Whether Marxism is evil depends on whether you're referring to Marx's ideas or those who tried to implement them after Marx's death. AFAICT, Marx was simply mistaken about a great many things. OTOH, the attempts to bring his utopian ideas into reality were evil when they resulted in mass murder on an unprecedented scale.
I don't think Wolff has any evil motives in his promotion of Marxism. However, I find it easier to give Marx a pass since he never saw the massive destruction his terrible ideas helped implement. Wolff should know better.
It's the ideas. Dialectical materialism, by reframing ideas, beliefs, and even morals as mere superstructure to material power relations removes the possibility of serious objection to revolutionary violence.
The whole Hegelian mindset where the individual only gains reality by participation in the universal is prone to this stuff. By flipping Hegel on his head and replacing geist with materialism, Marx still failed to remove the moral heteronomy inherent in the framework.
I should make it clear that I don't agree with Marx's world view at all. I believe that God made people and each person has inherent value, so I view a Marxian world view as amoral at best. OTOH, if such a view of humanity is inherently immoral, then maybe it would accurate to describe a Marxian world view as "evil." I tend to think of "evil" as implying intent to harm.
Whether Marxism is evil depends on whether you're referring to Marx's ideas or those who tried to implement them after Marx's death. AFAICT, Marx was simply mistaken about a great many things. OTOH, the attempts to bring his utopian ideas into reality were evil when they resulted in mass murder on an unprecedented scale.
I don't think Wolff has any evil motives in his promotion of Marxism. However, I find it easier to give Marx a pass since he never saw the massive destruction his terrible ideas helped implement. Wolff should know better.
It's the ideas. Dialectical materialism, by reframing ideas, beliefs, and even morals as mere superstructure to material power relations removes the possibility of serious objection to revolutionary violence.
The whole Hegelian mindset where the individual only gains reality by participation in the universal is prone to this stuff. By flipping Hegel on his head and replacing geist with materialism, Marx still failed to remove the moral heteronomy inherent in the framework.
I should make it clear that I don't agree with Marx's world view at all. I believe that God made people and each person has inherent value, so I view a Marxian world view as amoral at best. OTOH, if such a view of humanity is inherently immoral, then maybe it would accurate to describe a Marxian world view as "evil." I tend to think of "evil" as implying intent to harm.