I see the BBC reports that Marxism is resurgent in Germany. (I suppose that makes a change from certain other toxic ideologies that Germans have also been attracted in the past…) You can sense Beeb hearts swelling with pride when they repeat that “Globalisation, which is implicit in capitalism, not only destroys the heritage and tradition but it is incredibly unstable, it operates through a series of crises, and I think this has been recognised to be the end of this particular era.” Cue the Red Flag? I also love the way the BBC editorialises that “Marxist economic philosophy – and in particular its Russian Leninist version – fell out of favour with the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. “Oh really? I was just wondering where in the world it has EVER been successful?
MARXISM IS BACK.
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neo Marxism will be popular for a short while –until people remember the glorious days of the 70’s.
Perhaps it might be worth remembering the progress that East Germany made compared to West from 45 to the fall of the wall.Boots and all regulation will be a disaster –for all businesses . We need intelligent legislation that is penned + regulated by people who have business experience
And, as usual, the Germans are the first to embrace radicalism on a large scale. Some people never learn.
You forgot the URL, David: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7679758.stm
Ain’t gonna happen.
All the overwhelming evidence suggests that Marxism does not work – people like to own their own property, compete, start businesses, invest in property and shares, do things more cheaply/efficiently than the next guy and so on.
Any ideology that goes against these human impulses has got a fatal design flaw, to put it mildly, and will always be a disastrous failure
Those elitists at the BBC want to continue sucking on the socialist state tit, while you and I are subject to the rigours of capitalism.
As the French kings before the revolution, socialists really don’t care how miserable a life is lived by their subjects, so long as they rule, and live the good life themselves.
It sounds like you’ve not actually read Das Kapital there Andy.
The closest thing we have to Marxism, in the economic sense, is the internet. I can sell stuff I make/own on eBay, people can buy it if they choose, I get the lion’s share of the profits with a small recompense to eBay for helping me find a buyer. Marxism doesn’t exclude competition, it just hates the concept of ownership purely through wealth.
There’s really no economic system that benefits everyone because there isn’t enough to go around. It’s just a question of how uneven you think the wealth spread should be.
Next time an infantile leftist tries to tell you that Marxism is a good idea just point them towards R.J. Rummel’s website.
Over 100 million innocent civilians killed by their own Marxist governments in the 20th Century. Perhaps the BBC would be fine with the breaking of another 100 million eggs for their Utopian Marxist omelette.
I’m surprised – Marxism was always a bit part player – National Socialism has always been the preferred solution in Germany
…and a nauseatingly sycophantic ‘interview’ with the marxist Hobsbawm on this morning’s Today programme, conducted (if that’s the word) by Ed Stourton. Actually, it was really a free pass to Hobsbawn to spout his marxist dogma completely unchallened.
Par for the course, I’d say.
How ironic to see the BBC quoting someone saying that globalisation destroys heritage and tradition.
So it has something in common with the BBC, then.
1500 copies sold of Das Kapital is worth reporting, even celebrating? I realize that’s a whopping 750% increase, but come on. And are these individual sales or bulk purchases or what? If a handful of activist organizations buy a bunch of copies to distribute or whatever, then the premise of the entire story is false.
And then there’s that curious 300% increase in bookstores nationwide. Does this particular Commie publisher sell direct, or in bookstores? If Karl-Dietz sells only wholesale, than that means they’re selling to bookstores, not to individuals. That number can actually be meaningless if it’s wholesale only, because all of them could be returned later. RIAA certification of gold and platinum sales is still based on wholesale figures, which can be fixed and fiddled, and are actually meaningless if the product is returned in six months. In the US, they wait until 30 days after the release date to certify, based on wholesale figures. However, that’s totally bogus because returns aren’t usually allowed for at least 90 days. Germany isn’t much different, from what I recall.
I worked in record retail and distribution for about 15 years, and I can tell you a few stories about how this works, and about bogus certification.
In any case, if there has been a nationwide increase of 300%, and Karl-Dietz is seeing an increase of 750%, then that means the other publishers are seeing a big decrease in sales, while the Karl-Dietz version has taken over the market, and the book itself is not selling like hotcakes.
If that’s not the case, why not report the actual number of copies sold (these numbers are readily available in the industry) rather than that oh so sexy 300%? Without actual data, it’s a meaningless number, and can be interpreted any way you like. Something smells funny here.
