Socialism and Religion. F A Ridley 1940s
1. In the caves of the Pyrenees which have been recently excavated, and which were certainly inhabited in the neolithic age, magical, that is, primitive religious ideas are clearly indicated in the drawings of animals on the cave walls. These drawings are typical of ‘sympathetic magic’ (that is, the representation of the animal on the cave wall was believed to attract the animal itself). It is still a hotly disputed question, and one on which final agreement has not yet been reached, whether the most primitive races still extant, such as the Australian Bushmen, the Congo pygmies, and the Polar Esquimaux, have anything that can properly be called a religion.
2. ‘They are without a god and without a government. In all matters they are ruled by custom’, as a Danish explorer described the Polar Esquimaux, still in the social stage of primitive communism.
3. Climatic considerations also play their part in such primitive religions of nature: for example, Greek Paganism was sunny and cheerful, like the blue skies of the Aegean beneath which it arose. Norse Paganism, contrarily, was sombre, brooding and sad, reflecting faithfully the gloomy terrain of the dark North. In the case of the last named, we may add that its ‘hell’ was cold: the terrors of heat are unknown near the Arctic circle, whilst those of cold are only too familiar!
4. As we are still dealing with the prehistoric era no exact dates can be given for the origin of civilisation. The estimate of 5000 years, given by older authorities for the total duration of civilisation, is certainly too short. (This was the estimate of Lewis Morgan, the great American anthropologist in his well-known book Ancient Society. But the known history of Egypt and Babylonia goes back nearly as far as that, and it is evident that civilisation was already well advanced in prehistoric times. Cf Gordon Childe, What Happened in History.) Nor can we go here into the still hotly disputed question of its origin. Did civilisation arise in a single centre whence it spread outward – the ‘diffusionist’ theory – or did it arise independently in a number of climatically favourable centres? In the opinion of the present writer, both views are compatible with the materialistic interpretation of history, though on the available evidence the latter seems to be the more probable explanation.
5. In a booklet on the Servile Insurrection of Spartacus we have given some precise details regarding the nature and extent of this exploitation. [See FA Ridley, Spartacus: The Leader of the Roman Slaves, second edition, Frank Maitland, Ashford, nd [1962] – MIA.]
6. Cf R Eisler, John the Baptist and the Messiah Jesus.
7. Sic: the text should surely read ‘for the ruling classes’ – MIA.
8. In ferocious cruelty the clerical exploiters kept well abreast of their secular allies. For example, compare the classic reply of an Inquisitor (thirteenth century) who was asked how to distinguish between ‘heretics’ and the faithful: ‘Kill them all, my son; at the Day of Judgment God will know how to distinguish!’
9. The chief social encyclical letters of the Popes are ‘Rerum Novarum’ by Leo XIII (1891), the so-called ‘Workers’ Charter’, and ‘Quadragesimo Anno’ (1931) by Pius XI. Both contain very explicit statements of the Catholic position with regard to socialism, plus a good deal of demagogic criticism of monopoly-capital. However, if what we hear is correct, the Vatican is still persona grata in Wall Street!
10. A curious feature of contemporary Anglicanism is its ‘modernist’ movement which combines relatively radical and scientific views on religion with the most die-hard Tory reaction. The famous ex-Dean of St Paul’s, Dr Inge, is a case in point.