Are you a marxist but not a member of a marxist organisation?
- Thread starter hitmouse
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danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
I wouldn’t use the term “Marxist”, because of the connotations, but I am hugely influenced by Marx. I am always going back to his writing and finding relevance in it.
Marxism focuses on material social conditions rather than more abstract stuff such as anarchism does at times, which is why I recalibrated my meters. Same answer as the anarchism thread though, I haven’t been a member of a Marxist org but been a fellow traveller. Their politics and actions made a lot of sense to me.
Kinda (Marxist)because that was the tradition when my political proclivities were formed...plus, like Danny, I still find a certain savage resonance in his writing. Not a member of anything, these days. Even my Hardy Plant Soc. subs have lapsed. Fairly sure that this is a bad thing but I have not managed to prod my give a fuck metre into much more than a sharp tutting and excess of sweariness which upsets my dog.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
I'm a Marxist because Marx and Marxism explains the way the world is better than any other philosophy and indicates a way in which to change it. Other theorists from the time, socialist, anarchist and utopian, had insights of various value, but Marx was the one who developed the ideas into a coherent whole. His work is still the bedrock upon which any half decent revolutionary organisation is based.
The problem is that so many organisations are called (by themselves or others) Marxist that it rather diminishes the term, but it still covers more of the basics than using any of the 'sub-Marxist' philosophies (Leninism, Trotskyism etc) or saying I'm a libertarian marxist or a dialectical materialist, which just makes most people look at you a bit funny.
The problem is that so many organisations are called (by themselves or others) Marxist that it rather diminishes the term, but it still covers more of the basics than using any of the 'sub-Marxist' philosophies (Leninism, Trotskyism etc) or saying I'm a libertarian marxist or a dialectical materialist, which just makes most people look at you a bit funny.
Actually most people don’t understand those terms or give a fuck. So perhaps in your little bubble It may be grotesque but not really anywhere else.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
Yes, that's the point.
You agree with bottom up rather than top down? If so, we agree. That’s what I mean by libertarian.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
I do, but I think that's inherent in 'proper' Marxism. Libertarian is to distinguish from the Stalinist school and those who believe in a 'strong state' generally
Inherent in theory…
Carl Steele
Well-Known Member
Back in the seventies, when I was talking about joining the International Socialists, a woman who I barely knew (and whose name or appearance I can't recall) objected "but the working class is not a revolutionary class." I didn't understand what she meant, but had I listened to her I would have been spared a good deal of strife and suffering. It took me several decades to realise what she was saying. That's not to say Marx wasn't right in much of his analysis of capitalism and history, but he made the mistake of projecting the past into the future.
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
Any belief system named after an individual runs into the immediate problem of hero worship. If Marx said it then it must be right. The inerrancy of the Bible or the Communist Manifesto or Capital. It gets even worse when dogma is difficult to interpret. What exactly is the dictatorship of the proletariat? At least Marx's beard style never became compulsory.
Fozzie Bear
Well-Known Member
This is easier to answer than the anarchist one for me 
Many of the marxists I like are firmly on the anti-bolsehvik/leninist/trot end of the spectrum and are very anti-vanguardist and even anti-organisational.
The leftcoms like the ICC and the CWO are just too grindingly serious and "ultra" for me.
I was briefly in the IWCA which I think it's fair to say was heavily influenced by Marx, but wouldn't have defined itself as marxist.
Many of the marxists I like are firmly on the anti-bolsehvik/leninist/trot end of the spectrum and are very anti-vanguardist and even anti-organisational.
The leftcoms like the ICC and the CWO are just too grindingly serious and "ultra" for me.
I was briefly in the IWCA which I think it's fair to say was heavily influenced by Marx, but wouldn't have defined itself as marxist.
Serge Forward
Just enjoyin' my coffee.
I'm a big fan of much of Marx's writing and ideas. His contribution to our understanding of how this shit system works is monumental. That said, as a man, he was a right arsehole, but nevertheless, many of his ideas still stand. I'm much less enamoured with Marxists and Marxism, especially of its Leninist varieties, which is an abomination.
LDC
On est tous des pangolins
I've just read Marx at the Millennium by Cyril Smith (not that one) which rips into Marxism while acknowledging the usefulness of what Marx wrote. It's an easy read too.
libcom.org
Marx at the Millennium - Cyril Smith
Cyril Smith reinstates Marx's work as a relevant and vital source of inspiration, arguing that the Marxist tradition has essentially ignored the fundamental ideas of the man himself.
Marx at the Millennium by Cyril Smith 1996
www.marxists.org
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. - The Communist Manifesto
Marx himself is nowhere as important or relevant as the ideas he explicated, just like the fact that Francis Crick was a sexist arsehole doesn't alter the double-helix structure of DNA.
I've not heard of any Marxist organisations worth my time and effort, unfortunately.
Marx himself is nowhere as important or relevant as the ideas he explicated, just like the fact that Francis Crick was a sexist arsehole doesn't alter the double-helix structure of DNA.
I've not heard of any Marxist organisations worth my time and effort, unfortunately.
Bus Honeygun
This week the score draws are plentiful
Marx's analysis of capitalism was spot on and very far-sighted. I would have thought even capitalists themselves could see that.
He should have just left it at that with a 'you work out the answers' sign-off.
He should have just left it at that with a 'you work out the answers' sign-off.
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
In many ways he did, didn't he? There was supposed to be a third volume of Capital, which is itself more a theoretical than a practical work. Ideologies like Leninism build on top of Marx's work.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
balance? like there's only anarchism and marxism? what about non-marxian socialism?
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
It’s fucking worthless. Like non Marxist anarchism.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
ideologies like leninism may found themselves on marx's work but that doesn't mean they're a progression from his work
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
I don't like Leninism either, but I don't know whether or not they're a "progression" from Marx, whatever that means.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
what i mean by a progression is a positive development. it may be a development of certain aspects of marx's thought but that doesn't make it more progressive - quite the contrary, imo.
Signal 11
also programmed for conversational english
It's coming out in 1894.
Riklet
procrastinación
Id say im highly influenced by Marx's thought and elements of Marxism. For me, the best Marxist organisations are ones aiming for concrete goals based on real lived collective experience... they dont have to call themselves Marxist organisations. And a lot of the actual Marxist ones are at best a drag and at worse well... I think we all know.
In that sense, yes, I am a member of Acorn, which is a direct action housing union. It doesnt ever mention Marx or Marxism but a lot of the activists are young and left or recently radicalised. It's not perfect - they have paid professional staff, too many links to Labour and all that jazz but I think its a solid group personally.
I get emails and follow Counterfire but im not a member (basically cos of what I said above).
In that sense, yes, I am a member of Acorn, which is a direct action housing union. It doesnt ever mention Marx or Marxism but a lot of the activists are young and left or recently radicalised. It's not perfect - they have paid professional staff, too many links to Labour and all that jazz but I think its a solid group personally.
I get emails and follow Counterfire but im not a member (basically cos of what I said above).
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
"...under the name communism, Marx developed a theory of anarchism; and further, that in fact it was he who was the first to provide a rational basis for the anarchist utopia and to put forward a project for achieving it.”
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