Socialism is making many headlines in our country today. For the first time in our nation’s history, there is a very real chance that we will elect a self-avowed Socialist to the most powerful position in the world – President of the United States. Many in other positions now freely label themselves as Socialists or Democratic Socialists. This is cause for extreme concern for those who value freedom and our God-given Constitution. Socialism is not simply secular Christianity, as many claim. Its goal is not to help those in need and provide equality; that is merely the sales pitch to convince the masses to voluntarily surrender their freedom.

Ayn Rand defined socialism this way: “Socialism is the doctrine that man has no right to exist for his own sake, that his life and his work do not belong to him, but belong to society, that the only justification of his existence is his service to society, and that society may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good” (For the New Intellectual, p. 43). Socialism is in direct opposition to the American principles that all men are created equal and that God gives us life and liberty in order for us to pursue our own happiness. Socialism is in direct opposition to the Plan of Salvation, as it does not leave man with moral agency and freedom to choose. Socialism relies on an all-powerful State that takes the place of God and family.

Before we became a worldwide church, prophets and apostles spent much time warning us about the evil nature of socialism and communism. Because decades have passed since then, most of us did not grow up regularly hearing those teachings and may not know that the Brethren have taken a very clear stance against these false philosophies. The rest of this article contains direct quotes from Church leaders on this topic. Since we know the Constitution was established to facilitate the Restoration of the Gospel, upholding the Constitution and the freedom it provides should be a top priority for all Latter-day Saints. I would implore you to familiarize yourself with these teachings during this election year. It is imperative to choose the candidate in all races who will uphold the principles of freedom.

-Stephanie Gifford, Gathering Families Contributor

Quotes from Prophets and Apostles

“No true Latter-day Saint and no true American can be a socialist or a communist or support programs leading in that direction. These evil philosophies are incompatible with Mormonism, the true gospel of Jesus Christ.”

-Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1961, p. 74

“Satan argued that men given their freedom would not choose correctly therefore he would compel them to do right and save us all. Today Satan argues that men given their freedom do not choose wisely; therefore a so-called brilliant, benevolent few must establish the welfare government and force us into a greater socialistic society. We are assured of being led into the promised land as long as we let them put a golden ring in our nose. In the end we lose our freedom and the promised land also. No matter what you call it—communism, socialism, or the welfare state—our freedom is sacrificed. We believe the gospel is the greatest thing in the world; why then do we not force people to join the Church if they are not smart enough to see it on their own? Because this is Satan’s way not the Lord’s plan. The Lord uses persuasion and love.”

-Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1965, p. 123

“No, brethren, socialism is not the United Order. However, notwithstanding my abhorrence of it, I am persuaded that socialism is the wave of the present and of the foreseeable future. It has already taken over or is contending for control in most nations… We here in the United States, in converting our government into a social welfare state, have ourselves adopted much of socialism. Specifically, we have to an alarming degree adopted the use of the power of the state in the control and distribution of the fruits of industry. We are on notice, according to the words of the President, that we are going much further, for he is quoted as saying: “We’re going to take all the money we think is unnecessarily being spent and take it from the ‘haves’ and give it to the ‘have nots.'” (Lyndon B. Johnson, 3/24/64)”

-Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, April 1966, pp. 97-98

“As to the fruits of socialism, we all have our own opinions. I myself have watched its growth in our own country and observed it in operation in many other lands. But I have yet to see or hear of its freeing the hearts of men of selfishness and greed or of its bringing peace, plenty, or freedom. These things it will never bring, nor will it do away with idleness and promote ‘industry, thrift and self-respect,’ for it is founded, in theory and in practice, on force, the principle of the evil one.”

-Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, April 1966, p. 98

“Let us not be deceived in the sifting days ahead. Let us rally together on principle behind the prophet as guided by the promptings of the Spirit. We should continue to speak out for freedom and against socialism and communism as President McKay has consistently admonished us. We should continue to come to the aid of patriots, programs and organizations which are trying to save our Constitution through every legal and moral means possible. God has not left us in darkness regarding these matters. We have the scriptures ancient and modern. We have a living prophet, and we may obtain the Spirit.”

-Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1963, p. 19

“Now, we have not been using the Book of Mormon as we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our children to Christ. Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat the falsehoods in socialism, organic evolution, rationalism, humanism, etc… And our nation will continue to degenerate unless we read and heed the words of the God of this land, Jesus Christ, and quit building up and upholding the secret combinations which the Book of Mormon tells us proved the downfall of both previous American civilizations.”

