What is Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Cultural Marxism?
By Allen Quist and Julie Quist
Critical race theory (CRT) is a component of cultural Marxism, also called “neo-Marxism.” For this reason, defining CRT requires that cultural Marxism be defined as well. The overall goal of cultural Marxism and CRT is the overthrow of Western culture—including what it calls the “meta-narratives”: our Constitution with its Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, free enterprise, and Ten Commandments along with all of Christianity. It is replacing these old narratives with new narratives of man-made climate change; gender as a choice not genetics; the view that morality is disguised discrimination; Comprehensive Sex Ed (CSE); Social Emotional Learning (SEL); Covid-19 with its vaccines; and CRT.
Cultural Marxism and CRT are largely the same except that cultural Marxism is much broader in scope.
To define CRT in one sentence, CRT is the demonizing of our nation’s foundational principles, values, and documents and replacing them with the building blocks of cultural Marxism.
CRT replaces the old Marxist dichotomy of the bourgeoisie (oppressor class) versus the proletariat (oppressed class) with identity categories: whites (oppressor class) versus blacks (oppressed class) and other oppressor/oppressed classes. CRT alleges that our history and culture must be understood in terms of the conflict between these new oppressor/oppressed classes. To solve this problem, they say, the United States must be transformed through religious, educational, economic, cultural and political revolution.
How significant is CRT? Prominent scholar, Christopher Rufo, says:
| … over the past decade it [CRT] has increasingly become the default ideology in our public institutions. It has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs, and corporate human resources departments in the form of diversity training programs, human resources modules, public policy frameworks, and school curricula. (1) |
Our public education system is being transformed from being knowledge-based to being ideological for training American children, not to be well-educated patriotic Americans, but to instead become militant Marxists. In view of this reality, on July 29-30, 2022, nationally recognized scholar and writer, James Lindsay, hosted a workshop called, “The Marxification of Education Workshop,” (2) in recognition that our schools are now training our children to be Marxists.
CRT’s parent philosophy—cultural Marxism—is relatively recent in its development. By the 1960’s the leftist intellectuals were beginning to acknowledge the many atrocities and overall failure of conventional Marxism. For that reason, they left it behind and gravitated to neo-Marxism, an ideology which had been developed and promoted by Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937).
Achieving the Marxist takeover of society and government, Gramsci said, requires indoctrination from two venues: (1) education and (2) the media. This indoctrination, said Gramsci, will be accomplished by changing (a) our common language, and (b) our national narratives.
Changing of our national narratives was accurately described by The Federalist as it reported on the pervasive demonizing of our national foundational principles. The Federalist said:
| The National Archives Records Administration placed a “harmful content” warning on the Constitution, labeling it … “harmful or difficult to view.” The warning also applies to … the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. The NARA …noted that so-called harmful historical documents could “reflect racist, sexist, ableist, misogynistic/misogynoir, and xenophobic opinions and attitudes; …” (3) |
The new Minnesota proposed teacher certification rules reveal other specific ways the neo-Marxists indoctrinate our children with the building blocks of their worldview: These proposed certification rules require that:
1. Teachers must, “help students develop positive social identities based upon their membership in multiple groups in society.” [This standard requires the adoption of the Marxist principle that group identities must replace individual identities.]
2. Teachers must understand “systemic trauma,” including “medical fragility, racism, and micro and macro aggressions.” [Meaning teachers must teach all classes from the viewpoint of CRT.]
3. Teachers must, “be “inclusive” to reflect “diversity of cultures.” [Teachers will be required to affirm homosexuality, transgenderism, and gender as a choice, not genetics, and promote the absence of moral standards for sexual practices and all other activities–which sets the stage for normalizing pedophilia and other perversions.]
4. Teachers must create “opportunities for students to learn about power, privilege, intersectionality, and systemic oppression in the context of various communities and empowers learners to be agents of social change to promote equity.” [All classes and activities must be viewed through the prism of CRT.]
5. Teachers must develop “learning experiences that engage students in collaborative and self-directed learning and that extend student interaction with ideas and people locally and globally.” [Students will be taught to not only to be Marxists, but also to be local and global Marxist revolutionaries.]
6. Teachers must understand “the historical foundations of education in Minnesota, including laws, policies, and practices, that have and continue to create inequitable opportunities, experiences, and outcomes for learners, especially for Indigenous students and students historically denied access, underserved, or underrepresented on the basis of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, language, socioeconomic status, or country of origin.” [That is, teachers must adopt the Marxist interpretation of history.]
7. Teachers must understand “how ethnocentrism, eurocentrism, deficit-based teaching, and white supremacy undermine pedagogical equity.” [“Eurocentrism” and “ethnocentrism” form the core of America’s cultural, religious, and political heritage and are presented as being racist and oppressive.] [“Equity” means the Marxist goal of equal outcomes, not equal opportunity nor equal standing before
the law.]
