Many folks speak of Lincoln as this god-like historical figure. He is universally loved by both Christians and Atheists, idolized by Republicans and Democrats, and stands in our history books as the leader who “saved America.” Although some might believe him to be “as American as apple pie,” Lincoln, nor his values are what our founders envisioned for America. In fact, Lincoln stood in opposition to what they endeavored to establish. Of all his glaringly dictatorial acts that could be spoken of, there is one connection that cannot be overlooked: Lincoln’s ties to Marxism.
As seen above, there has always been a Bolshevik love for Lincoln. This is really a devotion that goes back to the very beginning of Marxism itself—with the man himself, Karl Marx. Although I do not believe Lincoln was a card-carrying communist, it’s clear that the Communist’s of his day believed him to be carrying forth the banner of their international revolution. Marx, who followed the American Civil War, and was a pen pal of sorts to Lincoln stated, “Lincoln is the singled-minded son of the working class, who has led his country to the matchless struggle for the rescue of the communist revolution and the reconstruction of the social orders.” (1) Unbeknownst to many today, Marx was not a proponent of the righteous-cause myth, or that the cause of the conflict was entirely because of slavery. Like many European observers, Marx saw through the political and pretextual veil of causes. He stated, “The war between the North and South is a tariff war. The war is further, not for any principles, does not touch the question of slavery, and in fact turns on the northern lust for sovereignty.” (2) It was this Northern lust of sovereignty that gave birth to the circumvention of Constitutional law, with Lincoln running roughshod over it. With this power, he shut down the press, imprison his opposition, confiscate property, and declare war without Congressional consent. Certainly, these acts would be something any Marxist revolutionary would admire—Karl Marx did.
Yet, President Lincoln was not alone in his efforts. The communist push into America had a significant amount of assistance from European revolutionaries. Just prior to the War for Southern Independence, America had a flood of Europeans—German socialists, who mainly settled in the northern united States. Friedrich Engles, Marx’s close friend and associate stated, “Had it not been the experienced soldiers who entered American after the European revolution, especially from Germanies, the organization of the Union army would have taken longer than it did.” These revolutionaries were not just privates, history tells us that they made up a disproportionately large percentage of the high command and became an integral part of the Union army. A few well-known European socialists in high command include Schurz, Schenck, Blenker, Sigel, Osterhaus, Weydemeyer, and a personal friend of Karl Marx Himself, Charles A. Dana. Dana was “the eyes of the administration,” as Lincoln stated. The fact is, there is quite an extensive list of Marxist-socialists within the original Republican party, and what’s even more dreadful is that some of these men eventually became governors of states and held prominent cabinet positions within the post war administrations. For a deeper study into the integral connections of the original Republican party and the Marxists, please get the book Lincoln, Marx, and the GOP by Walter D. Kennedy and Al Benson, available for purchase here.
These revolutionary foreigners were beneficial to the Union cause for a variety of reasons. Generally speaking, they were divorced from the American political system and patriotism which lingered with the native-born Americans, whose fathers or grandfathers established our Constitutional Republic. They were also prepared to fight a war which Lincoln and his party needed to fight, a war against the civilian population—a total war. There is no better example of this than that of United States General John Turchin and his heinous acts towards the people of Athens, Alabama. Turchin was born Ivan Turchaninov, a veteran of the Hungarian revolution, and commander of the Nineteenth Illinois Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Upon the Nineteenth’s occupation of Athens on May 2, 1862, Turchin ordered his men to stack arms in the middled of town and stated, “I shut my eyes for two hours…I see nothing.” (3) His troops proceeded to ransack the town. The business district was hit first—soldiers taking off with prized civilian possessions and store goods, harassing civilians, vandalizing, and pillaging. One account tells of R.C. David’s store where the Yankees “destroyed a stock of books, among which was a lot of fine Bibles and Testaments, which were torn, defaced, and kicked about the floor and trampled underfoot.” (4) Residential areas were not spared. The home of Milly Ann Clayton was vandalized and pillaged—the troops “looking for weapons” threatening Miss Clayton after she told them she had none. They called her “a God damned liar” and “bitch,” then attempted to rape her servant girl. The Hollingsworth residence was hit—Mrs. Hollingsworth who was pregnant, suffered a barrage of profane threats to burn down her home, the poor woman was so terrified that she lost her child soon after, and then died herself. Among the plantations that the troops hit was John Malones plantation, where a blue-belly gang occupied the slave quarters and raped a slave girl. The assaults, rapes, and pillaging lasted for days. (5) Fortunately, there were a few men of virtue in the Union army and Turchin was court martialed, but the story doesn’t end there. Upon Turchins testimony he defended his actions by saying, “the more lenient we are…the bolder they [Southerners] become…Until the rebels are made to feel that rebellion is a crime with the government will punish…there’s no hope of destroying [the South].” Thereafter, Lincoln, along with the Republican Senate, reinstated Turchin and promoted him to Brigadier GeneralIt’s also important to note that Lincoln himself frequented the War Department and was aware of the atrocities committed by his Federal forces against Southern civilians. This information, along with countless other tales of horror are documented in the book War Crimes Against Southern Civilians by Walter Brian Cisco.
Much like today, Southern society was resistant to the cultural changes that were quickly spreading throughout Western nations. Dixie, and Southern culture itself, dammed the flood of ideas seeping in from the European gutters. Values which could not coexist within the fiercely independent, agrarian, Christian South. To the Marxist, liberty is license, it’s something the government grants, but to our founders, Southern agrarian men like Washington, Madison, Henry, and Jefferson, Liberty is an inherent and sacred gift from almighty God. Lincoln’s Marxists were the ideologs who desired to usher in a new world order by upheaving the existing social order, as Marx himself said—centered around a more centralized government, where States were no longer free to self-determine their future.
I saw a Tucker Carlson interview recently where the interviewee was asked when the Republics decline began. He didn’t have concise answer, but I do. Since 1865, we’ve seen the establishment of the Public School indoctrination system; Christian morality banned in public spaces; the establishment of the privately owned Federal reserve banking system; Liberty replaced with license; social programs that you are forced to participate in; and a government riddled with bureaucrats seeking corporate gain and war. Please, if you aren’t convinced, search for “the 45 communist goals to destroy America,” and decide for yourself if nearly all of them have been met. All this began with Lincoln and his quest for big government—precisely what the Marxists envisioned. Again, was Lincoln a Marxist—probably not, but he set their plan into motion. History is clear on that.
References
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/iwma/documents/1864/lincoln-letter.htm#b
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Civil War in the United States (1861; reprint, New York, 1961). 58.
The Sack of Athens, Roy Morris, Jr., Civil War Times Illustrated 24, no. 10 (February 1986) pp.
Official Records (O.R.), ser. 1, vol. 16, pt. 2, 274-75
Official Records (O.R.), ser. 1, vol. 16. 2, 273-75; Chicoine, Turchin, 91-92, 99-100
always strange the its rarely contrasted intellectually how a government determined to “free slaves” immediately tried to irradiate or make the first federal welfare slaves of the western tribes. land confiscation being learned in the southern states first, of course.
Excellent, Matt. And I sure do appreciate the ConfederateShop. [><]