As the language of Marxism becomes increasingly disguised in moralistic slogans such as “social justice” and “inclusiveness,” many people fail to recognize Marxist theories when they encounter them. They expect theories derived from Marxism to be littered with red flag phrases like “dialectical materialism” or “class conflict,” which would be the dead giveaway that they are dealing with Marxist interpretations. In the absence of such phrases, they deny that social justice theories are Marxist at all. …

Constant adjustment in pursuit of individual ends and goals is key to understanding human action. According to Mises, “In the course of social events there prevails a regularity of phenomena to which man must adjust his action if he wishes to succeed.”

But how can man “wish to succeed” in the first place, much less “adjust his action” accordingly, if he is merely some kind of automaton responding to the stimulus of his material circumstances? According to Marxists, there are certain predetermined actions that will inevitably be adopted by people who are classified as “exploited” and other actions will always be adopted by their “exploiters.” To Marxists, man does not adjust his actions based on his personal preferences or his own agency but merely follows the collective dictates of his group. By viewing everyone’s actions as determined by their group, it immediately becomes self-evident what their choices must be in every situation—you know what a white person would choose, what a slave would do in any situation, etc. …

There are many problems with this reasoning, but the key point being highlighted here is that it denies the very notion of free will and individual choice. As Mises explains:

Marxism asserts that a man’s thinking is determined by his class affiliation. Every social class has a logic of its own. The product of thought cannot be anything else than an “ideological disguise” of the selfish class interests of the thinker. …

Rejecting these irrational theories, Mises argues that “what distinguishes man from beasts is precisely that he adjusts his behavior deliberately. Man is the being that has inhibitions, that can master his impulses and desires.” Human action is deliberate and masterful, not simply determined by one’s history, race, or class. Human action and human choices are not prescribed by the dominant ideology or by prevailing power structures, but by individual will and agency.