And Eric Hobswam, “historian”, according to the BBC, is a full-on Communist:
Globalization or Imperialsim? Forum of the Communists, Italy
The function of the state in the imperialism depends primarily on the nature of the state: there are “disgregating” (strong) and “disgregated” (weak) states: Relevantly, Eric Hobswam underlined how: “one of the main issues of the XXI century is the interaction between the world where the state exists and the one where it does not exist”. The process of states disgregation initiated by the stronger imperialistic poles (USA and Europe) against Eastern Europe but also against “decolonized” Africa or Asia, not being anymore an antisoviet bulwark (see Indonesia and, in perspective, Indian and China) confirms that the “interaction” is one of the main features of modern imperialism. This “disgregating and reaggregating” function around the main poles exercised by the strong states is now clear:
(Is “digregating” even a word?)
But the dishonest BBC doesn’t want you to know that this guy is a regular at Communists seminars around the world.
A question of faith
When Eric Hobsbawn came to England in the 1930s he became a Marxist and began a distinguished academic career. His new autobiography reveals that at 85 he remains an ‘unrepentant communist’. Maya Jaggi on the historian who made us fall in love with history again
Looks like he has form on Radio 4 as well.
This kind of thing is why I stopped listening to Radio 4 years ago. This kind of thing is also why it’s so difficult to trust the BBC when it comes to certain issues.
“Radical leftists would like you to believe that they stand for democracy, progress, human rights and social justice.
But wherever they seize power, they impose slavery, terror, famine, concentration camps and mass murder. As the Marxists used to say, this is no accident”.
Left-Wing Bloodbaths
http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left.html
.
A reminder of the effect of Marxist influence in Swedish politics too:
“Sweden: The Triumph of Cultural Marxism “(by Fjordman):
[Extract: this Swedish woman’s ‘multiculturalist’ ideology here, sounds like that of Labour’s Ms. H.Harman, or that of the BBC’s Director General, Thompson]-
“Mona Sahlin has held various posts in Social Democratic cabinets, among others as Minister of Democracy, Integration and Gender Equality. Sahlin has said that many Swedes are envious of immigrants because they, unlike the Swedes, have a culture, a history, something which ties them together. She has stated that ‘If two equally qualified persons apply for a job at a workplace with few immigrants, the one called Muhammad should get the job….It should be considered an asset to have an ethnic background different from the Swedish one.’ This is another way of saying that the natives according to Multicultural doctrines are second-rate citizens of their own country. Sahlin was elected leader of the Social Democrats in 2007.” (Fjordman).
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3582
David Preiser:
Disgregate: Is it a word?
I looked it up in my three favourite dictionaries. Found no reference in Chambers or the American Heritage but got this fascinating information from Webster’s:
Webster’s 1828:
Disgregate: vt to separate; to disperse [Little used.]
——————————–
But look what has happened by the time of Webster’s 1913:
:Dis”gre*gate (?), v. t. [L. disgregare; dis- + gregare to collect, fr. grex, gregis, flock or herd.] To disperse; to scatter; — opposite of congregate. [Obs.]
——————————–
It’s obsolete!
But then this entry follows (from science):
Disgregation
Dis`gre*ga”tion (?), n. (Physiol.) The process of separation, or the condition of being separate, as of the molecules of a body.
———————————–
How fabulous to find all that!
(And I managed finally(!) to copy and paste something from another window into the B-BBC comments window.
A small triumph – Yee haw!)
if you think that Ed Stourtons interview was sycophantic try listening to any of Naughties interviews of Gordon Brown or the reverential tone that anyone interviewing that maniac Tony Benn uses.
Millie Tant | 20.10.08 – 5:56 pm |
Thanks for that. Amusing bit of irony.
To these people, “individualism”is a pejorative.
What’s the current Marxist view of the state using the peoples cash to mass manufacture dumbed down rubbish like Eastenders, Casualty and Dale Winton’s Hole in the Wall while pensioners freeze and millions of children live in poverty?
Maybe a spell in the gulag would be a good thing for the BBC staff who live the affluent, capitalist life while inflicting this kind of thing on the proletariat.
“What’s the current Marxist view of the state using the peoples cash to mass manufacture dumbed down rubbish like Eastenders, Casualty and Dale Winton’s Hole in the Wall while pensioners freeze and millions of children live in poverty?”
Simple really – dumb down everything, just feed the plebs on TV that does not make you think. Because unthinking people cannot question anything.
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. ”
Churchill
“How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”
Ronald Reagan
Marxism always results in equal poverty because its concern is with the distribution of wealth and not its creation. As a result little gets created. It also puts irresistable temptation in the path of those who “lead – on behalf of the people”, to fill their boots, as they have done on every occasion in history. Enlightened capitalism will do just fine thanks Professor, now go back to your ivory tower.
At least most Marxists have the decency to hide their vice behind green and eco-credentials.
David Preiser (USA):
“1500 copies sold of Das Kapital is worth reporting, even celebrating? I realize that’s a whopping 750% increase, but come on.”
