I read Das Kapital in my 20's, and though the book was partially responsible for a disaster in human history, at the time I read it, (and if you read it) the book is actually convincing in it's simplicity. One would think - this socialism actually could work!
But open markets have taken over - or have they? Will Marx be right in his prophetic quote?
"Carl Marx 1867
"Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism. (Das Kapital, 1867)"
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6 comments:
If you read Marx's works then there is very little to disagree with – Capital is an unparalleled critique of capitalism.
One of the big problems is that he doesn't really set out what communism would be as an alternative – apart from, in The German Ideology, that a man may “hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic.” And of course, the abolition of private property.
Marx wanted to increase liberty and create equality. Unfortunately, communism doesn't seem to be compatible with democracy, or with human nature (at least in the short term). After all, if things didn't go to plan straight away, in a democracy the communists would lose the next election. That's the only real flaw/biggest advantage of democracy, big changes are next to impossible to implement. This provides stability but also leads to apathy – nobody wants to change the world any more!
Couldn't agree with Peter more.
It's not that Marx is necessarily wrong–although the capitalism that he rallied against is different than what we have in the West today.
Of all the experiments in human governance/economics, democracy+capitalism is the best we've come up with so far (IMO).
Communism as implemented in the last 100 years surely hasn't produced anything near utopia.
"One would think - this socialism actually could work!"
"One" would think that? Or you would think that???
:P
* A mixed economy consisting of both private enterprise and government-owned or subsidized programs of education, health care, child care and related social services for all citizens.
* An extensive system of social security (although usually not to the extent advocated by socialists), with the stated goal of counteracting the effects of poverty and insuring the citizens against loss of income following illness, unemployment or retirement.
* Government bodies that regulate private enterprise in the interests of workers and consumers by ensuring labor rights (i.e. supporting worker access to trade unions), consumer protections, and fair market competition.
* Environmentalism and environmental protection laws; for example, funding for alternative energy resources and laws designed to combat global warming.
* A value-added/progressive taxation system to fund government expenditures.
* A secular and progressive social policy, although this varies markedly in degree.
* Immigration and multiculturalism.
* Fair trade over free trade.
* A foreign policy supporting the promotion of democracy, the protection of human rights and where possible, effective multilateralism (multiple countries working in concert on a given issue).
* Advocacy of social justice, human rights, social rights, civil rights and civil liberties.
The above is what social democrats support.
This is all very nice but Marx never wrote this qoute. It took me s second to find the original source: NewsMutiny - Satire for the wise. News for the dumb. http://www.newsmutiny.com/pages/Communist_Reeducation.html
Ten seconds of research...
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