In defense of Marxism

This is a somewhat peculiar pamphlet, published in 1981 by the U.S. Socialist Workers Party (SWP). The author, Cliff Conner, attacks creationism, more specifically young earth creationism, which was the most visible form at the time. 

What makes the material peculiar is that Conner doesn't simply explain the political significance of creationism and why revolutionary socialists oppose it. He actually spends most of the pamphlet attempting to disprove creationism itself point by point. As far as I know, Marxist group usually don't spend much time arguing against the finer details of a religious-fundamentalist message, preferring instead to expose the political agendas connected with it (in this case, that would be a “conservative” free market agenda combined with backlashes against feminism, gay rights etc).

I'm not saying Conner is a bad writer. He actually manages to summarize the scientific case against creationism in circa 40 small pages. Radiometric dating, red shift of galaxies, homology, fossils, vestigial organs, similarities in DNA between humans and chimps…it's all in there. OK, let me guess. Conner is a high school biology teacher? Since Conner is a Marxist, he places special emphasis on Soviet scientist A I Oparin and his book “Origin of Life”, while arguing that evolution proves that dialectical materialism is correct.

Apart from that, however, “Evolution vs. Creationism” sounds like your standard introduction to Darwinist theory and Old Earth thinking…