Just heard that on 19.00 BBC R2 news, made me sit up in my chair.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7679758.stm
“Where has THIS suddenly popped up from?” I thought. Percentage-wise it’s impressive but as DP points out the absolute numbers don’t seem momentous. Would a spike in sales of some other weltanschauung tome be covered by the Beeb?
I must say, I like the Hobshawm quote:
“Globalisation, which is implicit in capitalism, not only destroys the heritage and tradition but it is incredibly unstable”.
Yeah, and Marxist regimes hold the heritage & tradition of the nations they surmount in the highest regard.
R
Great news Marxism is back – from now on we won’t have to vote – just a minute Marxism has been around for years in the guise of the EU.
I notice this was in the orginal piece – but taken out later.
“Free market critics of Marxism have long argued that socialism leads to poor quality goods, authoritarianism, the gulags and the rest; but for now, certainly as long as the credit crunch lasts, the pro-lending expansionists are likely to stay under as dark a cloud as their Marxist rivals.”
http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/165896/diff/0/1
What, BBC ?! Islamofascism gone out of fashion, Marxism back in ?
I bet the sub editor of that piece likes flares, disco tops and chunky jumpers, his car in Starsky And Hutch colours and his house in brown draylon and yellow nylon.
The BBC has a vested interest in promoting socialism — in whatever guise, whether NuLabour or Marxist — because the BBC depends for its very existence on a state-enforced exaction in the shape of the TV license tax.
All the rest of the BBC’s slop (multi-culturalism, mindless greenery) is what Marx would call “super-structure”.
marxism is probably already here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3230452/Centuries-of-British-freedoms-being-broken-by-security-state-says-Sir-Ken-Macdonald.html
Jon | 20.10.08 – 7:54 pm |
That speaks volumes about the hiring standards at the BBC, as well as the nature of the media study and journalism programs at the feeder schools which supply people like the sub-editor responsible for that piece of non-professional garbage. Not to mention how much it reveals about the BBC’s own Journalism College they send people through.
Somewhere Helen Boaden is groaning again.
Here’s the AP report from which this BBC brief was obviously taken. Notice the – *ahem* – slightly more honest approach:
Karl Marx’s book sells as Germany economy sinks
Schuetrumpf said Karl-Dietz’s yearly sales for the work that Marx wrote in 1867 once barely cracked the double digits. But he has noted a steady upward trend since 2005, when 400 copies were sold, to a total of 1,300 sales in 2007.
Schuetrumpf theorized that younger Germans are disenfranchised with the direction that their parents have led the country _ and the way their leaders have responded to global financial troubles.
Note to the BBC: In reality, there has been only a 15.38% in the last year. That massive sexy increase you’ve been reporting covers the last three years, nothing whatsoever to do with the current crisis, nor with the credit crunch which began less than a year ago. Not only that, but you forgot to mention that in 2005 the firm sold 400 copies (which means that the 200 figure you’re using as a benchmark is pretty meaningless), which makes an increase of only 350%, less than half the jump about which you’re crowing triumphantly.
Lying bastards, you are.
Socialist principals still guide the platform of a resurgent Left Party, and Marx’s writings have inspired everyone from peaceful student activists to the radical leftist Red Army Faction.
Karl-Dietz is not the only German-language publisher of “Das Kapital,” as the book long ago entered the public domain.
But German media have reported that bookstores across Germany have seen a 300 percent increase in sales of the book in recent months.
And now we know why, no thanks to the BBC.
Schuetrumpf did not seem eager to fuel the fad, instead offering a prediction about those who may already have turned to Marx for answers to their financial woes.
“I doubt they will read it all the way to the end, because it’s really arduous,” Schuetrumpf said.
They probably do read it all the way through during BBC employee training sessions, though.
But how many copies of Das Kapital are sold at Waterstones?
Trust me, people… the Germans are always prepared to vote for radical (socialist) parties. I can see a far left majority here (on Federal level) next year.
ipreferred | 20.10.08 – 4:58 pm | #
“The closest thing we have to Marxism, in the economic sense, is the internet. I can sell stuff I make/own on eBay, people can buy it if they choose, I get the lion’s share of the profits with a small recompense to eBay for helping me find a buyer. “
I’m surprised nobody has jumped on this so far. What a trough of tosh. There is nothing remotely Marxist about eBay whatsoever. In fact it’s a great example of the free market, a system of traders. eBay is a privately owned company which provides a service – it allows you to use their “premises” to sell what you have to sell, providing they get a cut. In effect you’re paying the capitalist “landlords” of eBay “rent” to use their property, with a nice twist – you don’t have to pay them a cent unless it sells.
There is nothing Marxist about this whatsoever, unless you dispute that eBay is a privately owned company.
