Was Marx Right?

[monk222]

So: why was Marx right?

Someone asked me that last night at a talk, and I mentioned Greece. There’s irony in the fact that in the midst of the most affluent civilization history has witnessed people are scavenging in rubbish baskets for food. That’s the kind of contradiction I think Marx was talking about. I also stressed how much Marx admired the way that capitalism had in a very short space of time accumulated such wealth—material, spiritual, cultural—but that it couldn’t do that without the contradiction of generating inequality at the same time; we’re seeing a stark instance of that in Greece today. So that’s the kind of thing I’d point to to show the relevance of Marx. Even within the anti-capitalist movement, Marx is not a majority presence. One has to say that. It’s partly because of the discrediting of Marxism by Stalinism, which will take a long time for the Marxist left to recover from. But I’m not myself madly concerned about whether people stick the label “Marxist” onto themselves as long as they take a critical stance towards the present situation. It doesn’t matter what they call themselves.

-- Terry Eagleton

Our old friend Mr. Eagleton. It's not surprising that there is a little revival going on for leftist thought. Who knows, if things keep going as they are for another couple of years, it might get a lot noisier.

Comments

[red-fox2.livejournal.com]

I was born in the Soviet Union under communism, :))) But when I was 19 years, the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia began a wild capitalism. So I was able to live and with that and with another system. I do not know which one is better :))), communism - when all must do what he says the Communist Party. Or wild capitalism, where some people live in luxury, while others people are digging in garbage cans.

[red-fox2.livejournal.com]

I think so. the ideal social system created in the Scandinavian countries such as Sweden. In these countries, the state and society to care for the weak people. But the rich people pay higher taxes. I believe that is correct. But not all rich people want to pay high taxes.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think this is in line with much liberal thought in the west, with the problem of the rich. This sums up well all our political battles.

[red-fox2.livejournal.com]

Excuse me. I write with mistakes in English. online translator must be checked
i wanted to say - communism - when all people must do what the Communist Party says :)))