Things were a lot different in his day. Back then they were no labor unions and no companies with benefit packages. The idea of workers earning a high enough wage to buy the very goods they produced would have seemed utopian to Marx.
The nineteenth century verson of capitalism that he opposed no longer exists, it has been replaced by a much better system which would have been utopian to him. Today he is reviled as the father of communism, a failed system but had he known of the reforms that would later sweep capitalism I don't think he would have ever written Das Kapital.
PeakOil is You
In defense of Karl Marx
In defense of Karl Marx
by vampyregirl » Mon 07 Dec 2009, 16:26:03
- vampyregirl
- Coal
- Posts: 429
- Joined: Wed 19 Dec 2007, 04:00:00
Re: In defense of Karl Marx
by evilgenius » Mon 07 Dec 2009, 17:42:49
Most people either don't know or conveniently forget that Marx said that it was capitalism that would evolve into communism. He never said that it was possible to create communism out of thin air. The failures of the past century offer testament that he was right, not that he was wrong.
-
evilgenius - Intermediate Crude
- Posts: 3730
- Joined: Tue 06 Dec 2005, 04:00:00
- Location: Stopped at the Border.
Re: In defense of Karl Marx
by emersonbiggins » Mon 07 Dec 2009, 18:45:05
Sure, VG, but what does this have to do with Shell? 
"It's called the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it."
George Carlin
George Carlin
-
emersonbiggins - Expert
- Posts: 5150
- Joined: Sun 10 Jul 2005, 03:00:00
- Location: Dallas
Re: In defense of Karl Marx
by mos6507 » Mon 07 Dec 2009, 20:45:55
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('evilgenius', 'M')ost people either don't know or conveniently forget that Marx said that it was capitalism that would evolve into communism. He never said that it was possible to create communism out of thin air. The failures of the past century offer testament that he was right, not that he was wrong.
Wake me when communism has a success story under its belt. I'm not holding my breath.
- mos6507
Re: In defense of Karl Marx
by AlexdeLarge » Mon 07 Dec 2009, 22:13:47
Well we have a Marxist in the White House.........Hows that working out for you?
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')ommunism is the exploitation of the strong by the weak. In communism, inequality springs from placing mediocrity on a level with excellence.
- Proudhon$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')ommunism is the exploitation of the strong by the weak. In communism, inequality springs from placing mediocrity on a level with excellence.
Viddy well, little brother. Viddy well.
-
AlexdeLarge - Heavy Crude
- Posts: 1806
- Joined: Tue 20 May 2008, 03:00:00
- Location: I have a whole ward
Re: In defense of Karl Marx
by eastbay » Mon 07 Dec 2009, 22:21:55
I could have used a jacket like one of those in the picture last night while at work. Those communists really know how to make warm clothing, that's for sure. There are many things they get right. Like using less energy.
Got Dharma?
Everything is Impermanent. Shakyamuni Buddha
Everything is Impermanent. Shakyamuni Buddha
-
eastbay - Expert
- Posts: 7186
- Joined: Sat 18 Dec 2004, 04:00:00
- Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
Re: In defense of Karl Marx
by AlexdeLarge » Mon 07 Dec 2009, 22:34:02
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'I') could have used a jacket like one of those in the picture last night while at work. Those communists really know how to make warm clothing, that's for sure. There are many things they get right. Like using less energy.
Not to worry dear proletariat. Down on the commune you will be issued your parka......... In any color you like as long as its gray! Boots however, well thats a problem. See the 5 year plan did not acccount for that and maybe you will get those next year.
But remember.......The Party Loves You !
Viddy well, little brother. Viddy well.
-
AlexdeLarge - Heavy Crude
- Posts: 1806
- Joined: Tue 20 May 2008, 03:00:00
- Location: I have a whole ward
Re: In defense of Karl Marx
by mattduke » Mon 07 Dec 2009, 22:44:37
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n 1918, the Soviet Union became the first country to promise universal "cradle-to-grave" healthcare coverage, to be accomplished through the complete socialization of medicine. The "right to health" became a "constitutional right" of Soviet citizens.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he system had many decades to work, but widespread apathy and low quality of work paralyzed the healthcare system. In the depths of the socialist experiment, healthcare institutions in Russia were at least a hundred years behind the average US level. Moreover, the filth, odors, cats roaming the halls, drunken medical personnel, and absence of soap and cleaning supplies added to an overall impression of hopelessness and frustration that paralyzed the system. According to official Russian estimates, 78 percent of all AIDS victims in Russia contracted the virus through dirty needles or HIV-tainted blood in the state-run hospitals.
Britain pioneered in developing kidney-dialysis technology, and yet the country has one of the lowest dialysis rates in the world. The Brookings Institution (hardly a supporter of free markets) found that every year 7,000 Britons in need of hip replacements, between 4,000 and 20,000 in need of coronary bypass surgery, and some 10,000 to 15,000 in need of cancer chemotherapy are denied medical attention in Britain.
Age discrimination is particularly apparent in all government-run or heavily regulated systems of healthcare. In Russia, patients over 60 are considered worthless parasites and those over 70 are often denied even elementary forms of healthcare.
In the United Kingdom, in the treatment of chronic kidney failure, those who are 55 years old are refused treatment at 35 percent of dialysis centers. Forty-five percent of 65-year-old patients at the centers are denied treatment, while patients 75 or older rarely receive any medical attention at these centers.
