Isn't it time to bring Karl Marx back from the dead?

Question

Stalin hijacked Lenin's revolution. China is a capitalist oligrachy. Gramsci was right. Real communism has never really been tried. Wouldn't now be another good time to start trying? Comrades?

Answer 1

yes it would be a good time if society was ready for it. but mankind isnt ready. we're still too materialistic and selfish. communism will only work when we start to care about the stranger next to us on the bus.

Answer 2

"So war deiser mann aus wissenschaft"

Well ok, Marxism has a prescriptive as well as a scientific side.

On the scientific side: to the extent that Marx's doctrines were falsifiable (and thus scientific) they have been falsified. The world is not splitting into two classes, the revolution in Russia did not happen with the maturity of the bourgeois revolution, the lot of the proletariat does not get worse and worse.

On the presctiptive side. Well "real" is an interesting word. What did Gramsci mean by "real" Marxism, was it what Gramsci (whose doctirne of hegemony significantly modifies Marxist theory) would have done perhaps? Did Stalin highjack Lenin's revolution, or would Trotsky have been just as bad? Could I not come up with a theory "Toffeeism" and institute "Toffeeism" in Russia. When it failed I could say "well that wasn't TRUE Toffeeism", we have another go, it fails. "Ah, well that again wasn't TRUE Toffeeism". And again (no not true) and again (no not true). How many times would Toffeeism have to fail before you decide that Toffeeism per se is rubbish and not the particular instigation of it?

Two things are a devastating indictment of Marxism. The first is Kennedy's observation that although the West was far from perfect it didn't have to build a wall to keep its people in.

The second occured shortly after the fall of the wall, a UK journailist observed an Eastern German car next to a West German car. Now these are the same people, on the same land, with the same history up until Marxism. There is no arguement that "Russia was poor to start off with" or anything like that. The two systems got a nice parallel run. The journalist noticed that the East German COULDN'T EVEN DO SHINY PAINT.

Nothing, absolutely nothing was better in East Germany under Marxism than West Germany. Not freedom, not food, not education, not social life, not even the shine on the cars! ANd the result was that the East German's had to build a wall to imprison their own people.

Marxism has failed both as a scientific thoery and as a prescription for social action. Let the man rest in peace we do not want him back.

Answer 3

i'm no a Obamaniacs, yet I even have examine Marx. It became required reading on the protection stress college I attended. Marx became a German. in no way had something to do with Russia. The graduated earnings tax became first expounded by Marx and placed into prepare by the united states yet for various motives. yet, I relish your question.

Answer 4

It is only fair to give him the credit he deserves: History does indeed take place in cycles. Sigmund Freud was also right about the importance of the past in an individuals psyque. But now that we were fair with him, let's not forget that their ideas may need some work. And something else: Nowadays the socialist doctrine may be having some problems, but what about socialism as a way of life? What about the peer-to-peer software, www, forums, etc.? Association of ppl is very much alive, and it deserves to be studied.

Answer 5

Marx based his philosophy off of a fallacious idea that history progresses in a positive succession. While many of the things he talked about (such as his comments in "Alienated Labor") apply to today. The system of communism doesn't work. Also it wouldn't work in any free country. For people can't be both free and equal at the same time. Aristotle commented on this in his "Politics".

Answer 6

Karl Marx idealism and theories are brilliant. As he said 'All that is solid melts in to air' in an ideal world all the brothers in suffering would come together and work for better society, but remember only in ideal world not in in reality. Greed, selfishness, ambition , dreams are part of everyones life. Everyone is free to think act and decide for themselves. Marxism can not be forced on any one, when someone does they will revolt as they have done through history.
This is where natural law of survival of the fittest takes over . We all have to struggle and fight to servive. I believe we need to work and improvize the over marxism and learn from previous mistakes.

The answer is yes we need new leader who just dont take any of the old theories and implement it but to rediscover it for todays society. One who can stand above all the biased politicians

Answer 7

Communism won't work. VI Lenin followed nearly exactly Marx' plan, but the problem was, capitalism never collapsed like Marx theorized.

Answer 8

I thought that his ideology proofed to be a pipe dream at least when the Berlin Wall came down.
Communism encourages corruption and the exploitation of the weak.
Sorry brother but I had to learn the hard way too !

Answer 9

Marx's ideals were flawed to begin with, and only offer an incomplete model of interaction. read up on some Jermy Bentham or thomas mathis if you want some utopian society.

Answer 10

Maybe if you turn human beings into robots first - and even then who's gonna want to oil 'em vs. programming 'em to do their dirty work? Let that bearded fairytale lover rest where he is - six feet under and away from the rest of us.