Marxism as an election topic

[Young Master Smeet]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39837515

Quote:

In simple terms, Marx argues that an economic system based on private profit is inherently unstable because it relies on the exploitation of workers.

Workers are not paid fairly for their efforts and they don't own the products of their labour, making them little better than machines.

[Anonymous]

Young Master Smeet wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39837515

Quote:

In simple terms, Marx argues that an economic system based on private profit is inherently unstable because it relies on the exploitation of workers.Workers are not paid fairly for their efforts and they don't own the products of their labour, making them little better than machines.

Not a bad exposition as it happens apart from the reference that "Marx predicted the collapse of capitalism".  Well, not exactly and certainly not in the way the phrase is generally understood.And ignoring the oxymoron I doubt this passage would have appeared in the mainstream media a decade ago.

Quote:

Some argued that this was a perversion of Marx's ideas as set out in Das Kapital, and that the Soviet Union, for many the ultimate example of a Marxist state, was really just a form of state capitalism, where the factory owners had been replaced by government bureaucrats.

[ALB]

Here is an extract from Andrew Marr's interview with John McDonnell on Sunday:

Quote:

Marr: The great prediction in Capital, which you have yourself raised, is that capitalism as a system will come down with an enormous crash. There will be a crisis and the entire system will fail.McDonnell: That's where Marx got it wrong.

Which shows that while McDonnell might recommend people read Capital he hasn't understood it. Marx of course never argued that capitalism "will come down with an enormous crash". What is amusing about this exchange is that in the 1980s both Marr and McDonnell were members of the same Trotskyoid front organisation, "The Socialist Campaign for Labour Victory". Perhaps it's there that they both learned their mistaken understanding of Marx.

[james19]

Good topic. 

[John Pozzi]

Are the products of nature, not labor, (Adam Smith and Karl Marx were both wrong) the basis of economics, and are digital GRB ecos (https://grb.net) a natural commodity backed global reserve currency that transfers the universal value of life? Yes.

[moderator1]

Reminder: 3. Do not use the forums to send spam, advertisements, charitable appeals, solicitations, or other messages primarily intended to promote a particular product, service, campaign, website, organisation, venture, or event, unless it is relevant to the SPGB or its companion parties, without first obtaining permission from the moderators.

[Author]

Posts