Mark Levin’s Call To Action Against Anti-American Marxism Is Surprisingly Light On Immigration

That Mark Levin’s latest book, American Marxism, quickly earned a no. 1 spot on the New York Times’ bestseller list is no surprise. Levin is an erudite author, a famous conservative radio show host, and a veteran of the Reagan administration. His voice is thus very influential within the right-of-center political scene. And American Marxism – which warns against and analyzes the rising tide of Marxist-inspired extremism in all its aspects – is an excellent and highly informative book. Sadly, it devotes insufficient attention to immigration – particularly in a year marked by record-high illegal migration and a new presidential administration taking a wrecking ball to our immigration and border security system from the moment it was sworn in.

In the context of radical neo-Marxism, Levin argues that “[w]hat is occurring in our country is not a temporary fad or passing event. American Marxism exists, it is here and now, and indeed it is pervasive, and its multitude of hybrid but often interlocking movements are actively working to destroy our society and culture, and overthrow the country as we know it.”

Since its birth in the 19^th century, Marxism has passed through many evolutions, but at its core it has always opposed the key pillars of Western civilization, such as family, religion, tradition, and private property rights. It also rejected borders and the sovereign nation-state, which it sought to overturn in favor of a world socialist state of and for the oppressed proletariat (which “had no country”). Levin shows how these ideas form the core of various modern-day Americanized neo-Marxist movements and philosophies, although in recent decades the radicals supplemented their classic Marxist class warfare demagoguery with grievance politics based on gender, race, ethnicity, and even immigration status. The key, of course, is always the “oppressor” vs. the “oppressed” dichotomy.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has recently received significant attention in mainly conservative news outlets due to the desire of some school districts and teachers to introduce it, and the resulting pushback from parents of all races (including legal immigrants). Levin focuses on the Marxist roots of this ideology, including the Frankfurt School and philosopher Herbert Marcuse – a prophet of the 1960s “New Left” – who subjected every aspect of Western society to endless criticism (hence, “critical theory”). This ideology has spread to the topic of illegal immigration as well.

“As the Marxist-Critical Theory ideology and propaganda spread throughout academia, the media, and beyond,” Levin emphasizes, “so do the number of movements associated with it. For example, another significant and growing movement is the ‘Latina/o Critical Race Theory’ (LatCrit).” In a nutshell, “LatCrit” – a sister or auxiliary ideology of CRT – views the U.S. as an illegitimate land of foreign “colonizers” who conquered the continent and stole the natives’ land, while depicting mainly Hispanic illegal aliens as the “true natives” and legitimate successors of the colonized Amerindian populations. As such, America has no moral right to secure its borders and prevent mass illegal migration, let alone exist, and Latinos should avoid assimilation. This mentality undoubtedly permeates much of the pro-illegal-alien, anti-border-security movement.

One wishes that Levin would have mentioned that the anti-borders lobby includes not only Marxist-influenced open border proponents, but also cheap-labor-seeking corporatists (aka crony capitalists) and anarcho-libertarian utopians. Even so, the latter two groups – to use Lenin’s famous term – serve as the “useful idiots” for the Marxist wing of the pro-mass-migration crowd, although it may sometimes seem the other way around. It would be foolish for this cohort to assume that the Marxist segment of the mass-migration lobby won’t turn on them as soon as the opportunity arises.

The author states that the neo-Marxists’ goal of “facilitating massive illegal immigration … is to, among other things, alter the nation’s demographics and eventually add significantly to the pro-Democratic party voting base” to “permanently crush” all opposition and “emerge as the sole political and governmental power.” And one way to hasten this Marxist revolution, Levin argues, is to “overwhelm and collapse the [immigration]system” through out-of-control illegal alien waves rushing the southern border. The template here was the Cloward-Piven strategy (which Levin discusses at length), a 1960s ploy to intentionally overwhelm the welfare system to implement socialist “guaranteed annual income.” Another tactic that Levin could have referenced as well is the continued calls by this lobby to grant amnesty to all illegal aliens, which would hasten these efforts to re-shape our society.

While it is unfortunate that immigration is mentioned more in passing in American Marxism, rather than at least offered a full chapter, Levin nevertheless makes the important connections between radicals opposing immigration enforcement and a larger Marxist movement, which, Levin contends, is sadly winning (those desiring a more thorough discussion of immigration should consult Levin’s 2009 classic Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto). Even so, the author believes that American patriots can turn things around, although that will require much more civic engagement and activism on the part of regular citizens.