H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 21°, L 6°More than a century after Karl Marx lived, it is clear the world still needs changing. The American Dream is dead, as wages have been sinking for the past thirty years. Our generation will be the first in memory to be poorer than our parents, and the first in
The sick twist — as Marx pointed out — is that it is all unnecessary. Capitalism has created the forces to feed, house and clothe everyone on earth. For the first time in history, universal equality is materially feasible. Yet capitalism has also created forces powerful enough to destroy life on earth. Scientists warn us of an environmental catastrophe that could kill billions. The 20th century saw the dawn of the mushroom cloud and polio vaccine, the concentration camp and the microchip, the possibilities of annihilation and equality.
As Marx said, the choice is between socialism and barbarism. For those who would prefer socialism, I recommend the kickoff meeting of the International Socialist Organization, tonight at 7:30 p.m. in 1101 Humanities. If you want to change the world, we believe socialism is the way to start.
The question — how to reach toward a better society — is one Marx pondered as a university student. Like many students today, young Karl had fundamental questions about society, namely “What the hell is wrong with this country?” Marx’s
Like most people who set out to change the world, Marx thought if the system could be reformed, it would be preferable to revolution. For years, he was the editor of a left wing newspaper, the Rheinische Zeitung, where he crusaded against the unjust treatment of peasants and political censorship. Marx wanted to strip away the corrupting influence of moneyed interests from politics and rescue the ideal German state. But the more Marx wrote, the more the government suppressed his paper. He realized the influence of the wealthy was not a corruption of the state, it was the point of the state.
This is not the way we learn politics in school. How often have we heard platitudes like, “
If Marx identified the problem, he also found the solution. Just as our society was not created by the idea of democracy, neither would socialism come purely from the brilliance of Marx. Marx sought out “a class with radical chains,” a group of people in society whose interests necessarily involved overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialist democracy. He found it in the modern working class.
Although capitalism created wars and poverty — and made a sham of democracy — it also gave birth to its own undertakers. Marx observed how capitalism created a class of people who had no means of subsistence but expect to work for pay. Therefore, they could only improve their lot by fighting their employers for better wages. Because workers own nothing, they have “nothing to lose but their chains,” and everything to gain by expropriating the wealth of capitalists for their own needs and wants.
Many Americans are reasonably skeptical at the idea that workers could embrace radical politics. Since the 2004 election, many liberals have given up on the working class, writing them off as incorrigible bigots. Not only is this a gross caricature, it also ignores the economic crisis against which workers must struggle — and struggle can open people up to radical ideas. When 81 percent of Americans think this country is headed in the wrong direction, and 82 percent think there should be more government spending on jobs, it is time to forget the myth that
Marx established the basic task of socialist organizations: to unite working class struggle with socialist politics. Today, the International Socialist Organization is working to revitalize struggle in the
Paul Pryse ([email protected]) is a member of the International Socialist Organization.
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damn looks like communism is dead everywhere but Madison
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I am aghast to learn that the free market will not solve all our problems, aghast!
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ISO are anti-communist liberals who howled with the imperialist wolves for Reagan’s “holy warriors” in Afghanistan. Today the ISO is again side by side with imperialism preparing for a counterrevolutionary war against the Chinese deformed workers state. Marxists hailed the Red Army in Afghanistan and unconditionally defend China against counterrevolution while calling for proletarian political revolution and soviet democracy.
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Paul, have you been sniffing toner from the office copier machine again? Under socialism, everyone is poor because everyone is taxed to death. Like communism, only high-ranking party officials live comfortably while the less-privileged general population barely survives. It’s always been that way.
Capitalism has worked better and lasted far longer than any other form of government.
Also, you write like a middle-schooler. Grow up, dude!
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Oh, sure. Been there, tried that in Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba, Cambodia, Albania…the list goes on and on. What was it that Nikita Kruschev said? “We will bury you!”? And what has happened since then? How many Americans do we see fleeing the socialist paradises that exist in Canada and Cuba? Or do we see the opposite happening?
And when one attains a perfect socialist/Marxist society, ordinary people either try to flee it or kill themselves. That’s exactly what happened in Cambodia under the great Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979.
Marxism doesn’t work because it completely misjudges human nature and assumes it to be something that it is not nor was ever meant to be. Governemnts that adapted Marxism ended up with more dead bodies than could be counted. Adapt Marxism and you’ll still end up with a two-class, two-tier system…the majority of the people who are forced to be “equal” with one another, and a ruling elite that can do what the hell it wants and live very capitalistic lifestyles.
I have seen firsthand the results of Marxism. During my rail tour of Russia and Ukraine from Kiev to St. Petersburg, all I saw was an empty, desolate country with a few houses, most of which looked unoccupied. The only people that I saw were living in the cities. Few, if anyone, ever smiled.
