Why Marx Was Right

It's Martin Luther King Day. I am writing about communism. This is appropriate, and makes sense in every way.

...um, yeah.

Happy Martin Luther King day.

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As far as I can see, Karl Marx was pretty much right. (well, except that he was left-wing. *cue groans from audience*)

Marx was this guy. A guy with a very big beard and even bigger ideas. (aha, that wasn't what you thought I was going to say, was it?) He's probably most famous for inventing the theory of Communism.

Wait! Stop there! I know you're probably thinking "Oh. Communists. Whatever. I know they're the bad guys."

But the fact is, that type of Communism (as in Soviet Russia, North Korea) is not what Marx originally came up with.

Marx's idea was more a concept of social evolution. Four main types of political system are involved:

The feudal system: king tells lords what to do in exchange for land, then lords delegate this to peasants in return for smaller bits of land. For example, medieval England.

Capitalism: each person is paid for what they do and acquires individual wealth. For example, most modern-day economies, like the US.

Socialism: each person is paid for what they do, but with each person having access to the same resources and opportunities. For example... um... sort of what Margaret Thatcher tried to do in Britain? The UK shades a bit towards socialist, anyway.

Communism: everyone has the same share of the wealth and property: everyone works to improve life for everyone. There is no class division. For example... well, there aren't really any examples...

He theorised that, in the same way that the feudal system eventually developed into capitalism, capitalism would naturally develop into socialism, and, from there, into communism. In between socialism and communism would be the "revolution of the proletariat", in which the working classes would revolt and take charge of this new system.

I should probably mention at this point that I agree more with what's called "libertarian Marxism". Libertarian Marxism (as opposed to, say, Maoism or Stalinism) believes that this revolution will eventually come about of its own accord, without need for a party or individual to lead the way.

The trouble is, by publishing his Manifesto, Marx essentially shot his own theory in the foot. By putting about this idea that the eventual state which all societies should strive towards is Communism, he encouraged leaders to try and jump the middle stages. Thus, many tried to skip directly from the early stages of capitalism all the way to true communism.

It doesn't work. *points in direction of the Soviet Union* You see this country? No, you don't. Because it no longer exists. And part of the reason for that is because it tried to force itself into Communism. One great problem with Communism (particularly Leninist varieties) is that it's incredibly easy for a corrupt leader to take advantage of. And all these things have contributed to making "communism" a dirty word in politics. Because of that, even if a society today reached the state which Marx called communism, they wouldn't call it that - because everyone knows that communism is an evil political system. (Bah.)

(I should stop before I get really carried away...)

So basically, Marx (because he was left) was right.

Dang, now I really should get a copy of the Communist Manifesto. ;)

(yes, I wrote all that without ever having read it. Aren't Ethics lesson summaries great? Maybe I should read things before I support them...)

Promise.

What I should be doing: my German homework

What I'm actually doing: blogging

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I can't make many promises about this blog. It's a personal blog, so expect all the faults of the person. I am human; I have ambitions, hopes, dreams, loves, hates, and ideas. And, much like you, I occasionally make mistakes, and I'm sometimes boring. If you don't care/don't know why I bother/disagree with my ideas/some similar complaint, don't read it. This is just life through my eyes. I'm not forcing you to care.

I can't promise regularity, or anything like a direction, and I won't promise that I won't rant occasionally.

However, I will make one promise: this will never be a cliché teenager's blog. I'm not normal - if there even is such a thing as a normal person - and I doubt I could blog normally if I tried.

Basically, I'll try to keep the angst to a minimum. ;)

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The header is by me, but the texture in the background was made by wheeloffish on deviantArt [link]