Understanding Marxism: The Enemy of Being is Having

Capitalism is the source of all evil. If we can just get rid of the capitalist system, we can eliminate poverty, inequality, exploitation, class conflict, and war. This is what Karl Marx believed, and many today still follow his lead. Is his utopian vision possible? And would we want it even if it were?

C. Bradley Thomspon is the author of “The Redneck Intellectual” on Substack, and America’s Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration that Defined It.

#marxism #prageru #history #karlmarx

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Script:

Why does anybody still care about Marxism?

Karl Marx has actually been dead for well over a century.

All over Marxism has actually been attempted, it has actually left death and destruction in its wake. Absolutely nothing in the last thousand years comes close to the amount of horror, tyranny, and mass murder brought about by Marxist programs.

Marxism lives.

It might present itself today as postmodernism, multiculturalism, feminism, environmentalism, or important race theory, but it’s still Marxism.

There should be great reasons why it has actually endured– even flourished– in the face of unremitting failure.

Say what you will about Marx the economist, he was a master psychologist. He recognized that there are many people in every society who, like himself, are encouraged by envy and resentment.

Marx speaks directly to them. If we can simply get rid of that, he assures, we can get rid of poverty, inequality, exploitation, class war, alienation, and dispute.

If you’re looking to start a transformation, not a bad list.

But there’s more: Marxism assures us that this socialist utopia is close at hand– offered to all, not in some distant future, or in the next life, however here and now.

All we have to do is overcome one little challenge– human nature.

Marx expressed his inmost views on this topic in his Philosophical and economic Manuscripts of 1844. They can be summed up in one expression: The enemy of being is having.

Since it creates an unjustified world of exploitation, class, and inequality dispute, the most common analysis of Marx’s approach recommends that he opposed industrialism. Marxism, according to this view, is everything about equalizing income and social status.

This is true, however it does not go far enough.

Marx saw the build-up of product wealth as dehumanizing.

The more money and product possessions one gets, the more estranged one is from his real mankind.

And what was that?

In the thinker’s socialist paradise, one gets to consume, drink, and go to the theatre totally free of charge and without needing to earn money. Most importantly, you get to do it without the regret of being a moocher.

All you need to do is enjoy yourself. Or, as Marx put it:” [you can] do something today and another tomorrow … hunt in the early morning, fish in the afternoon, [and] rear cattle at night …”.

Yes, rear cattle at night. That’s how in touch Marx was with truth.

But who cleans out the drains– does the “filthy tasks” that keep a society working? Paradoxically, in the wicked capitalist society, the drain cleaner easily picks to take on this job. In the socialist “paradise” coercion is often needed.

Marx never ever troubled with such unpleasant information. He left that to others. Sadly, those others constantly turn out to be megalomaniacs like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot and Hugo Chavez. They were the ones who brought Marx to life and while doing so caused tens of millions to suffer and pass away.

Contrary to Marx’s claims, work freely chosen brings both money and self-respect. Additionally, the majority of people work best when they pursue their own self-interest, a concept Marx abhored.

To him, self-interest turns everybody into Ebenezer Scrooge: greedy, comprehending, and unfeeling. Not only is money– that is, capital– inherently corrupting, but the acquisition of it can’t be done truthfully or fairly. The rich got rich by making use of the employee. For Marx, there’s no other possible explanation.

For many today, there is no other possible explanation. For these individuals, Marx offers a philosophical validation for their anger– even their rage. From generation to generation the formula never ever differs: only by bringing the “privileged” down, can the “impoverished” be raised.

For the total script, go to: https://www.prageru.com/video/understanding-marxism-the-enemy-of-being-is-having?playlist=understanding-marxism-series.

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Marx expressed his inmost views on this subject in his Philosophical and economic Manuscripts of 1844. Marx never ever troubled with such untidy details. They were the ones who brought Marx to life and in the process caused 10s of millions to pass away and suffer.

For Marx, there’s no other possible explanation.

For these people, Marx offers a philosophical reason for their anger– even their rage.