The Marxist IQ for August by Norman Markowitz

by: Saturday 2 August 2014

An IQ  to help refresh  those with short memories

1.        In his classic work, State and Revolution,(recently analyzed cogently by Tom Riggins on the blog) Lenin

a.       rejected the anarchist  slogan of “smash the state”

b.      rejected the Social Democratic  policy of working  exclusively to win influence within the existing state and political system  as socialism

c.        called for eliminating the old capitalist state form and replacing it with a new socialist state

d.      all of the above

 

2.         Scholars estimate that all U.S. military related spending for the cold war from the Truman Doctrine(1947  to the dismemberment  the Soviet Union(1991) amounted to around

a 800 billion

b. 2 trillion

c. 5 trillion

d.10 trillion

 

3.       Except for a small vocal minority, Marxists see “market economy” as

a.       The basis for democracy

b.      The most efficient way to develop an economy

c.       The ideological and institutional foundation of capitalist exploitation and oppression of labor

d.      The future of socialism

 

4.       Which former leader of the Soviet Union was the target of this post Soviet joke:  “he was arrested for being a Communist, but the case was thrown out of court for lack of evidence.”

a Lenin

b. Andropov

c. Gorbachev

d.Stalin

 

 

5.       Although Americans today are taught to revere Nelson Mandela, the U.S government in the past

a.       Had the CIA help South African political police capture and imprison Mandela in the early 1960s.

b.      Supported the Apartheid government in its invasions of Angola and other African countries

c.       Worked  for decades to oppose all economic and other sanctions against the Apartheid government which it saw as a bulwark against Communist

d.      All of the above

 

 

Answers to last month’s Marxist IQ

1.       d

2.       a

3.       c

4.       a

5.   c

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Comments

  • 1. d

    2. c

    3. c

    4. c

    5. d

    Posted by Sean Mulligan, 08/09/2014 9:24am (10 years ago)

  • One guesses-

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

    One guesses further that a "new birth" of "smashing the state"(we agree on Thomas Riggins's excellent article) will come with a U. S. style socialism, a smashing which will involve a fervent participation in all laboring classes and individuals of the world of color-the human element (which in the past, capitalist exploitation and oppression made these its prime victims, along with all labor) for a "new state" and status for all humankind and its relationship to itself in the affairs of the state.

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 08/04/2014 11:13am (10 years ago)

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