The answer it gives to the question of how living things...

The answer it gives to the question of how living things, including mankind, came into existence makes Darwinism the basis of a number of philosophies, worldviews and political ideologies. Here, we shall consider the relationship between Darwinism and materialist philosophy. Materialist philosophy, or "materialism," is a system of thought going as far back as ancient Greece. Materialism rests on the assumption that matter is the only thing that exists.

According to materialist philosophy, matter has always existed, and will continue to do so for all time. Again according to this philosophy, nothing exists beyond matter. Naturally, materialism is also reflected in the political arena, with communism indisputably taking pride of place in this regard. Karl Marx (1818-83) and Friedrich Engels (1820-95), regarded as the founders of communism, were also the founders of dialectical materialism.

In any case, communism is nothing more than materialist philosophy adapted to the social sciences by Marx and Engels. Communism is today regarded as an ideology consigned to the wastes of history, whereas the fact is that it is still exceedingly influential. The destructive effects of this ideology can still be felt in many countries. This is where Darwinism assumes great importance.

Since Darwinism, or the theory of evolution, maintains that living things were not created but came into being by chance, it has received a wide acceptance among materialist ideologies, and has been adopted as the "basic foundation" of communism in particular. All the main communist ideologues have accepted the theory word for word, and have based their ideologies upon it.

In a letter to Friedrich Engels in 1860, for instance, Karl Marx said of Darwin's book that "This is the book which contains the basis in natural history for our view."12 In another letter the following year, this time to Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-64), Marx said: "Darwin's book is very important and serves me as a basis in natural science for the class struggle in history."13 Similarly Mao Tse Tung, the founder of Chinese communism, openly stated that "The foundations of Chinese socialism rest on Darwin and the theory of evolution."14 Thus the intellectual struggle against communism must be aimed at materialist philosophy and, therefore, the theory of evolution.

It is also clear that the wide acceptance of the theory of evolution in society will further nourish materialism as well as communism.