By Chris Townsend

December 18, 2025

 

The holiday season around Christmas always reminds me of my own path into the socialist and labor movements. It was a gradual process of discovery and learning, one stage building upon the others. A psychological freedom from idealism and religion came first; a political understanding of the wage-slave system and the materialist reality of the conditions of life for an ordinary worker came second. As a young kid growing up in the State of Pennsylvania in the 1960s and 1970s, one was never far from the omnipresent religious domination of virtually all civic culture and administration. Marxism and materialism became the roadmap for my escape from the mind-numbing ignorance of too many working people.

Although I attended public schools, practically all of the students were avowed Christians. Several dozen denominations were represented.   Many were “mainstream” or name-brand churches, some were quite arcane, some evangelical, and all co-existed in the predominantly agricultural district. Many traced their lineage to refugees who had sought the religious freedom offered in the New World Pennsylvania colony established by William Penn, a Quaker.

“Christianity” in my experience was also accompanied by a deep seated political reaction, a near unconditional and fanatic opposition to all things modern, scientific, and politically liberal.  Small doses of anti-Semitic and bigoted anti-Roman Catholic views were interwoven quietly into this soup of religious dogma. And there could be no mention of “socialism”, “communism” or “Marxism” without the obligatory qualifier that all of it was “godless atheism.” Special wrath was reserved for the communist barbarians. To many of these sects this justified U.S. imperialism and its non-stop anti-communist bloodbath being visited on Vietnam. These were not people who merely disagreed with us. Or who had any right to disagree; they were evil.

A Little Magazine Ignites the Believers

Christian churches and organizations in my home region conducted a vigorous and at times frantic competition with each other to establish the primacy of their often traditional, but frequently unhinged beliefs. Winning new recruits and “saving souls” was an entire industry. Proselytizing ran riot where I grew up, and even as a kid I recognized that it often reached baffling or even absurd levels. If there were “reasonable” or “normal” believers in my midst they kept a very low profile so far as I could tell. As the Vietnam War and its U.S.-sponsored genocide ground on in the late 1960s and early 1970s the attentions of the pro-war Christian fanatics became fixed on my school’s librarian. She was discovered to have had the audacious and brazen temerity to display – in full public view for students – the one and only copy of “Soviet Life” magazine, received once per month by our school library.

The furor spilled into the School Board meetings as throngs of crazed Christians howled and shrieked that our offending librarian must be fired immediately. No investigation was necessary. And of course, she must be banned from her profession for such an offense against God. This glossy magazine, with cover to cover color photos of normal life in the Soviet Union, was published and distributed as part of a bilateral agreement between our country and the USSR. Each month, in both countries, a set number of copies of a magazine written and produced by the other was distributed with no great fanfare. Cooler heads apparently reasoned that if we could show each other that we were just normal people, as we read each other’s “up with people” magazine, then it might lessen the risk of nuclear annihilation.

Also singled out by the enraged clerics and their followers in this anti-communist frenzy were books found in our school library explaining the scientific basis of evolution. Books detailing the long history of earth and the growth of its life forms were denounced. Various scientific textbooks revealing the development of scientific methodology, techniques, and drugs to cure deadly diseases were singled-out. Even books on mathematics, basic chemistry and physics were deplored as “Satanic manuals”.

A Young Worker Seeks Answers

This reactionary tempest did, thankfully, run its course. The crescendo of the religious zealotry came in one of several School Board meetings when Sports Illustrated magazine was held up as “evidence” that the end of Christian civilization was near. Why? On account of the several long-distance photos of U.S. Olympic swim team women clad only in modest swimsuits. Our elected School Board was battered – and all regretted that they had ever gotten involved in entry level politics – but they held their ground and refused to ban the offending literature or our head librarian. Her steadfast defense of her conduct, her profession, and for science was memorable.

From that point on in my school, Soviet Life magazine could only be reviewed by a student at a special desk placed in front of the librarian’s station. Some pious students were given to scrawl graffiti on the pages, destroy pages, or even abscond with an entire issue if not closely monitored. I took my turn at some point and thumbed through the magazine, finding it to be somewhat bland. In many ways it was like an oversized travel brochure. What about this, I thought, would give rise to such religious tantrums and histrionics? Over a magazine that few read anyway, and several science books that even fewer understood. My young opinions regarding religion and religiosity were not improved by these events. But my interest in science and political science were strengthened tenfold.

