MAY DAY

The Vanguard ^ | 5/1/03 | Rod D. Martin

[nickcarraway]

BUMP

[nickcarraway]

[nickcarraway]

ping

[nickcarraway]

Two headless statues of Lenin, lying in a salvage yard in Vilnius, Lithuania.

[nickcarraway]

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." - Winston Churchill

[Consort]

That 100 million people killed....

Is that random senseless killing....or do they take requests?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Cuban employees fix flags in the streets as they prepare the May Day demonstration, Wednesday April 30, 2003 in Havana, Cuba. Cuban governement wants this demonstration to be the biggest of the revolutionnary period. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)

[xm177e2]

In fact, Marx never produced a political program at all. The entirety of his plan for his new world order was contained in ten short points -- nothing more than slogans, really -- in his very first "book", the Communist Manifesto. He never defined them further. He never saw a need. Marx had grander work in mind.

This is not something that has ever been hidden from me, all of the professors who have taught about Marx have mentioned this (whether you think Marx is right or wrong is not the same as whether you think his ideas are worth studying, given the influence he's had on the world). In fact, Marx wrote more than just small polemical books like the manifesto (which was intended for a non-academic audience) but also wrote big fat tomes on economics--and he predicted things like globalization. Marx didn't think many people would die for his revolution, he thought it would be the next natural phase in economics--just like when European countries started moving towards industrialization.

This demonization of Marx as some sort of evil plotter who was "producing a religion" or planning mass murder (despite never having written about it) is wrong, and it makes conservatives look stupid, backwards, and hostile to books and education.

It's pretty clear that Marx was right about some interesting things (which he picked up on well before their time, such as globalization) but was wrong about what it meant as a whole. There was no communist revolution the way he envisioned it (whether or not he would have approved of Lenin's revolution is another question, but Marx certainly didn't tell anyone to carry out mass murder). And from what we now know, from the bloody history of the 20th century, there will probably never be a successful communist state, as concentrating power in the government only leads to bad things--from economic stagnation in Sweden to mass murder in the USSR.

But Marx couldn't have known all of this at the time he was writing. Remember, at the time he was writing, factory conditions were not so great, and workers were geniunely abused by factory owners (and discarded when they were no longer useful). The stereotypical evil, heartless capitalist did exist back in his day. We can cut Karl some slack without letting the mass murderers who followed him off the hook. And giving Karl a break doesn't mean excusing 21st century communists, who really should know better by now.

And WHO FRIGGIN' CARES if he was against the Jewish religion? (he was against the Jewish religion, not the Jewish people, so he wasn't "anti-Semitic," that term was coined to mean hating Jews based on their race) A LOT of people were anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic back then. It's a credit to George Washington that he wasn't a Jew-hater, but it's not like it would have invalidated the American Revolution if he was one (and most of the Founding Fathers sort of, uh, owned slaves, you know).

[nickcarraway]

Marx certainly didn't tell anyone to carry out mass murder

I don't think anyone is claiming that Marx told anyone to carry out mass murder. I think they claim his Utopian philosophy did provide the theoretical underpinnings of the regimes that did commit mass murder.

it makes conservatives look stupid, backwards, and hostile to books and education.

I think that brilliant scholars have written works that criticize Marxoint by point, and they aren't ``stupid, backwards, and hostile to books and education.''

[nickcarraway]

Workers of the World Unite! (or you will be arrested and tortured- Fidel)

[AmericaUnited]

But on this May Day, the high holy day of Communism and Socialism,

May 1st is also a high holy day for Satanists and witches. Gee, what a coincidense.

[AMiller]

It is interesting that W picked today to showcase the American Military by landing on an aircraft carrier.

[sam_paine]

Well said.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

it gave ambitious men the means to become gods

F.A. Hayek had a chapter in his WWII classic The Road to Serfdom entitled

Why the Worst Get on Top

Marxism is nothing but a fig leaf for tyranny.
All the rest is window dressing.

[Desdemona]

Marx's atheology created the greatest idol of all, the idol of the omnipotent state. This idol appealed to men more than any other in history, because it made all morality relative and it gave ambitious men the means to become gods themselves. But it also appealed precisely because it was not an idol of stone or wood, but an idol of power: prayers to it could be answered, needs and greeds fulfilled. And because it indulged all of man's basest instincts while ever appealing to his noblest motives, it was exactly the sort of god man wanted to create, a god in his own image.

This is the one thing that doesn't ever seem to translate when talking to leftists. There is no encouraged morality, no need to apply oneself. There is no need to be socially responsible because the state will take care of the individual. This does not encourage work. Not at all.

[DoctorMichael]

You posted this too early in the morning; it should be read by all FReepers.

Bump!

[Misterioso]

Thanks for the ping.

[DoctorMichael]

Leftism-as-a-Religion Bump.

[Mark17]

It is pinko commie day. The only good commie, is a....well, you know.