Marxism, Fringe or Mainstream?

Posted on by

Do you believe in Marxism?  Most people would say no but, they should think more deeply about this.  The communist manifesto had ten planks that were totally revolutionary and a complete contradiction to the ideas of liberty.  Well many of the planks of the Communist Manifesto are part of society today and enjoy wide support from the public.  Let us consider what planks have been enacted by American society and why they benefit the communist ideal.

1. One plank was that society needed a central bank.  I think that there are many reasons that Karl Marx supported a central Bank. A central bank allows the state to be in complete control of society’s wealth.  A free monetary system puts money in the hands of the people.  A central bank allows society’s elites to control all wealth. Communism needs such centralization of wealth to operate.

Also, having a central bank, by making credit cheap, would shorten time preferences in society and over time would change the cultural values of society.  Jeffery Tucker talks about how an inflationary society leads to social decay and destroys traditional institutions.  For communism to rise, it was critical that the old Bourgeoisie values be overthrown.  Inflation creates a society that benefits the risk taker over the saver.  The impact on society becomes evident as those with a more present orientated outlook in life start to have more success than those who have longer termed, more prudent outlooks on life.  The respect for what is lasting and true is thrown out while rampant materialism becomes the norm.  Marx knew that a materialistic consumer society, with its old social institutions, such as churches, overturned would be ripe for communism.  With social power weakened, the state becomes supreme.  Marx needed a powerful state to enact his ideals.

2.  Public Schooling.  Though public schooling seems like a beneficial social investment, people should pause to think about why the communists were so supportive of it as well.  After a little thought, the communist reason should be obvious.  Marx wanted to control the minds of society.  He needed them inculcated with proletariat ideology. You might be thinking that, “well yeah, so what?”  We are not communists, we are not teaching communist ideology to our children.  Our education system is as objective as possible.  I would contend that many philosophical ideas of the communists have tacitly embedded themselves into the American curriculum.  Teachers may not be teaching communism directly or even knowingly but, proletariat/bourgeoisie class struggle is pervasive throughout our history books.  In every history textbook, labor is subject to rampant abuse throughout American history and it is only the American state that intervenes to prevent abuse by the industrialists.  The whole idea of “exploitation of labor” was an unknown concept before Marx. People were thought of as individuals not classes.  Wage rates were considered simple contracts between an employer and an employee.  This all changed after Marx, it was now thought that labor was simply given near substance level wages just to increase the profits of the capital owning class.   This idea still persists today, even though it has become patently absurd when one can look around and see how the working class has improved their condition over the last one hundred years, even as this completely contradicts Marxist ideology which states that the working class will stay in poverty forever.  I could also go into the economics about how supply and demand functions in labor markets the same way as other markets but, you can read it here and here if you want to know more.  Simply put, public schools are the brain child of Marx and our public schools today teach Marxist class structure whether in the traditional labor class vs capitalistic class or in the new versions of Marxist class struggle of racial minorities vs racial majorities or the female sex vs the exploitative male sex.  These ideas are all Marxist in origin.  Whether they are true or not is a topic for another time but, their roots in Marxism are not debatable.