Heavy Watermelons and A Hot Day

In summertime I worked in a local farmer’s market run and dominated by fundamentalist Christians, I worked unloading produce and bulk items from trucks and wagons. It was one of the few kinds of paying work available to a young worker not old enough to work officially. Several of us were detailed on a blazing hot day to unload one-by-one a gigantic truck trailer full of big and heavy watermelons. The owner, as he watched us struggle with the task, offered his motivational opinion; “God gives you all winter to save up your sins. Thank Him when he gives you summer to sweat them out.” I was unimpressed. His three dollars for a backbreaking 12-hour day of unloading – and then reloading what didn’t sell – did nothing to further my interest in reading any of the numerous bible tracts that he freely distributed to us. Lots of his little booklets emphasized the fiery and hellish end you would face if you didn’t fully believe in his God when you finally met your end. One of the older boys told me that the reason the owner paid us three dollars was actually because grown men – even derelicts – would demand at least five bucks for such backbreaking labor. I pondered that equation frequently as the summer days dragged on.

Marxism and Materialism Discovered

While not a great conventional school student I was always an avid reader. I enjoyed the sciences, and learned early that the scientific method was devised to enable one to gather information as part of a process that would lead to the solving of problems and riddles. The one and only used bookseller in the same huge farm market complex where I labored had a small and mysterious section listed as “Parents Approval Needed”. In it I found a dusty volume of collected political writings, which in the opinion of the publisher all had somehow “changed the course of history”. I was familiar to the owner as I would purchase an occasional book to read while we waited in between jobs. Not wanting to miss a sale he dutifully placed the old volume in a paper bag as if it was pornography, or liquor, and I was on my way. It was in this threadbare collection where I first read “The Communist Manifesto”, by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ Also included was VIadimir Lenin’s article from 1913 entitled, “The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism.” The short article was written by Lenin for a Swiss encyclopedia, presumably to advertise Marxism via a mainstream outlet and likely to allow him to earn some much needed income.

I have read this article too many times to count since I first saw it in that old book more than 50 years ago. Lenin demystified the events and experiences in my young life, and pointed his flashlight to light a way forward for me: …“The philosophy of Marxism is materialism. Throughout the modern history of Europe, and especially at the end of the eighteenth century in France, where a resolute struggle was conducted against every kind of medieval rubbish, against serfdom in institutions and ideas, materialism has proved to be the only philosophy that is consistent, true to all the teachings of natural science and hostile to superstition, cant and so forth. The enemies of democracy have, therefore, always exerted all their efforts to “refute”, undermine and defame materialism, and have advocated various forms of philosophical idealism, which always, in one way or another, amounts to the defense or support of religion.”….

…”When feudalism was overthrown and “free” capitalist society appeared in the world, it at once became apparent that this freedom meant a new system of oppression and exploitation of the working people. Various socialist doctrines immediately emerged as a reflection of and protest against this oppression. Early socialism, however, was utopian socialism. It criticized capitalist society, it condemned and damned it, it dreamed of its destruction, it had visions of a better order and endeavored to convince the rich of the immorality of exploitation. But utopian socialism could not indicate the real solution. It could not explain the real nature of wage-slavery under capitalism, it could not reveal the laws of capitalist development, or show what social force is capable of becoming the creator of a new society.”…

…” Not a single victory of political freedom over the feudal class was won except against desperate resistance. Not a single capitalist country evolved on a more or less free and democratic basis except by a life-and-death struggle between the various classes of capitalist society. The genius of Marx lies in his having been the first to deduce from this the lesson world history teaches, and to apply that lesson consistently. The deduction he made is the doctrine of the class struggle.”… https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/mar/x01.htm

No Progress Without Marxism

I continue to commend this short article by Lenin to hundreds of young workers, and some not so young. And I smile every time that I think that I found the little book in that sea of anti-communism and reaction in Ephrata, Pennsylvania so long ago. I have gone on to an entire career in our labor movement, battling bosses, corporations, and politicians across half of our gigantic country – and Canada. I have organized thousands of workers in dozens of industries, always against the furious opposition of the employers and the old order. And I can attest, contrary to those who continue to deny materialism, or who have abandoned it, that the class struggle is indeed quite alive. I have also discovered many other things along the way, including the fact that some religious believers can – and do – make enormous contributions to the workers struggle. That my experiences as a youth were not absolutely shared by all. And I am reminded daily in my current work that the competition between utopian and scientific methods of work is no competition at all. That our movement’s addiction to utopian approaches, while resisting Marxist and scientific methods, continues to undermine and impede nearly everything we do.

