July's Marxist IQ by Norman Markowitz

by: Friday 4 July 2014

On the Fourth of July, in honor of all peoples movements, here is the July Marxist IQ

 

1.       This is the hundredth anniversary of WWI, which Marxists saw as a war among the imperialist powers to redivide the world.  Which of the following countries, created through  war and revolution during WWI no longer exist, thanks largely to the triumph of counter revolution and imperialism

a. Czechoslovakia

b.Yugoslavia

c. The Soviet Union

d. All of the Above

 

 

 

2.       During WWI, the Communist wing of the world socialist movement was born.  Those who came to call themselves Communists

a.       Opposed Socialist parties support and/or equivocation on their capitalist governments  pro war policies

b.      Wanted Socialist parties to appeal to the middle class

c.       Wanted alliances with the Anarchists to destroy all governments

d.      Believed that Marxism was no longer relevant to   modern mass movements in struggle

 

3 The 2010 Citizens United Decision eliminating all restrictions on the use of money in national elections in the U.S. is a sort of left handed compliment to Karl Marx’s explanation of capitalist politics as

a.      The foundation of democracy

b.      Teaching workers that they must win the support of powerful financial interests to advance

c.       Showing that the working class has the right every few years to choose which group of capitalists will govern them for the next few years

d.     Teaching workers that money is power and they should form corporations, not unions, to advance their interests

4 If Marx and Lenin were alive and looking at events in Ukraine and Eastern Europe today, they might   compare these events to

a. the “great game” as the imperialist powers called it, that is, manipulating various nationalist and separatist groupings to extend their power and weaken their rivals

b. the revolutions of 1848 which autocratic Russia is threatening

c. The uprising in Kiev   to the Paris Commune

d. The American Civil War, given the fact that one the flags flown in Kiev, along with the Swastika, was the Confederate flag

 

5. In 1914, the Russian Empire was a debt-ridden autocracy, feared mostly because of its military power, using ethnic Russian chauvinism and religion to sustain its multinational empire In 2014, the country which most resembles it in world affairs is

A  France

b.Russia

c. The United States

d, Japan

  The  answers to last month's Marxist IQ

1. c

2.c

3.b

4.d

5.d 

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  • Thanks to brother Markowitz for continuing the discussion concerning political democracy, Marx, and Citizens United in our States.
    The present writer could not agree more that-"The Citizens United Decision was clearly a blow to any definition of political democracy in which there are free and fair elections." Agreeing so much that it would undercut the working class really having a choice in electing even a new set of capitalists, or, which group of capitalists would govern for the next election period-in other words the working class is not electing any group into power under backwards laws like Citizens-money is electing money into power.
    That is why the next step-"to establish a party of both the working class and socialism" would have been, we agree, Marx's view.
    The reason I guessed a., The foundation of democracy(truly a capitalist farce, and a little humor) is because this farce of money electing money- this brand of "political democracy", for modern capitalism-money buying and selling votes, reducing people to "money votes", almost commodities, is reasonably perhaps how a Marx would be "complimented" in the "tragedies and farces" of modern capitalism's "political democracy".
    Thanks again, brother Markowitz.

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 07/15/2014 10:40am (10 years ago)

  • e.e. w. Clay makes good points about Africa and its role in history which I will take into account in future Marxist IQ's
    He is right on four of the five answers. Number 3 though is unfortunately wrong. Marx saw Communists supporting the working class struggle for political democracy. The Citzens United Decision was clearly a blow to any definition of political democracy in which there are free and fair elections. Looking at British politics particularly, with its conservative and liberal parties, after the working class did get the vote through reform legislation, Marx said that in this system the workers every few years would have the choice of electing which group of capitalists would govern them for the next few years. To Marx, the next step was to establish a party of both the working class and socialism
    Marx would in no conceivable way see the Democrats as representing that, not to mention the Republicans
    Norman Markowitz

    Posted by norman markowitz, 07/11/2014 3:33pm (10 years ago)

  • Jillian
    The U.S. today is the leading debtor nation in the world. It's system of representative government(which Russia didn't have) has been undermined hugely. It has a "moneyed artistocracy" which controls politics rather than a hereditary aristocracy. It is most feared for its military power, not respected for the goods it produces. Just as Czarist Russia was called the policeman of Europe, the U.S. is the policeman of the world.
    Lenin saw Czarist Russia, because of its economic and political backwardness, as the "weak link" in the chain of imperialist powers. The U.S today, because of its unstustanable system, based on enormous economic inequality, mountains of public and consumer debt, and the most expensive and over extended military on earth, might be the "weak link," of 21st century imperialism, the country where the triumph of socialism, to the surprise of most of the world, will take place, just as the Russian socialist revolution was a surprise to most of the world

    Posted by norman markowitz, 07/07/2014 4:27pm (10 years ago)

  • Brother Markowitz, with July's Marxist I Q, has certainly gone beyond his usual level of creativity in crafting both his questions and answers, perhaps.
    Appealing in any case, is this approach, since it seems to encourage thinking.
    I'm guessing:

    1. d
    2. a
    3. a
    4. a
    5. c

    Let me add, please, an emphasis on Africa in the aftermath of both WWI and WWII, often neglected, but both having a profound affect and effect on world affairs today.
    As the present writer has often reminded PA readers,
    it was our own W. E. B. Du Bois, the studied C P U S A member, who both challenged the intellectual world with his unanswered charge on the issue of Africa and its diaspora's role in both modern and ancient history.
    Du Bois answers scholars like Maspero, Sayce, Reisner, and others, in their willy-nilly minimizing and denigrating the role of Africa and its peoples in world history and world development.
    From Du Bois's Suppression of the African Slave Trade to his Soliloquy, Du Bois, as M L K noted in one of his last speeches, correctly included Africans and its posterity, the whole human race, as a critical part of human history and development.
    So, too, this was and is the case (it has to be included to correctly interpret history), in the WWI climate and its aftermath.

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 07/07/2014 11:51am (10 years ago)

  • Norman, could you please explain your answer for #5? Thanks!

    Posted by Jillian, 07/04/2014 5:08pm (10 years ago)

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