Insanity is the act of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time. To me, Marxists and socialists, especially those who see themselves as educated, would fall under that definition.
And this is coming from someone who was a devout socialist until he realized that he was wasting his time.
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this is silly stuff and way out of date. marxism is a parasitic ideology that wants to take over a productive capitalist system — even Pryse admits that capitalism produced the surplus that makes hunger (in principle) eliminable — and redistribute. every marxist effort to carry this out has failed… not just miserably but horribly, leading to the deaths of tens if not hundreds of millions of people. ironically, in the case of both the soviets and the maoists, primarily from starvation.
if the current young generation deserves anything, it’s people thinking new thoughts about our problems rather than recycling the most disastrously failed thinking of centuries past. like all millennial promises, marxism is aimed at hope-addicts.
the world is a far more complex and difficult place to influence than marxists, pryse included, imagine.
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You sir are an idiot. Socilalism and Communism are both proven failed forms of rule. No system has brought more people out of poverty than Capitalism. The reason that so many people are suffering in the rest of the world is because of the lack of the rule of law guaranteeing their freedom and a free market environment.
Marx was lazy and didn’t want to strive for excellence. His ideas belong on the ash heap of history.
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You all need to pay close attention to this person. Eventually, people like him will try to overthrow the government. He speaks about Germany - people, get out the history book and read how this all went down. Then ask yourself if this is how you want life in America. The Socialists try to pit worker against government. They try to pit race against each other. This is the better way? No, I don’t think so and I am willing to fight for it.
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Oh my gosh. Is this guy serious? I love it- the entertainment at Madison never ceases. :-)
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This is an utterly rediculous piece.
Karl Marx would look at American and European democracy and would see a quasi-conception of socialist democracy in action. FDR’s policies in the New Deal in reaction to the depression shifted American capitlism from a laissez-faire economy to a government controlled democracy. Clearly Marx has been proven wrong by the passage of history; it did not take a revolution to alter the course of democracy, it took an economic crisis which forced the government to assess and alter its role.
College students like yourself overstate the radicalism of Marx and for some reason believe he had some conception of this totalitarian state that demanded equality. His goal was purely to change the status quo from what was present in 19th century Europe, which, frankly, was democracy at its most corrupt. If Marx were to see contemporary democracy in action, especially in Europe (think Nordic states, Switzerland, etc.), he would probably be quite pleased (although, I admit, not satisfied).
So please, Badgers, do not attend this meeting of radicals and work not to overthrow the current government, but simply to work within its means to make it more effective at producing justice and fairness.
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This is a hoot. The author complains about the declining standard of living in the U.S., then calls for Marxism as the solution. Yet Marxism would never had allowed for the higher standard of living in the U.S. in the first place, and has shown it is very limited in its ability to raise the standard of living in poor nations (instead, capitalism has succeeded in India and China after it was realized Marxism/Big Socialism just couldn’t get the job done).
Thank you Mr. Pryse and the Badger Herald, I needed some comic relief this morning.
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Damn it! I have to read this shit for another school year.
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It worked so well for the Soviet Union. And only 100 million Chinese died in Mao’s Great Leap Forward. Pol Pot a mere 3 million. Castro, at least half a million.
Communism and Nazism are moral equals and should be treated as the malignant murderous systems they are.
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I am hungry. Will there be pizza at your angry angry gathering?
In all seriousness, it takes courage to write this. I completely disagree, but can respect courage nevertheless.
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damn it, more recycled ideas. Have your little meeting in the Union, but what a waste of everyones time. You could be drinking in stead, just downstairs, and contributing to capitalism by being a consumer…..wow, right?
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It’s pretty funny to see how many dogmatic cold warriors remain who still don’t question their assumptions about what socialists really want. I never occurs to them that same way our government lies about the justification for war many governments call themselves socialist or communist without ever representing that in reality. I am a socialist and I do not think that china, cuba, north korea, stalin, etc had anything to do with what I want. In fact here is an article about how they are not socialist. http://socialistworker.org/2008/08/28/in-the-name-of-socialism
And to the person at 8:24 you don’t know what the fuck your talking about. We are antiracists who stand up against the Nazis and the Klan and Minutemen as well.
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Ha ha. Socialism and capitalism both suck. Tightly regulated capitalism works.
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This Karl Marx fellow seems like a regular fella’ who I’d like to have a beer with. As long as he’s not a secret mooslim, I’ll vote for him.
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“Our generation will be the first in memory to be poorer than our parents, and the first in U.S. history to be less educated.”
Due to the increase in socialist programs no doubt.
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“Although capitalism created wars and poverty � and made a sham of democracy � it also gave birth to its own undertakers.”
LOGIC FAIL.