Trumpist Era of Religious Extremism

The first year of Trump’s second term has been filled to overflowing with daily expressions of his embrace of the most reactionary variants of U.S. evangelical Christianity. Rightist, fascist, and militarist Christians remain the most loyal sections of support for his rancid MAGA movement. And while not a laughing matter at all, I chuckle constantly when I recall the conservative Christians of my youth denouncing their prototypical arch enemies – “wicked men.” As news reports also now reveal the bulk of the Christians living in the region of my youth have loyally voted for him, and are lined up en masse to kiss the ring of our new Roman despot.

Trump’s growing embrace of fanatic reactionary Christian values – comingled with his own self-serving and toxic thinking – is only part of a larger story. A recent Gallup poll reveals the largest-ever drop in religious adherence by U.S. people. Just one poll among polls, but striking in its findings:  …“The 17-point drop in the percentage of U.S. adults who say religion is an important part of their daily life — from 66% in 2015 to 49% today — ranks among the largest Gallup has recorded in any country over any 10-year period since 2007.” See: https://news.gallup.com/poll/697676/drop-religiosity-among-largest-world.aspx A poll like this means many things, but with the Marxist movement at a momentary low ebb in the United States this poll no doubt is exposing other forces at work causing the church fall-away. Virtually unreported, this poll would indicate that huge sections of Trump’s ideological base may be dramatically weakening.

Our Responsibility

The question of the defense and promotion of philosophical materialism, and Marxism, is more than just a struggle to combat the most excessive, offensive, or dangerous aspects of religious influence run amok. More than just opposition to the deep-seated alliance of reactionary political forces, corporations, police, military, and religious organizations. It is a defense and promotion of science; a redoubling of scientific approaches to problem solving and decision making, and recognition that our movement must adopt and abide by scientific, not utopian methods if we are to have any chance of forward progress. Let alone any chance of success. It is also a reminder that scientific outcomes that only serve the ruling and private elites, and are appropriated exclusively by these parasitic elements, are rightly the property of a more broad society. But lacking a coherent political machinery to seize these proceeds of capitalist robbery, misery and want will continue – and deepen.

Across the globe entire regions have been cleansed of secular forces and expressions, with those not liquidated driven underground. One of the main aims of U.S. imperialism and its murderous military detachments. Here in the United States, religious zealotry, anti-communism, militarism, and a frontal assault on all human rights going back to the Enlightenment – expands dramatically and goes virtually unchallenged on any philosophic basis. There is wide space for materialism and Marxism to be revived, to fill the gaps and win large numbers of new supporters – if there is any desire on the part of class conscious forces to fill this void.

My path to socialism as a young worker was simple, unremarkable, but made possible by the availability of the basic texts of our movement, supported only by my own curiosity. My questioning, confronting, and then abandoning religious thinking was followed by an embrace of materialism and Marxism. Others will follow different routes, but in every case it must represent a break from the past and an embrace of a new way of thinking. As Lenin described it in that little encyclopedia article, …“The Marxist doctrine is omnipotent because it is true. It is comprehensive and harmonious, and provides men with an integral world outlook irreconcilable with any form of superstition, reaction, or defense of bourgeois oppression. It is the legitimate successor to the best that man produced in the nineteenth century, as represented by German philosophy, English political economy and French socialism.”

Wishing all readers of Marxism-Leninism Today a very Happy New Year, and success in your many struggles.

 

-Chris Townsend is a 46-year union member and leader. He was most recently the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) International Union Organizing Director. Previously he was an International Representative and Political Action Director for the United Electrical Workers Union (UE), and he has held local positions in both the SEIU and UFCW. He may be reached at: cwtownsend52@gmail.com