Looking at Marxism
It is now clear that in his broad analysis of Capitalist economies Marx was pretty spot on. The essential nature of Capitalism is vampiric. It feeds off the toil of the workers to give profits to those who claim ownership of property: principally the means of production. It corrupts social relations through monetarising and commodifying them and it is subject to periodic crises which increase the tendency for wealth to become more and more concentrated. While little of this was original thinking, Marx and Engels produced a coherent package of ideas.
Marx and Engels were the most significant thinkers of the Left and made crucial contributions to Socialist thought. However, since the late nineteenth century Marxist theory (and the many different and conflicting understandings of it) has too often become a substitute for Socialist thinking rather than a contribution to it. Furthermore, the tendencies towards dictatorial centralism, intolerance of disagreement and denunciations of opponents that are associated with Communism are found in the writings of Marx and Engels. We must remember that Socialism existed long before Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and needs to be distinguished from tendencies to cultism and rescued the hideous crimes of some their so-called followers. For the World needs Socialism as never before.
Marx and Engels were the most significant thinkers of the Left and made crucial contributions to Socialist thought. However, since the late nineteenth century Marxist theory (and the many different and conflicting understandings of it) has too often become a substitute for Socialist thinking rather than a contribution to it. Furthermore, the tendencies towards dictatorial centralism, intolerance of disagreement and denunciations of opponents that are associated with Communism are found in the writings of Marx and Engels. We must remember that Socialism existed long before Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and needs to be distinguished from tendencies to cultism and rescued the hideous crimes of some their so-called followers. For the World needs Socialism as never before.
