Why Marxists Got One Thing Right
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A Verdict on Marxist Societies in the Twentieth Century
Let me begin by saying that Marxist states were the scourge of the Twentieth Century. In the name of Marx, millions have been killed. The Soviet Union was one of the biggest tragedies in human history. And Mao's China committed atrocities every bit as terrible as those of the Nazis.
Marxism versus Communism
Yet, strictly speaking, Soviet and Chinese Communism are not in line with what Marx wrote.
Marx, much like right wing Americans, believed that state would wither away. In other words, he felt that Big Government was destined for the trash can of history.
Clearly, Stalin's Russia was an immense bureaucracy, Big Government on an unparalleled scale.
In addition, Marx nowhere endorses genocide. Yet both Stalin and Mao committed mass murder in the name of their versions of "Marxism" to make Genghis Khan go pale.
Marx Thought Things Were Inevitable
Marx was not so much prescribing a model for how to run a country: he was making predictions.
He felt that history's march was "inevitable." The working classes would overthrow the captains of industry, the workers' revolution would spread across the world, capitalism would pass away, and inevitable phases of history would come to be, ending up in Utopia.
He was not saying "You should do this" or "that": he was saying these things were simply bound to happen.
Marx Got One Thing Right
Marx got a lot of things wrong. The workers of Europe and America did not rise up in bloody revolution: instead they formed trade unions, and wrestled the minimum wage, healthy working times, and occupational safety rules from their employers. Thanks in part to Roosevelt's New Deal, the workers began to have quite a good standard of living -- they did not rise up and overthrow the government: they didn't need to...
Marx, however, in my view, was right about one thing. His view that people were caught up in a bubble called the "bourgeoisie", where the focus was pleasure, building a nuclear family, padding your homestead, and indulging in leisure and entertainment, has come to pass.
Nothing wrong with these things. But the other side of the story is that Marx suggested that the Bourgeoisie was blinded to the plight of the extreme poor.
And this is what has happened.
We in the West are blind to the poverty of most of the world. We barely give it a second thought. This is one part of Marx's writings that is not controversial -- everyone knows this is true...
...And it is a tragedy.
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This is a good Hub. Nearly everybody is right about something. If you read my Hub called Unions Killed Michigan, you will see the true effect of unions in the long run—no more manufacturing.
A really great Hub - short and to the point! I think Marx got more than one thing right, though! Where you are right is in pointing out that the two huge so-called communist states, the USSR and the PRC, were not really communist at all. They both did things that would have horrified Marx, the kind of things that he was, in his philosophy, trying to eradicate from human society.
But that seems to be the fate of so many great thinkers and teachers - the followers pick up on the teaching and dogmatise (if that's a word!), creating us and them scenarios and using the dogma to whip people into line.
Thanks for this Hub.
Love and peace
Tony
There is a similar saying about Marxism and Christianity: neither of them has been put into effect 100%. Marx did get it wrong about revolution occurring in developed countries. Trotsky argued persuasively against that notion, but Stalin arranged for an ice axe to be put into Trotsky's head.
What cannot be denied is that the "old" Marxists, people like Rosa Luxembourg, had very high principles and were willing to die for them. Also, if you read John Reed's account of the October Revolution (10 Days That Shook the World) you will get some idea of the hope, excitement and aspirations that Marxism originally awakened in Russia. Stalin sold it all down the river for the sake of personal power.
Similar things have happened since. I'm thinking of what happened when the worker priests and revolutionaries of the 1960s-1970s started a dialogue between Christianity and Marxism (ref. Jose Miranda "Marx and the Bible"), also the revolutionary movement in Nicaragua (where a priest, Ernesto Cardenal, became Minister of Culture in the Sandinista Government), the Colombian priest Camilo Torres, who died as a guerilla fighter, because he felt he could not preach salvation from the pulpit while there was so much oppression.
Ahhh, I know, I'm rambling....
I really enjoyed this hub. Thanks.
The thing that Marx never considered in his writings was the ideology of Marxism in a utopian world would work. What he didnt consider was human behaviour. That somewhere along the line, human behaviour is corrupt - power corrupts absolutely, absolute power corrupts!
Marx's personal life was one of total selfishness. I would critise him for this. He would allow his family to starve - they were in poverty - rather than use the money for food - he would use the money for paper to do his writing!
His wife came from a bougeousie background and gave it up for the love of Karl Marx to live life in poverty. Just shows you how special his wife was, doesn't it?!
Thank you for writing, my friend x
Thanks for a great thumbnail on Marx. It seems a pity that the wrong person gets the right idea and it is then implemented incorrectly!
It has always seemed to me that 'evolution' is a better solution than 'revolution'
Thanks for writing such interesting Hubs :-)
"We in the West are blind to the poverty of most of the world. We barely give it a second thought."
American's are the most generous people in the world. What other country is more generous via the government and the individual. Who give food and money to proverty in Africa and other third world countries? Who gave more to Hati? To Japan etc...
And what marxist or Eastern country is generous?
Humans are selfish, greedy, lustful creatures. Anyone who wistfully claims anything different is not only deluding themselves but also completely ignoring history. Marxism has never been properly implemented because it is a pipe dream... it never WILL be properly implemented. It's a 19th century German fairy tale.
You can't force altruism on people. It has to come from the individual. And truly altruistic individuals (I exclude those who practice it for the sake of their own sense of self-righteousness or for politically-correct gain,) are truly few and far between.
The greatest altruism is to allow each individual the freedom to decide whether they will be a victim or a the master of their own destiny.
I'm poor but I'd rather be poor and free than poor because some coven of intellectuals and academics decided
that they could run a country and proceeded to do it horribly.
If I die impoverished, trying to improve my lot in life I'll still count myself better off than someone who never got the opportunity to.
infonaturale 2 years ago
Nice hub.