These proposed requirements for teacher certification reveal many of the strategies cultural Marxists use to deconstruct traditional history, morals, values, and institutions and replace them with the building blocks of neo-Marxism. This takeover of education and infiltration of our other major institutions is well-organized and more advanced than most people realize. This is why it is taking place in all 50 states at the same time.
Cultural Marxism is anti-Christian and anti-American.
The changing of our language is also well-advanced. Here are several examples of how changing our language is an assault on Christianity and on our entire culture:
a. Eliminating binary gender words damages the family by obscuring the truth that there are only two genders.
b. Requiring children to use false gender terms damages the family by turning children against their parents.
c. Demonizing our national narratives by calling them sexist, racist, homophobic and the like
poisons the water for Americans to be patriotic and grateful for our nation’s blessings.
d. Replacing our defining narratives such as the Constitution and its Bill of Rights with narratives of racial divisions undermines the truth that we are all equal before the law and equal before the God who created us and redeemed us with His death on the cross.
e. Making Christianity out to be a product of white supremacy eliminates the saving gospel
message of Christ crucified for us and raised for our justification.
f. Teaching students that their gender is something they choose directly attacks the truth that God is our Creator who made us male or female. It encourages rebellion against the Creator and fosters gender confusion among vulnerable youth.
g. Teaching children that traditional morality is a tool for white supremacy gives license to engage in immoral activities that are harmful to themselves and others.
h. Teaching children and others to reject the fundamental values and documents of our faith and nation encourages them to reject the Christian faith and our nation’s sovereignty and accept atheistic global government instead.
In Colossians 2:8 the Apostle Paul said; “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” Cultural Marxism is one such “hollow and deceptive philosophy.” It appears to be the dominant philosophy of our time. We do well to understand it and the danger it poses to both the Christian Church and the American system of government.
Endnotes:
1 Christopher Rufo, Imprimis, March 2021 (https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/critical-race-theory-fight/,
accessed 9-25-20).
2 https://newdiscourses.com › marxification-of-education-workshop, (Accessed 9-25-22.)
3 The Federalist, (9-8-21), https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/08/national-archives-issues-harmful-contentwarning-on-constitution-all-other-founding-documents/, Accessed 9-8-21.
What are Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Cultural Marxism? (PDF)
Critical Race Theory, Cultural Marxism: The Core of the Continuum
By Allen Quist and Julie Quist
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a key component of cultural Marxism, also called “neo-Marxism,” and is based on the idea that all of life must be seen through the prism of racial discrimination—with the ultimate goal of instituting a global government.
Given its foundation in cultural Marxism, CRT holds that whites are inherently racist and for that reason must be repressed. This suppression of white persons is intended to compensate for their sins of discrimination, past and present, and to enforce outcomes that favor nonwhites. Being guilty of individual acts of discrimination is not necessary to be considered racist; just being white is enough because, they say, racism is inherent in whites. Schools are now commonly adopting racial quotas for disciplinary actions and academic achievement so minority children can supposedly compensate for the alleged discrimination they and their parents/grandparents have endured. Such changes are revolutionary because they overthrow our entire constitutional system of justice based on equality before the law.
Since CRT is an important component of cultural Marxism, describing it requires first defining this far-reaching worldview. We begin with important historical context.
Cultural Marxism was defined by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937). By the 1960’s even the most radical leftist intellectuals acknowledged the many atrocities and overall failures of conventional Marxism. For that reason, they left it behind and gravitated to the worldview of the new Marxism, better known as “cultural Marxism.” Traditional Marxism held that all of history and human life could be explained by the interplay and tension between two groups of people who were divided on economic grounds—the rich versus the poor, the bourgeoisie versus the proletariat. The poor were forever exploited by the rich, they said. The Marxists predicted the poor would revolt against the rich and take control of the world.
Cultural Marxism, in contrast, divides the world into two groups of people based, not on wealth, but on race—whites versus people of color whom the whites, they say, dominate and exploit. Cultural Marxism is more interested in the way people think than in the way they do business. Both worldviews are similar in holding that all human history and all human existence can be explained by the clash between the two classes of people they have identified.
Both forms of Marxism advocate socialism and the ultimate goal of global government, a world-wide dictatorship ruled by themselves. Achieving this planned utopia, Antonio Gramsci said, requires consistent indoctrination from two major venues: (1) education and (2) the media. This indoctrination, he said, will be accomplished by changing (a) our common language, and (b) our national narratives.
Jordan Peterson, for example, was ordered to follow the University of Toronto’s language requirements and was told which words he must use and which words he could not use. Peterson objected to this mandate saying that if the University can control the words I can use, it can control the way I think. Gramsci said much the same when he said, “People are trapped in a prison house of language.” For this reason, controlling how people speak and write also controls how they think, according to the neo-Marxists.
Consider the matter of gender, for example. A person’s gender is viewed, not as biology, but as a personal choice, a philosophical construct developed by whites to control non-whites. Accordingly, many venues now require teachers, employees, and others to use the preferred names and pronouns of transgendered persons and of those who identify with various other sexual identities. Examples of pronoun choices include using “they/them/theirs” or “ze/hir/hir” or “xe/xem/xirs” in place of ”he/him/his” or “she/her/hers.” If males, who are said to be transitioning to being female, state that they wish to be referred to as “she,” then that is how we must speak. If a person with the given name of “George,” wishes to be called “Mary,” then that is how we must address him. Some venues, governmental and private, are eliminating words like “male” and “female,” “husband” and “wife,” ‘father’ and “mother,” “son” and “daughter,” and the like from law books, school curricula, and legal contracts. Such actions are a rebellion against what God made us to be. And if gender is really a social construct and a personal choice, then, they tell us, we must allow biological males to compete in female sports and use women’s bathrooms and locker rooms.
The bottom line in all this is control convincing people to accept a false worldview defined by the cultural Marxist social engineers. This pervasive indoctrination now takes place with little opposition, even though every cell in our body is either male—carrying the XY chromosomes, or female, carrying the XX chromosomes. Truth is not an issue for the neo-Marxists, however, all that matters to them is advancing the adoption of a Marxist one-world government in which everyone is controlled by governmental dictate.
CRT is in many ways similar to transgenderism. CRT argues its case based on the disparities between two racial groups but ignores the causes of these disparities, such as the dysfunctional family structures brought about by welfare policies which discriminate against two-parent families. The internationalists don’t want to eliminate racial disparities; they want to exaggerate them because they serve their ideological purpose.
The public is understandably becoming wary of CRT, and for that reason it is hidden behind euphemisms that disguise it. Words like “neo-Marxism” and “Critical Race Theory” are hard sells for the left. The language police instead use the words “equity,” “social justice,” “diversity,” “tolerance,” “inclusion,” “social and emotional learning,” and “transformational education.” These preferred labels actually mean or include CRT. Words like “equity” sound non-threatening and are easily confused with the U.S. Constitutional principle of equality, but the distinction is vast and important. “Equality”—the principle proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence—means equal opportunity and equal standing before the law. “Equity,” in contrast, means equal outcomes regardless of individual achievement.
The other necessary change said Gramsci, is the elimination of old narratives and the adoption of new ones. According to Gramsci, people’s views of themselves and their nation are largely shaped by the narratives they are taught. The argument is that all the old narratives were composed by domineering white males so these narratives must be inherently racist and sexist. We speak here of the feats of Christopher Columbus, the War for Independence, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Civil War, all the Biblical accounts, Christianity itself, and the like. These are the narratives that shape our culture, say the globalists, the most important of which they call “meta-narratives.” This is why groups like Black Lives Matter tear down statues of our national icons like Christopher Columbus, George Washington, and even Abraham Lincoln. Their Intent is to transform our history by demonizing our national heroes, narratives, and what they represent as being inherently sexist, racist, and evil.
The meta-narratives the globalists prefer include man-made global warming/climate change,
transgenderism, covid-19/vaccines, slavery as a foundational principle of our nation, and CRT. The common thread of these new meta-narratives is that the problems cited are so damaging and pervasive that they can only be solved by the current government being overthrown and replaced with global government.
CRT is one of the most important applications of social Marxism in our time. Schools now shame white kids because they are white. Some schools have even eliminated testing and grading so everyone will have equal outcomes. All history and all life must be viewed through the prism of racial discrimination, real and imagined. And if whites object, it is because they are biased, or they are members of “hate-groups” and are “hateful” themselves. Whites are accused of being successful because of their “white privilege” and their heritage of “white supremacy.” Name-calling is an essential strategy of the globalists.
In one statement, Critical Race Theory is a key ideological component of cultural Marxism and holds that all of life must be seen through the prism of racial discrimination—with the ultimate goal of taking dictatorial control of the entire world.
Critical Race Theory, Cultural Marxism: The Core of the Continuum (PDF)
Allen Quist is a former 3-term Minnesota state legislator and retired professor of religion and political science at Bethany Lutheran College, is currently adjunct professor of Christian apologetics at Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary and has authored ten books on education and theology.
Julie Quist is Board Chair of Child Protection League. The Child Protection League (CPL) is committed to promoting the welfare of children and protecting them from exploitation, indoctrination, and violence. We educate citizens on issues that protect or threaten the safety of children. Child Protection League Action, PO Box 463, Mankato, MN 56002 contact@cplaction.com.