Manifesto of the Lutheran Communist Youth Groups

LONDON

1848

KARL MARX

NICOLAI FS GRUNDTVIG

FRIEDRICH ENGELS

A ghost is haunting the North American landscape, the ghost of Lutheran communist youth groups.  All the powers of the day have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise the power this ghost:  industrialists, religionists, French and English radicals, and American police-spies.

Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as Lutheran by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?

Two things result from this fact:

I. Lutheran youth groups are already acknowledged by all European powers to be itself a power.

II. It is high time that Lutheran youth groups should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the specter of Lutheranism with a manifesto of the party itself.

To this end, Lutheran youth groups of various nationalities have assembled in London and sketched the following manifesto, to be published in the English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish

CHAPTER I:  MODERNITY IS PAIN

The hitherto history of all society is one of pain, of the triumph of one group over another.  Groups use pain as power to restrict and create property, to hold one another to outrageous contracts, and to prevent forgiveness from ever occurring. 

Lutheran youth groups oppose this by acknowledging pain and suffering, and confess that God can be found no where else.  By doing this they will not let the cause of pain and the injury or parties that create it go without any recompense or forgiveness.  All political parties oppose Lutheran youth groups in this since they wish to use pain to their own ends.

CHAPTER II:  PEOPLE AND LUTHERANS

The power of Lutheran youth groups has been especially felt in their festive meals where every person brings food if they can and meets in joy and conversation.  This has been especially angering to the food industry, to the secret police who wish to isolate and restrict community, and to the authorities who wish to prevent any discussion without their supervision.

CHAPTER III:  LUTHERAN YOUTH GROUPS AND OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES

By singing together, Lutheran youth groups practice solidarity that cannot easily be found in other parties.  Though Lutheran youth groups will work with other parties, they recognize that ultimately those parties have limited ends and are themselves attempting to perpetuate the pain of modernity.

LUTHERAN YOUTH GROUPS OF THE WORLD UNITE!