Not sure why I never published this blog entry, but here it is.
This is a link to what Karl Marx accurately predicted regarding the present day, which was still quite distant into the future for him at the time. Still, he quite accurately saw at least a few things that are highly relevant to us today which have come to pass. We might do well to read these predictions and try to understand why that is:
"Marx Was Right: Five Surprising Ways Karl Marx Predicted 2014" by Sean McElwee, January 30, 2014:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/marx-was-right-five-surprising-ways-karl-marx-predicted-2014-20140130
Excellent article by Sean McElwee. Too many people point to Marx's flaws and limitations - and God knows there were plenty of those - and summarily dismiss him as if he had nothing valid or relevant to say about anything. While Marxism (based on my admittedly very limited, layman's understanding of it) strikes me as Utopian and, as the author points out, sufficiently vague as to be misinterpreted and perverted by extremists like Stalin, some of his predictions and socio-economic analysis are difficult if not altogether impossible to refute. (At least with objective, coherent arguments, which of course is raising the bar a bit high for the Rush Limbaughs of the world.) Marx certainly didn't have all the answers, but I'm convinced that laissez-faire capitalism run amok is only going to turn increasingly sour for the vast majority of people in this world.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered myself why people assume that one philosophy or philosopher should be entirely discredited based on something that is generally perceived to be wrong. Marx made a lot of valid points, or he would not have gained the kind of legendary following that he did. Yet, people seem so eager to dismiss him, which makes no sense to me. I believe that we will, eventually, gravitate towards a system where we take the best of past traditions and simply drop the worst elements of the same, although it is taking a long, long time to do it. Makes you wonder if we will not destroy ourselves first, before we reach that point. Bleak POV, admittedly, but sometimes I feel this way.
ReplyDelete