‘The West believes man’s destiny is prosperity and an abundance of goods. So does the Politburo.” –Whittaker Chambers

“A communist spy himself, Chambers had a Christian conversion and declared that in 1937, he began “like Lazarus, the impossible return.”

His return to the principles of freedom made him one of the most forceful anti-communists of the 20th century. William F. Buckley, Jr. called him the greatest figure who defected from communism. A proponent of the free market, Chambers worked to orient conservatives towards higher truths about economics – and the nature of man and God. In Witness he wrote, “Economics is not the central problem of this century. It is a relative problem which can be solved in relative ways. Faith is the central problem of this age.”

In his view, the future of freedom was dependent on a deeper recognition of the value of the human soul. Increased secularism was the great threat to America, which Chambers believed would leave the Republic too vulnerable to outwork Soviet resolve and thus unable to defend itself. He believed that man must know himself in relation to God if he is to know himself truly.

Chambers was a popular editor at Time Magazine where he worked after leaving Communism to warn the nation of the Marxist threat. In 1952, he published his epic autobiography Witness after the Hiss trial. He also included New Dealers among a branch of dangerous progressives whose revolution “was not simply reform within existing traditions, but a basic change in the social, and, above all, the power relationships within the nation.” In his view, New Dealers rejoiced that the power of politics was replacing the power of markets and the entrepreneurial spirit. He lamented that loyal New Dealers were unable to identify the communist threat because they shared many of the same goals.” He believed in economic safety nets for all persons in real need but not in the total centralization of all power in the  Federal government.” — Acton Institute

Materialism —> Socialism—> Communism