Marxism and mysticism

George Jochnowitz wrote in Partisan Review:[1]

> Karl Marx did not consider himself a mystic, and the philosophy he created was consciously committed to rationality. Yet Marxism has a definite mystical component. Marxists believe that capitalism is doomed, although there is no evidence to support such a belief. Stranger yet, they believe the state will wither away, although few states were ever less designed to wither than communist regimes. They even believe that alienated labor and conflict will end all by themselves once communism is achieved. If that is not mysticism, what is?

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ "Marx and Islam", Partisan Review, Volume 55, Number 3, 1988