How did Dr Martin Luther King Jr feel about Marxism

Though
there are superficial similarities between Marxism and the liberation theology espoused by
Martin Luther King, in actual fact they were fundamentally at odds in key respects. Indeed, on
the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik insurrection King took the opportunity to denounce
Communismthe end-point of Marxismin no uncertain terms.

King gave three
reasons why he rejected Marxism:

Firstly, he rejected its materialist
interpretation of history. Marxists argue that history is to be understood in terms of class
struggle and the material conditions from which it arises. As a man of God, King was unable to
accept this. He understood that a purely materialistic interpretation of history left no place
for God. Furthermore, historical materialism gave a one-dimensional portrait of man as either a
producer or exploiter of capital, a portrait that completely ignored his spiritual
dimension.

Secondly, King objected to Marxism's ethical relativism. Marxists
have always held that morality is the expression of the dominant class' values in any given
society. That being the case, there are no fixed, immutable moral values that hold good for all
people at all times. As a Christian, and someone who therefore believes in the universality of
divine law, King cannot subscribe to such a notion.

Finally, King rejects
Marxism on the grounds of its totalitarian tendencies. Though not all Marxists would agree, King
argues that, in Marxism, the individual is subordinated to the state. As King puts it, man under
Marxism becomes hardly more than "[A] depersonalized cog in the turning wheel of the
state". To King, this is an affront to human dignity.