3.  A progressive income tax.  Once again the idea of the progressive income tax was one of the ten planks of the Communist Manifesto!  This was one of the ideas that was so revolutionary at the time that Marx did not put his name on the Communist Manifesto until years after it was published.  I find it interesting that those today who want to go to a flat tax are the radicals but, those who support a Marx’s progressive income tax are just good citizens.  Is it any wonder that society is in such decay?  I guess people think that the progressive income tax exists in the name of equality but, is this really true?  Karl Marx certainly preached equality but, did he really mean it?  I would contend that he did not.  For one, it is estimated the Marx made a very good living from his writings, some estimates being 80 times that of the average German family at the time with no indication that he ever gave any substantial amount to alleviate suffering of the poor around him.  He was mostly a drinker and an ideal philosophizer.  I think that Marx’s hypocrisy was evident in many ways, one being that he took large amounts of money from businessmen, the very bourgeoisie that he railed against.  For more on Karl Marx “the man”, here is a presentation by Gary North.  From all of Marx’s hypocritical behavior, I don’t think it is unscholarly not to take Marx’s motives at his word.  I think Marx simply wanted to play on the most unsavory of human emotions, mainly greed and envy.  He knew that his society would need a new managerial class to rule and an intellectual class to defend the rulers.  He simply wanted to uproot the traditional land owning classes and replace them with the kind of class of his own liking. To be honest, I think this is the deep unspoken motive of many of the intellectual supporters of socialism/communism.  They want a society that will give them power and a steady income through the state.  After all, how can you take such people seriously when study after study has shown that most of them spend such little time or money helping those that are poorer than them.  I think they would rather spend their time like Karl Marx did, idly drinking coffee or martinis at there local trendy establishment rather than actually going out and helping the underclass that they claim to care for so much.  Then, as today, the idea of equality of wealth and the progressive income tax in particular were simply tools that Marx wanted to use to destroy the Old Order.

So is America philosophically communist?  I think the answer is no.  Deep feelings of individualism and natural rights still permeate society to such a wide degree that true communism/socialism has failed to take hold.  But this does not mean that communist ideology has not made tremendous inroads into American culture.  Something to think about the next time you send your kid to mandatory schooling, pay your income taxes, or buy an item with a Federal Reserve note.

692 thoughts on “Marxism, Fringe or Mainstream?”

  2. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is magnificent blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.

    Reply ↓

  3. Thanks for a marvelous posting! I seriously enjoyed reading it, you may be a great author. I will always bookmark your blog and definitely will come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage that you continue your great posts, have a nice afternoon!

    Reply ↓

  7. Pretty component to content. I simply stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to claim that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing for your augment or even I fulfillment you get entry to persistently rapidly.

    Reply ↓

  8. I blog frequently and I genuinely appreciate your content. The article has really peaked my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new information about once a week. I subscribed to your RSS feed as well.

    Reply ↓

  9. Greetings from Carolina! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I really like the knowledge you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, very good site!

    Reply ↓

  10. Excellent post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Very useful information specially the last part :) I care for such info a lot. I was seeking this particular info for a long time. Thank you and good luck.

    Reply ↓

  13. Hey this is somewhat of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Reply ↓

  15. Have you ever thought about publishing an e-book or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog based upon on the same ideas you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my audience would enjoy your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e-mail.

    Reply ↓

  20. I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was wondering what all is required to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very internet savvy so I’m not 100% sure. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Appreciate it

    Reply ↓

  21. You can definitely see your enthusiasm in the article you write. The arena hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. All the time go after your heart.

    Reply ↓

  24. I’ve been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or blog posts in this kind of space . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this site. Reading this info So i’m satisfied to show that I have a very good uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what I needed. I so much no doubt will make certain to don?t overlook this site and give it a look on a constant basis.

    Reply ↓

  26. I was wondering if you ever considered changing the page layout of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?

    Reply ↓

  27. Hi there, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam feedback? If so how do you stop it, any plugin or anything you can advise? I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any assistance is very much appreciated.

    Reply ↓

  38. Do you have a spam issue on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; many of us have created some nice procedures and we are looking to swap strategies with other folks, be sure to shoot me an e-mail if interested.

    Reply ↓

  40. This design is spectacular! You certainly know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Wonderful job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

    Reply ↓

  45. Thanks for your marvelous posting! I actually enjoyed reading it, you are a great author. I will make certain to bookmark your blog and will eventually come back someday. I want to encourage you to continue your great posts, have a nice holiday weekend!

    Reply ↓

  46. Magnificent goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too fantastic. I really like what you’ve acquired here, really like what you’re stating and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take care of to keep it sensible. I cant wait to read far more from you. This is actually a great website.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *