Today WSWS published a report on new findings about Epicurean and Stoic philosophy in the Roman empire. Although ranking Epicurean philosophy above Stoicism, the main point of the article is denunciation of Christianity for its anti-intellectual suppression of both philosophies. "With the rise of Christianity in the Roman empire the relative tolerance of different philosophical and religious tendencies came to an end. Under this new regime Epicureanism became a proscribed tendency. Christians undertook a slander campaign against figures such as Lucretius..." --https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/09/26/lijx-s26.html
WSWS carries on a radical but hardly Marxist tradition of denouncing religion. In this case, it overlooks that both Epicureanism and Stoicism were philosophies of the exploiting classes. The Roman empire promoted a grab-bag of superstitions, animistic beliefs, local gods with family shrines to them, etc. among the populace at large. The article has not a hint of that. WSWS will not let you point out its nineteenth-century radical democratic approach. Compare one of the permitted comments: It is my belief that Christianity sent humanity into the Dark Ages, and that their barbarity continues right up into the present day. with a comment that WSWS promptly removed: What about the classes?! The largest class of exploited producers were the peasants. They are missing from this article. And the Dark Ages were dark for the exploiters, but the material lot of the peasants improved to the extent that the machinery of exploitation – Roman civilization – broke down. Of course, WSWS is only one Trotsky--- sect. Trotskyism is a big tent of bourgeois radicalism masquerading as Marxist. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#43533): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/43533 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/121449724/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
