A Marxist IQ on the ABC's of Marxism by Norman Markowitz

by: Sunday 23 June 2013

 

I thought in this time of theorectical tumult that I would do a simple Marxist IQ on a few fundamental, if often neglected principles of Marxism as a reminder to our readers who have to cope, as we all do, with the cumulative distortions of capitalist mass media every day

1.       Marx saw as  the decisive force in creating revolutionary change

a.       Political parties

b.      Social classes

c.       Nation states

d.      Religious movements

 

2.       Marx saw three modes/systems of production as having existed in human history up to and in his lifetime.   They were

a.       the local, national, and global modes of production

b.      the Hindu, Muslim, and Christian modes of production

c.       the Slave, feudal, and capitalist modes of production

d.      The Market, the State, and the Half and Half modes of Production

 

3.       Marx saw capitalism as a mode of production/system doomed eventually because

a.       It was unjust and unfair and workers wouldn’t put up  with it

b.      Communists would plot revolutions against capitalist governments

c.       Most people were lazy and stupid and would not work hard enough to produce goods and make capitalism a successs

d.      Its expansion of production and exploitation of labor would create a chronic and deepening crisis of  overproduction linked to  underconsumption(later called depressions)

4.       Marx saw socialism replacing capitalism as a mode of production/system because

a.       Its emphasis on production for use represented the interests of the working class, the overwhelming majority of the people

b.      It through planning and public ownership had the capacity to control and establish a balance between production and consumption which capitalism couldn't

c.       Capitalism by creating both the modern working class and the factory system of mass production  created the conditions for socialism

d.      All  of the above

 

5.        Marx believed that socialism would be established through revolutionary struggle because

a.       No ruling class in any pre-existing mode of production/system had surrendered its economic/political power peacefully

b.      Working class armies would rebel against their capitalist governments when war was declared

c.       The Blanquists were right that seizing the government and then bringing the revolution to the people was the only way to establish socialism

d.      The anarchists were right that revolutionary violence to smash the capitalist state was the only tactic to establish socialism

              

 

 

 

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  • although my Marxist IQs are multiple choices, e.e clay has used question five for a really fine analysis of Marx's views, which were never dogmatic or "prophetic" but always looked at real life, real social relations and political economic conditions, as they were developing. In all the years that I have been writing the Marxist IQ, no one has ever responded to any question at this high level
    Norman Markowitz

    Posted by norman markowitz, 06/29/2013 11:10am (11 years ago)

  • Agreed.
    1.b
    2.c
    3.d
    4.d
    5.a
    Maybe it is useful to discuss no. 5, a little, to bring our Marxism to life conditions and fact for "the struggle between social classes" in the good ole U. S. of A. and abroad.

    In U. S. and world history, there are mountains of evidence to support that the rulers, these "coupon clipping"(as our V.I. Lenin called them)social classes, have visited upon working classes virtual mountain ranges of violence. M L K, reporting in Oslo in 1964 told of scores and scorces of bombings,(of homes, churches, and social gatherings) torchings, lynchings, murders and shootings carried out in the name of "law", "order", and"civilization", but what was factually, lawlessness, terrorism, and barbarism. As this became more clear to students, workers, and activists of sit-ins, sit-downs, and walk-outs, especially as organized workers, who the great M L K, the champion of the poorest workers advocated for, that the most steadfast unionists, internationalists, and anti-violent workers, artists, clerics, activists and anti-racists (like the great Mahalia Jackson, the Reuthers, Rustin, Randolph, Wilkins, Belafonte, Bunche, Baldwin, Elwanger, Davis, and Jonathan Daniels(killed by a racist assasin)) be led in the tradition of Jesus and Gandhi- a peaceful AND revolutionary struggle.
    "Direct action", the soul of the astonishing, powerful working peoples, whose sheer energy and numbers, would make a way for us, if unified and conscious, to inherit this turbulent earth-through peace, and in line with the brilliant theory of nineteeth century Karl H. Marx.
    The very movement of the forces of production, in a way analogous to how humans have evolved, including the evolution of history itself, has put workers in a position to overcome the violence of ruling social classes, as workers demand control and ownership of the mammon of the earth and stars for the reasoned development of humankind through unity, knowledge, sympathy, and reciprocal self-identification of all humankind as such.
    The violent struggle in South Africa, for instance, the international peaceful struggle of the sorority and fraternity of the working class and allies there, with COSATU, the South African Communist Party, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the unity of international personalities like Henry Winston, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Desmon Tutu, Moses Kotane, Ruth First, Joe Slovo, and many more, leading to the peaceful healing necessarily coming in its completion and aftermath, show how direct, international, and peaceful action can fuse with resisting violence to make a way to expand the working people's base, to make more room for the mettle, activity, control and owership of resources for the international working class, through unity, working class consciousness, direct international action and the transformation from violent to peaceful, revolutionary struggle.
    Marx- a self-admitted "non-Marxist", understood that real life struggle of the working class charts the course for human survival, abundance, and progress, as he called Jesus "the classical saint of antiquity" who, sacrificed his own body to save the souls of the masses of people(contrasting Jesus to those who do violently or otherwise sacrifice the bodies of the people to save their own souls-along with the ruling classes- like many modern clerics do today and did yesterday-in the name of Jesus).
    Through the strike, march, picket, boycott, prayer and fast, producer and consumer "direct actions"(exemplified in the revolutionary Civil Rights struggle)of the unified working peoples, all things are possible, including the peaceful transference of power from the ruling social classes of capitalism to the ruling social classes of the working class-that of socialism, by revolutionary peaceful struggle, transforming the very mode of all previous violent vehicles, to a new revolutionary mode struggle, on the foundation of peace.
    The peaceful revolution of Gandhi, Rustin, and M L K, if you will.

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 06/24/2013 12:42pm (11 years ago)

  • 1. b

    2. c

    3. d

    4. d

    5. a

    Posted by Sean Mulligan, 06/24/2013 8:20am (11 years ago)

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