For I feel the deepest fatherly love towards them. 

I know how many of them groan 

Under the hard yoke imposed on them 

By force by people who, for the most part, 

Do not care about the true good of the country. 

I also realise that many have allowed themselves 

T be deceived by deceptive hopes. 

I denounce the system, 

Its creators and its promoters, 

Who thought Russia 

Was the most suitable country 

To practically apply there a system 

They had devised for decades, 

And from there spread it tirelessly 

Throughout the world.