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In the Cold War climate of the 1950s and 1960s, the threat of communism galvanized public attention. In 1953 Martin Luther King called communismone of the most important issues of our day (Papers 6:146). As King rose to prominence he frequently had to defend himself against allegations of being a Communist, though his view thatCommunism and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible did not change (King, Strength, 93). Although sympathetic to communisms core concern with social justice, King complained that with itscold atheism wrapped in the garments of materialism, communism provides no place for God or Christ (Strength, 94).

King first studied communism on his own while a student at Crozer Theological Seminary in 1949. In his 1958 memoir, he reported that although he rejected communisms central tenets, he was sympathetic to Marxs critique of capitalism, finding thegulf between superfluous wealth and abject povertythat existed in the United States morally wrong (Stride, 94). Writing his future wife, Coretta Scott, during the first summer of their relationship, he told her that he wasmore socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic. And yet I am not so opposed to capitalism that I have failed to see its relative merits(Papers 6:123; 125).

King began preaching onCommunisms Challenge to Christianityin 1952, repeating sermons on the same theme throughout his career and including one as a chapter in his 1963 volume of sermons, Strength to Love. Communisms presence demandedsober discussion,he preached, becauseCommunism is the only serious rival to Christianity(Strength, 93). King critiqued communisms ethical relativism, which allowed evil and destructive means to justify an idealistic end. Communism, wrote King,robs man of that quality which makes him man,that is, being achild of God(Strength, 95).

Despite Kings consistent rejection of communism, in 1962 his associations with a few alleged Communists prompted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to launch an investigation into his alleged links with the Communist Party. In 1976 the U.S. Senate committee reviewing the FBIs investigation of King noted:We have seen no evidence establishing that either of those Advisers attempted to exploit the civil rights movement to carry out the plans of the Communist Party(Senate Select Committee, Book III, 85). From wiretaps initiated in 1963, the FBI fed controversial information to the White House and offered it tofriendlyreporters in an effort to discredit King. In 1964 King told an audience in Jackson, Mississippi, he wassick and tired of people saying this movement has been infiltrated by Communists There are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are Eskimos in Florida(Herbers,Rights Workers).

In 1963 King bowed to the wishes of the Kennedy administration and fired SCLC employee Jack ODell after the FBI alleged that he was a Communist. King also agreed to cease direct communication with his friend and closest white advisor, Stanley Levison, although he eventually resumed contact with him in March 1965. FBI surveillance and bugs tracked Kings political associations and produced evidence of Kings extramarital sexual activitiesinformation that was later leaked to some reporters.

In 1965 King faced questions from journalists on Meet the Press about his association with Tennessees Highlander Folk School, which had been branded aCommunist training schoolon billboards that appeared throughout Alabama during the Selma to Montgomery March and showed King attending a Highlander workshop. King defended the school, saying that it was not Communist and noted thatgreat Americans such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Reinhold Niebuhr, Harry Golden, and many othershad supported the school (King, 28 March 1965).

Kings position on the war against Communists in northern Vietnam, like his overall position on communism, was rooted in his Christian belief in brotherhood. Indeed, in the summer of 1965 the press reported Kings off-the-cuff remarks to a Southern Christian Leadership Conference rally in Virginia:Were not going to defeat Communism with bombs and guns and gases We must work this out in the framework of our democracy(Dr. King Declares). In his 1967 book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? King decried Americas morbid fear of Communism,arguing that it prevented people from embracing arevolutionary spirit and declaring eternal opposition to poverty, racism, and militarism(King, Where, 190).

Link:
Communism | The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and ...