-Ezra Taft Benson, April 1975 General Conference

“It has been fundamental to our way of life that charity must be voluntary if it is to be charity. Compulsory benevolence is not charity. Today’s socialists—who call themselves egalitarians—are using the federal government to redistribute wealth in our society, not as a matter of voluntary charity, but as a so-called matter of right.”

-Ezra Taft Benson, BYU, 4/12/77

“Why is socialism incompatible with man’s liberty? Socialism cannot work except through an all-powerful state. The state has to be supreme in everything. When individuals begin to exert their God-given rights, the state has to suppress that freedom. So belief in God must be suppressed, and with that gone freedom of conscience and religion must also go. Those are the first of our liberties mentioned in the Bill of Rights.”

-Ezra Taft Benson, BYU, 4/12/77

“America has become great in many lines of human endeavor, in fact the greatest nation on earth, due unquestionably to its free enterprise or capitalistic system.”

-Joseph F. Merrill, April 1950 General Conference

“It is time, therefore, that every American, and especially every member of the priesthood, become informed about the aims, tactics, and schemes of socialistic-communism. This becomes particularly important when it is realized that communism is turning out to be the earthly image of the plan which Satan presented in the pre-existence. The whole program of socialistic-communism is essentially a war against God and the plan of salvation – the very plan which we fought to uphold during ‘the war in heaven.'”

-Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1961, p. 70

“Up to now some members of the Church have stood aloof, feeling that the fight against socialistic-communism is ‘controversial’ and unrelated to the mission of the Church or the work of the Lord. But the President of the Church in our day has made it clear that the fight against atheistic communism is a major challenge to the Church and every member in it…

The plain and simple issue now facing us in America is freedom or slavery… Our real enemies are communism and its running mate, socialism…

“I want to say a few words about a few of the paths we are following that, if we move forward thereon, will inevitably lead us to socialism or communism, and these two are as like as two peas in a pod in their ultimate effect upon our liberties…

“We may first observe that communism and socialism – which we shall hereafter group together and dub Statism – cannot live with Christianity, nor with any religion that postulates a Creator such as the Declaration of Independence recognizes. The slaves of Statism must know no power, no authority, no source of blessing, no God, but the State. The State must be supreme in everything.”

-J. Reuben Clark, Church News, 9/25/49

“The fight against godless communism is a very real part of every man’s duty who holds the priesthood. It is the fight against slavery, immorality, atheism, terrorism, cruelty, barbarism, deceit, and the destruction of human life through a kind of tyranny unsurpassed by anything in human history. Here is a struggle against the evil, satanical priestcraft of Lucifer. Truly it can be called ‘a continuation of the war in heaven.'”

-Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1961, pp. 70-1

“Another notable counterfeit system to the Lord’s plan is collectivized socialism. Socialism derives its philosophy from the founders of communism, Marx and Engels. Communism in practice is socialism. Its purpose is world socialism, which the communists seek to achieve by revolution, and which the socialists seek to achieve by evolution. Both communism and socialism have the same effect upon the individual—a loss of personal liberty.”

-Ezra Taft Benson, BYU, 4/12/77

“There are some among us who would confuse the united order with socialism. That is a serious misunderstanding. It is significant to me that the Prophet Joseph Smith, after attending lectures on socialism in his day, made this official entry in the Church history: ‘I said I did not believe the doctrine.'”

-Ezra Taft Benson, BYU, 4/12/77

“We must protect this base from complacency – from the dangerous feeling that all is well – from being lulled away into a false security. We must protect this American base from the brainwashing, increasingly administered to our youth in many educational institutions across the land, by some misinformed instructors and some wolves in sheep’s clothing. Their false indoctrination, often perpetrated behind the front of so-called academic freedom, is leaving behind many faithless students, socialist-oriented, who are easy subjects for state tyranny.”

-Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1962, pp. 104-105

“I say unto you with all the soberness I can, that we stand in danger of losing our liberties, and that once lost, only blood will bring them back; and once lost, we of this Church will, in order to keep the Church going forward, have more sacrifices to make and more persecutions to endure than we have yet known, heavy as our sacrifices and grievous as our persecutions of the past have been.”

-J. Reuben Clark, Conference Report, April 1944, p. 116

“And let me say here and now, that in the whole history of the human race, from Adam until now, Tyranny has never come to live with any people with a placard on his breast bearing his name. He always comes in deep disguise, sometimes proclaiming an endowment of freedom, sometimes promising help to the unfortunate and downtrodden, not by creating something for those who do not have, but by robbing those who have. But Tyranny is always a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and he always ends by devouring the whole flock, saving none. So it is today.”

