UNIVERSITIES in Britain promote the idea that diversity is paramount while meritocracy is oppressive, enshrining this doctrine in the form of Diversity and Equity policies. Yet these beliefs are foundational to Western Marxism, an offshoot of Marxism, which is among the deadliest ideologies of all time. How did we get here?
Marxism is the belief that we must create a communist state through revolution. According to Marxists, this is best achieved by sowing conflict between groups. In the 20th century that conflict was class; today it includes race, sex and sexuality. Marxism boasts a higher death toll than the Nazis, yet it still thrives around the world by positioning itself as progressive and anti-Western. Within the West, it is particularly common in the university system. This is not by accident, but design.
Marxism was the official ideology of the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, it was difficult to promote Soviet ideas within the West. But the Soviets were smart. Alongside reaching the surface of Venus with a tin can probe, they identified the ideal place to spread Marxism under the West’s nose: our universities.
Universities enshrined freedom of speech and research, allowing Marxists to set up shop with ease. Brits also look to academics with a sense of respect not afforded to politicians. This gave Marxists a megaphone for their ideas and a veneer of respectability. Fast forward 50 years and British campuses are now dominated by new forms of Marxism: pride, trans, race and revolutionary politics, such as Palestine. These topics are not necessarily Marxist at their core, but they have all been colonised by Marxist framing.
For pride, trans and race, that framing is that the West is oppressive and that there is conflict between gay and straight, trans and ‘cis’, and black and white. Meanwhile, Soviet influence spurred the Palestinian movement’s revolutionary angle, with key Gaza and West Bank factions today identifying as Marxists.
The most overt Marxism in our universities comes in the form of protests. When agitators lived in tents on the lawns of King’s College Cambridge for almost a year, the leaders waved Marxist ‘power fist’ flags and described their encampment as an example of communism in action. Most recently, protesters arrived at Trinity College Cambridge to cheer on Iran, whose government rose to power after allying with Marxists during the Islamic Revolution (though they were later put to death), and where today gays are killed and women are oppressed. It is clear that the concern here is not humanitarian, but ideological.
Within the system itself, the pursuit of ‘equity’ is a prime example. Marxism tells us that we must even out all group-wise differences in outcome, via actively sexist and racist discrimination, if need be. In a university context, this means abandoning equality in favour of ‘equity’. As an example, Cambridge recently issued guidance to ‘ensure’ that minorities make it to interview as part of a drive for equity.
It is not just Cambridge. The government has ‘a clear aim to mainstream’ equity in the universities and will award their next seven years of funding on that basis. This involves a rewrite of the Research Excellence Framework used to decide university funding, with priority given to universities that most fully adopt equity and diversity as their principles. For example, you can get extra points for a higher ‘percentage of eligible staff FTE [Full-Time Equivalent] as Black, Asian, other/mixed’. No surprise, then, that equity- and diversity-focused committees are springing up at every university. If social pressure isn’t enough to force conformity to Marxist beliefs, the threat of having funding removed definitely is.
The social pressure is also intense. These days, 40 per cent of students think speakers should be banned if they offend people. A key example of this ‘cancel culture’ is the banning from Cambridge of anti-Marxist Jordan Peterson. The Student Union at the time said: ‘We are relieved to hear that Jordan Peterson’s request for a visiting fellowship . . . has been rescinded . . . His work and views are not representative of the student body and . . . in opposition to the principles of the University.’
The absurdity here is hard to overstate. Challenging consensus with evidence is the principle of universities, not ‘being representative’. But, in another sense, the Union statement is correct: Peterson is in oppositionto Marxism, which has become the new principle of the university. Saying as much, we have the statement of Emmanuel College upon firing a Fellow for controversial scientific takes on the basis that his views were ‘a rejection of diversity policies’ which ‘represented a challenge to the College’s core values and mission’.
Mandating support for Marxist ideas is an extinction level event for academic freedom, but the consequences will be felt everywhere. Studies show that university only somewhat ‘makes’ people left-wing. Instead, young people are just more likely to favour left-wing values. However, values are just values. University is the place that translates those values into politics – and into policy. This is why Marxism at universities is so dangerous: because it colonises worthy causes and mutates them into tools of conflict and illiberalism, while pushing out the original ethos of free thought.
Most people within universities still have no idea that Marxism underpins the new ‘core values’ being foisted on us. Yet, if you accept that the new diversity and equity policies are Marxist, this conclusion is inescapable. And regardless, is there really any excuse for being so blasé about such radical changes? We had the best universities on Earth. Did they really need ‘fixing’?
Ultimately, anti-Western beliefs in our education system could only ever lead to our national decline. We must reassert both liberal and pro-Western thought within our universities – and we need to start now.
