When he died in 1883, Karl Marx was “relatively unknown,” says Mark Levin. Many knew about his predecessors Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who were considered great philosophers, but Marx himself “was not widely cited.”

It wasn’t until Woodrow Wilson and the birth of the progressive movement of “American Marxists” that Marx’s name began circulating in intellectual circles. Fast-forward to today, and he’s practically a household name — especially among conservatives, who see that his nefarious ideas form the bedrock of the progressive ideology that’s destroying this country.

How is it that someone who died nearly a century and half ago (and wasn’t even that popular) still has this much influence in the United States?

Levin has the answer.

“Marx has had the greatest influence of almost any philosopher in the entire world. Why? Because you're able to reduce Marxism to slogans,” he says.

“The oppressed and the oppressor; the victim and the victimizer; redistribution of wealth; unequal wealth; everybody has a right to eat” are some of the examples he gives of the Marxist-generated “sloganeering” that’s taken root in this country.

At his funeral, Marx’s notorious sidekick Friedrich Engels captured this concept when he said that Marx “reduced everything to its basics” — the most basic principle being “people need to eat.”

“That sounds like you’re dealing with animals,” says Levin, noting that humans, unlike animals, have the ability to reason.

And while these American Marxists may “say they’re for reason,” the truth is they “reject the Enlightenment” reasoning that birthed our Constitution and the rights protected in it. What they're really for is “scientific mechanicism,” says Levin.

Scientific mechanicism, he explains, is the idea that “we can reason to the point of creating this fantastic society.” “Forget about this talk about nature and eternal truths; it's a distraction. ... We can reason as human beings and create a society that's almost scientific in its exactitude.”

To create such a utopia, however, requires one thing: erasing human nature.

This is why Marxist, fascist, and other autocratic regimes control speech, language, and thought processes, says Levin.

To hear more of his commentary, watch the clip above.

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