-J. Reuben Clark, Church News, 9/21/46

“No greater immediate responsibility rests upon members of the Church, upon all citizens of this Republic and of neighboring Republics than to protect the freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States.”

-David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1950, p. 37

“Today two mighty forces are battling for the supremacy of the world. The destiny of mankind is in the balance. It is a question of God and liberty, or atheism and slavery. The success of communism means the destruction of religion. As stated by a government committee: ‘Communism cannot dominate family life until it has first fought its way past the influence of religion upon the family. Communism cannot force its own brand of moral code upon a person without first destroying his moral code rooted in religion. Communism cannot make education a weapon in its hands so long as religion is secure in its own right to teach and to educate. Communism cannot dominate unless it has the power to remake the life of the people. It cannot ignore religion and do that.'”

-President David O. McKay, Church News, 7/18/53

“But there are developing tendencies, sponsored by selfishness, greed, and ambition that, if unchecked, will soon or late bring sorrow and ruin to our country. Among these tendencies is that of ‘something for nothing,’ at least ‘more and more for less and less’ — more pay for less work. And as I see it, in whatever words these tendencies are expressed, they all lead to some type of national socialism. And generally, socialism is an enemy of free enterprise in the development of which, I repeat, this country has become the greatest on earth. Then why does any honest, patriotic, intelligent citizen of America prefer socialism to free enterprise? Is it not in free enterprise that free agency, a divine gift to every human being, finds an environment favorable to growth and development and to living in harmony with our beautiful doctrine of eternal progression?”

-Joseph F. Merrill, April 1950 General Conference

“I come with (a) theme this morning: Two Contending Forces. Those forces have been known by different terms throughout the ages. In the beginning they were known as Satan on the one hand, and Christ on the other. In Joshua’s time they were called ‘gods of the Amorites,’ for one, and ‘the Lord,’ on the other. Paul spoke of ‘the works of the flesh’ on the one hand, ‘fruits of the spirit’ on the other. They are often spoken of as ‘selfishness’ for one, ‘life of service,’ the other. In these days, they are called ‘dominion by the state,’ on one hand, ‘personal liberty,’ on the other; communism on one hand, free agency on the other. I say to you, choose ye this day whom ye shall serve.”

-President David O. McKay, BYU, 5/18/60

“We owe at least the consideration to be loyal to this country and to spurn with all the soul that is within us the scheming disloyal citizens who would undermine our Constitution, or who would deprive the individual of his liberty vouchsafed by that great document, and some of our men who have come up through the public schools are doing just that. Let every loyal member of the Church look down with scorn upon any man or woman who would undermine that Constitution.”

-President David O. McKay, Church News, 5/29/54

“Efforts are being made to deprive man of his free agency, to steal from the individual his liberty; and we must never forget that next to life itself, free agency is the greatest gift of God to man.”

-David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1966, p. 5

“The entire concept and philosophy of Communism is diametrically opposed to everything for which the Church stands – belief in Deity, belief in the dignity and eternal nature of man, and the application of the gospel to efforts for peace in the world. Communism is militantly atheistic and is committed to the destruction of faith wherever it may be found… Communism debases the individual and makes him the enslaved tool of the state, to which he must look for sustenance and religion. Communism destroys man’s God-given free agency.

“No member of this Church can be true to his faith, nor can any American be loyal to his trust, while lending aid, encouragement, or sympathy to any of these false philosophies; for if he does, they will prove snares to his feet.”

-David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1966, pp. 109-110

“Let us pray every day of our lives for the Lord to frustrate their sinister plans – plans of Communists, who disbelieve in God, who deny the existence of God, who disbelieve in the freedom of the individual, who think he should be just a spoke in the wheel of the State! The State is established to protect the individual in his rights.”

-President David O. McKay, Church News, 12/12/53

“The position of this Church on the subject of communism has never changed. We consider it the greatest satanical threat to peace, prosperity, and the spread of God’s work among men that exists on the face of the earth.”

-David O. McKay, April 1966 General Conference

“Above all else, strive to support good and conscientious candidates of either party who are aware of the great dangers inherent in communism, and who are truly dedicated to the Constitution in the tradition of our founding fathers. They should also pledge their sincere fealty to our way of liberty—a liberty which aims at the preservation of both personal and property rights. Study the issues, analyze the candidates on these grounds, and then exercise your franchise as free men and women. Never be found guilty of exchanging your birthright for a mess of pottage!”

-David O. McKay, October 1962 General Conference

“Next to being one in worshiping God, there is nothing in this world upon which this Church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States!”

-David O. McKay, The Instructor, Feb. 1956, p. 34

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