Is Karl Marx A Communist

[mad dog]

From Wikipedia:

Communism (from Latin: communis = "common") is

1) a family of economic and political ideas and social movements related to the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, or stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general,

2) the name name given to such a society.

3) Often used to refer to a Communist state, a form of government in which the state operates under a one-party system and declares allegiance to Marxism-Leninism or a derivative thereof, even if the party does not actually claim that the society has already reached communism.

Since there was the typical "bourgeois-proletariat" reference in another thread about anyone who dares to be a capitalist, let's take a peek at communism, the definition, and then let's examine the policies of Karl Marx, and see how the two compare.

Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a German philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism. Marx summarized his approach in the first line of the first chapter of The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”

Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, will inevitably produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction. Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, he believed socialism will, in its turn, replace capitalism, and lead to a stateless, classless society called pure communism. This would emerge after a transitional period called the "dictatorship of the proletariat": a period sometimes referred to as the "workers state" or "workers' democracy" .

See, for example, Marx's comments in section one of The Communist Manifesto on feudalism, capitalism, and the role internal social contradictions play in the historical process: "We see then: the means of production and of exchange, on whose foundation the bourgeoisie built itself up, were generated in feudal society. At a certain stage in the development of these means of production and of exchange, the conditions under which feudal society produced and exchanged...the feudal relations of property became no longer compatible with the already developed productive forces; they became so many fetters. They had to be burst asunder; they were burst asunder. Into their place stepped free competition, accompanied by a social and political constitution adapted in it, and the economic and political sway of the bourgeois class. A similar movement is going on before our own eyes.... The productive forces at the disposal of society no longer tend to further the development of the conditions of bourgeois property; on the contrary, they have become too powerful for these conditions, by which they are fettered, and so soon as they overcome these fetters, they bring disorder into the whole of bourgeois society, endanger the existence of bourgeois property." Marx, K. & Engels, F. (1848),The Communist Manifesto

Thoughts?

[eulesseagle]

Whatever Marx said it was.

Edited August 10, 2009 by eulesseagle

[Shuke-D]

Whatever Marx said it was.

[TheTastyGreek]

I think this was a borderline 'pass' decision by us a few days ago, as we figured posing the question (and subsequent followups) in our customary fashion would likely have gotten us rightfully reprimanded.

Now, if you're curious about how we should deal with Chone Figgins in the Angels/Rangers pennant race... Feel free to ask what should be done about him. But be warned... This Marx/Communism inquiry already makes me feel emboldened.

[eulessismore]

From Wikipedia:

Communism (from Latin: communis = "common") is

1) a family of economic and political ideas and social movements related to the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, or stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general,

2) the name name given to such a society.

3) Often used to refer to a Communist state, a form of government in which the state operates under a one-party system and declares allegiance to Marxism-Leninism or a derivative thereof, even if the party does not actually claim that the society has already reached communism.

Since there was the typical "bourgeois-proletariat" reference in another thread about anyone who dares to be a capitalist, let's take a peek at communism, the definition, and then let's examine the policies of Karl Marx, and see how the two compare.

Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a German philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism. Marx summarized his approach in the first line of the first chapter of The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”

Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, will inevitably produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction. Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, he believed socialism will, in its turn, replace capitalism, and lead to a stateless, classless society called pure communism. This would emerge after a transitional period called the "dictatorship of the proletariat": a period sometimes referred to as the "workers state" or "workers' democracy" .

See, for example, Marx's comments in section one of The Communist Manifesto on feudalism, capitalism, and the role internal social contradictions play in the historical process: "We see then: the means of production and of exchange, on whose foundation the bourgeoisie built itself up, were generated in feudal society. At a certain stage in the development of these means of production and of exchange, the conditions under which feudal society produced and exchanged...the feudal relations of property became no longer compatible with the already developed productive forces; they became so many fetters. They had to be burst asunder; they were burst asunder. Into their place stepped free competition, accompanied by a social and political constitution adapted in it, and the economic and political sway of the bourgeois class. A similar movement is going on before our own eyes.... The productive forces at the disposal of society no longer tend to further the development of the conditions of bourgeois property; on the contrary, they have become too powerful for these conditions, by which they are fettered, and so soon as they overcome these fetters, they bring disorder into the whole of bourgeois society, endanger the existence of bourgeois property." Marx, K. & Engels, F. (1848),The Communist Manifesto

Thoughts?

My thought is that this is a trick question, designed to see who will post the most long winded response before having it pointed out to them that Karl Marx "was", not "is".

[Censored by Laurie]

My thought is that this is a trick question, designed to see who will post the most long winded response before having it pointed out to them that Karl Marx "was", not "is".

Marx very much still "is"

Kinda like Jesus...

[EagleGreen]

It depends on what the definition of is is.

[LongJim]

My thought is that this is a trick question, designed to see who will post the most long winded response before having it pointed out to them that Karl Marx "was", not "is".

/fail