Whenever you sell something that belongs to you in a capitalist system, you virtually ALWAYS get the lions share of the profit (depending on how much the government taxes your earnings – and the extent to which they do is the extent to which it’s not capitalism).
I think what Marxists fail to understand is that everyone has something to sell for a profit. Even if you work for an employer who makes a profit from what you help manufacture – you are selling your labor for a profit.
Think about it. A factory worker sells a commodity – his time. He has certain costs involved in making that money – clothes he must buy for work, travel expenses, food for energy, etc. The remainder of his wages is the profit he has made from the sale of his labor.
The problem I have with Marxists is their obsession with the idea that workers are being “exploited.” First of all the word is always used as if it has nothing but negative connotations. But to exploit simply means to utilize. In an existence in which humans interact and cooperate with each other voluntarily for their own mutual gain and survival, it is not possible to avoid “exploiting” each other. Secondly, the worker sells his time for a profit – thus he “exploits” the fact that the factory owner has, through his own hard work, ideas, expertise and financial risk, created a market for that labor – a market which otherwise wouldn’t exist. So we all exploit each other.
To me, the free market and the price system is the best form of democracy possible. When your kid wants a doll and you choose one doll over another in the store, you “vote” with your money. The usual objection is that rich people have the most power in this kind of democracy and it’s thus unfair. But if you’ve become rich from selling something that others wanted – a product, a service or some expertise – those others have in effect “elected” you. The more useful you are to others in a free market, the more “votes” you receive.
“Marxism doesn’t exclude competition, it just hates the concept of ownership purely through wealth.”
Hard work, effort and brainpower get you wealth. Why then should this wealth not bring you ownership? Would you prefer that ownership was not earned?
“There’s really no economic system that benefits everyone because there isn’t enough to go around. It’s just a question of how uneven you think the wealth spread should be.”
Sure there’s enough wealth to go around. It’s not a finite pie. You just have to create more. The more you create, the more there is to go around. There is no need to “spread it evenly” – the only way to do that is by force and by taking wealth from the hands of the people who earned it and redistributing it to people who didn’t. I’ve yet to hear anyone offer an argument to convince me that this is moral. There are those who have the ability and the motivation to create vast sums of wealth – and as long as they’re doing so, they will always create a market for labor since they need people to help them do it. Those who don’t have the ability or motivation to create vast sums of wealth will benefit as long as that market is perpetuated and as long as the means of production keeps evolving and becoming more and more efficient. The greater the productive output of a person, the higher his wages become. This is why at the start of the Industrial Revolution wages were so low that parents begged factory owners to let their kids work too – crude technology meant low productivity and hence low wages.
As long as such a market for labor exists, being born poor is no obstacle to success. Some are born into wealth the same way as some are born physically strong and good looking. Feel happy for their good luck – there’s no reason to take it away from them. But for the rest of society, feel grateful that we have a market for labor such that even the poorest with the right attitude and ambition can work their way up the economic ladder and become great producers of wealth themselves.
God I could go on all night about the joys of capitalism and its inherent superiority in every way to Marxism. But I just remembered the theme of this blog is BBC bias.
By the way the BBC article was a steaming pile of kaka. Can anyone really justify their covering of a story in which a single publisher reports higher than usual sales of a book?
Can you imagine them reporting, after 9/11, an increase in the sale of books which expose Islam?
I found this quote especially funny:
“I doubt they will read it all the way to the end, because it’s really arduous.”
Of course they won’t! Most of these kids will read halfway through the first chapter before they realize it’s not as exciting or easy to read as Harry Potter.
The ones who are still interested after that will then go out and by “Marx for Dummies.” They’ll learn a few quotes and ideas taken out of context and use these to impress their online buddies on teenage political forums. Then they’ll try their luck arguing with someone who really knows their stuff and upon the first objection to one of their arguments, they’ll run away with their tales between their legs. But Das Kapital will remain in pride of place on their bookshelf at eye level.
disillusioned_german | 21.10.08 – 2:41 am |
Trust me, people… the Germans are always prepared to vote for radical (socialist) parties. I can see a far left majority here (on Federal level) next year.
I trust you, and I don’t trust the BBC when it comes to things like this. They even said it was due to the credit crunch in the effin’ headline.
Jason | 21.10.08 – 4:17 am |
they’ll run away with their tales between their legs. But Das Kapital will remain in pride of place on their bookshelf at eye level.
If “tales” wasn’t a typo, it’s a great pun. And I normally don’t appreciate puns.
LOL – a typo I’m afraid. Although unintentional jokes are always the best. Think “Senator government.”
ipreferred | 20.10.08 – 4:58 pm | #
ipreferred what you are doing on Ebay cannot be described as “Marxism” in any way!