MARXIAN PROPHESIES ANALYZED

(This and the next entry are taken from the Karl Marx subsection of my Magnificent Shadows section, after which I will be returning to Tikkun Olam. My reason for this interplanetary back and forth is obvious: once on Marx, let us stay with Marx.)

This entry’s title echoes George Bernard Shaw’s description of Marx as “a mighty prophet.” The entry itself is necessarily incomplete, being rather a kernel of a future essay focusing exactly on what the title promises. But as a start this will suffice at the moment with the understanding that this is just the starting point and not in any way a product in an advanced stage of making.

The following are a few Marxian quotations taken as “prophesies” (considering Marx’s pontificating style, such treatment of his dicta is by no means far-fetched). The list is sorely incomplete, and my comments are nothing more than preliminary sketches. Needless to say, this entry has a long way to go before it can rise to its title, but at least this is a start of an awfully interesting discussion.

"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." (I. Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1848.) We know about Marx’s preoccupation with just three stages of historical development, which are feudalism, capitalism, and socialism/communism, but this picture can be further dramatically reduced, to just one, namely, Marxian anti-capitalism, hence what he is mostly concerned with, is the class struggle within the capitalist society. Furthermore, it is essentially unimportant whether his statement has general applicability, as history has shown us that capitalism (in its highly modified and watered-down form, in so far as economics are concerned, but in full swing ideologically, which is what matters most with regard to class struggle) is with us to stay, and so is class struggle, which has now progressed from the national level to a struggle between the rich and the poor nations. In this sense, Marx’s prophesy still holds, even though he himself may have expected (or, equally, may have not) communism to have been in place by now.

"Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat (that is, the industrial worker) alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the race of modern industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product." (Ibid.) A restrictive definition of the proletariat is somewhat dated and sounds more like a slogan than a scientific pronouncement. Clearly, the leading role of the well-to-do, well-educated “intellectuals” ought to be recognized, as it was emphatically recognized by Lenin; as for the “led masses,” had the Russian peasants not by then been “taken” by the SR, and had the Bolsheviks been able to appropriate them, at least rhetorically, Marx’s famous insistence on the proletariat would have been dropped right then and there. With reference to the present day the only way to accept Marx’s insistence on the proletariat would be euphemistically, as representing all have-nots, who are always susceptible to anti-rich agitation.

"Pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth." (Ibid.)

This is Marx’s “improvement” on Malthus. What he wants to say, even with a zero-growth population, an impending pauperization of the poor becomes the predominant socio-economic factor in world history. As before, such a statement if taken narrowly should be utterly false, but if we take it as a statement (which, to be precise, Marx probably did not have in mind) that even under the conditions of a massive accumulation of wealth in one country, the further relative pauperization of the poor in that country is still inevitable, in such a case we do have a valid prophesy.

"The only part of the so-called national wealth that actually enters into the collective possessions of modern peoples is their national debt." (Capital Part II, Chapter 14.) Applying this statement to modern conditions in America, in particular, it does sound like a true prophesy.

"Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks." This is perfectly true, with respect to financial capitalism; and if we allow Marx’s prediction to cover the present state of financial capitalism and its direct responsibility for the global financial crisis of today, he does sound here like a mighty prophet.

"Democracy is the road to socialism." To this I will add true democracy, by which I understand the collective will of free people, that is free from the brainwashing by the rich and powerful to the effect that capitalism is good for everybody.

"Sell a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach him how to fish and you ruin a splendid business opportunity." This is an extraordinary pronouncement on one of the subtler immoralities of capitalism, and Marx is a great prophet here on how modern capitalist society prevents people from acquiring the necessary knowledge and understanding which would have enabled them to get a better grip on the circumstances of their lives, and as a consequence, would have minimized the capitalist’s profits.

"The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide, which representatives of the oppressing class in particular are to represent and repress them."

This is an even better caricature of the democratic elections than Dickens’s Pickwick Club. It is sharper, and more pronounced in application to the American election practice, where the public has virtually no say in the selection of the candidates, always preselected, promoted and financed by the rich and powerful as suits their own class interests.

Marx on Marx: "All I know is that I am not a Marxist." (Attribution to Marx is given in Engels’s Letter to Conrad Schmidt of August 5^th, 1890.) This is one of the most momentous Marxian quotes, even if only by Engels’ attribution. (So what? Engels is an eminently reliable source!) It confirms my thesis that it is a mistake to see Karl Marx through the history of Marxism, and, conversely, to see Marxism as a logical projection of the philosophy of Karl Marx.

…At this point I find it sensible to end this entry, with the understanding that ‘to be continued’ is written all over it.