The question is not whether Marx’s ideas are out of date or not. The question is whether they are true or false . Marx’s ideas could have been “out dated “ many a times since its introduction, but it never proved to be false . Marx's predictions are not prophecies, but are the identifications of tendencies always inherent in capitalism ,which develop as it progresses ,and will continue to develop short of either revolution or catastrophic collapse .For example, regarding globalization , the coming of supranational institutions to Europe ,which Marx thought was imminent, has at last happened .The global market has everywhere undermined the economic sovereignty of nations . National governments can no longer protect the interests of their own people against global market forces . Marx clearly thought that globalization is not only inevitable, but potentially beneficial in uniting human kind into one economic community .the solution Marx proposed was the establishment of international democratic institutions on a world scale ,starting no doubt from some sort of international worker’s association such as he tried to build since. What can be learnt from Marx is that in the modern world , the real alignment of forces is the “market verses democracy “ that democracy can only win if it becomes global, and that this cannot be done by rationalizing capitalism , but only by abolishing it. Regarding his other claims ,In Marx’s time , the proletariat was a minority everywhere except in Britain, but it was a growing minority , and Marx assumes throughout his work that it was “the coming class “ today on a world scale , the proletariat is still growing .it is very close to being the majority class of the human being .From Marx’s point of view ,the growth in the world proletariat is important because the possibility of emancipation for humankind as a whole is bound up with the proletariat .Marx always argued that as capitalism developed , ownership of capital would become more and more concentrated ,tending towards monopoly , until not only the interest of the proletariat ,but even the public interest within a bourgeois parliamentary state would constrain the government to take over or control great corporations .Also, as Marx suggested , inequality of wealth is in an increasing trend than ever .Rich countries get richer and poor countries get poorer .It becomes clear that inequality of wealth is not a survival from pre-capitalist times, but a developing tendency of capitalism .
________________________________ From: Venugopalan K M <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, 23 June 2011 6:56 PM Subject: [GreenYouth] 'Marx is more applicable than ever ' 'Marx is more applicable than ever ' Turmoil in Arabia, protests in Europe. 2011 is the year of revolutions? On the occasion of the new edition of his book "The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx" marx21.de spoke with author Alex Callinicos marx21.de: Your book has been reprinted in the new VSA-Verlag. Why is it important in the context of revolutions in the Arab world and the movements in Spain and Greece, to re-read Marx? Alex Callinicos: This is important for several reasons. I will mention only two. The first is that we live in a world dominated more than ever, shaped, and is increasingly destroyed by capitalism. And who wants to understand capitalism, must begin with Marx. It offers the most systematic critical understanding of capitalism and its conflictual and dynamic development. The second reason is that the capitalism Marx was of course not from a purely academic perspective, approaches, even though he was an enormously erudite theoretician. He approaches the capitalism, as Engels said at his funeral, especially one as revolutionary. And he tries to make his understanding of capitalism fruitful, to show how the resulting struggle of the working class as a collective political subject, and how he can lay the foundation for an entirely different world. What we see in Spain and Greece and throughout the Arab world, is how people are looking for ways to transform their societies and to cope with problems that are caused, ultimately, to capitalism. Marx is no God, where you can find all the truth, but it is very important to help people in dealing with their situation. There is much criticism of the Left in the dependence of Karl Marx by people who find that their ideas are not applicable to our time. Would you say that his ideas are still relevant? I think Marx is a very recent thinkers. His writings are in many ways more applicable today than at the time when he wrote it. When he wrote the Communist Manifesto, there were only small islands of industrial capitalism in northwestern Europe and the eastern coast of the United States. Today, capitalism is everywhere, as we can see, for example, the transformation in China. Marx foresaw that this system conquer the world and it would transform. What we see today is the flowering of developments, which he identified long ago. Hence Marx is not outdated thinker, but one who has to tell us a lot today. Recently you spoke at a panel discussion at the MARX IS MUST-Congress in Berlin and are received on the question whether the idea of communism is still relevant today. For all that there could not be there: If the communist idea for us is still of importance or not? Well, that obviously depends on what you mean by communism. In the minds of many people it is synonymous with the regimes in Eastern Europe, in particular with Germany in the GDR and the Soviet Union. But these regimes represented a caricature of Marxist ideas dar. For Marx, the notion of self-emancipation of the working class was absolutely central, that is from people who free themselves, bring about change from below. In the Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union was gone, the power to focus systematically on the top of society. The current debate over communism is quite another, because it addresses the question of what could be a real alternative to capitalism. This is a useful debate, but since it was started by philosophers like Badiou and Žižek, she is led to a very high level of abstraction. What I have said in Berlin, among others, is that Marx chose a different approach. He is known to have defined communism as the real movement for the abolition of the current state of the world. In other words, who wants to see emerge as communism is, must look at the actual fighting against exploitation and for liberation, which are currently being fought in the world. A socialist society is not simply an idea in the mind of a philosopher. You will be won by a long and difficult process of collective disputes. And I think that this understanding of communism for the present discussion is very important. The year 2011 has already been called the year of revolutions. Do you share this assessment, and if so, what kind of relationship do you see between these revolutions and the idea of communism? Yes, as I said in the debate in Berlin, 2011 is the year of revolutions. There are two levels of relationships between the idea of communism and the Arab revolution. First, it is important to understand that the goal of these revolutions was not easy to get rid of a dictator, but that they are a global response to neo-liberalism has dug as not only these but many other companies in the global south. This is done not just by the fact that he moves a very clear division between rich and poor, but also in that it concentrates wealth and privilege in the hands of a very small group of lackeys, careerists and relatives of the dictator. Therefore, in these revolutions, political and economic issues are very closely connected. Secondly, we see both in Tunisia and in Egypt the role played by the working class. A general strike has missed the regime of Ben Ali in Tunisia in January, the death blow. Next, the wave of strikes in Egypt was instrumental in ensuring that the White House and the Egyptian generals were forced Mubarak to sell. The strike wave is continuing, and that is of paramount importance, because the working class in Marx recognizes the collective actor that can enforce the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a communist society. I am not saying that somewhere in the Middle East currently takes place a communist revolution. We are, I think, just witnessed a very powerful struggles for democracy, but in the course of these struggles are economic and social issues such as mass poverty made increasingly clear. And when that happens, we can see the potential that the masses are moving towards the overcoming of capitalism and building a different kind of society. In Tunisia and Egypt and perhaps in other countries will follow, the revolutions have sought to break the old structures, and it worked. But how can it be prevented that the old structures like the military to seize power back against him? Well, in Egypt and Tunisia, it is clear that the military is in power. Ben Ali, the military has been forced to flee, and it is in power in Egypt. But his position is shaky, because it is under enormous pressure from the street to handle the old regime. But the military is still in power, and we can see, for example in Egypt, as it continues the very real oppression. How have these two so in countries where revolutions were the most successful - in Bahrain, the revolution was crushed, and Syria is a very bloody battle with an uncertain outcome instead - to do with revolutionary processes. In other words, a revolution is not simply a one-time jump from a previous company to a new, but it is lengthy process of discussions to develop in which the forces of revolution and can be stronger, but in which the forces of counterrevolution about struggling to get back on the offensive. We can see very clearly that in Egypt, where they try to provoke tensions between Muslims and Christians. The outcome of these processes is so far from being identified. What people need to do? You have to keep fighting. They are under enormous pressure material. Revolutions are not just good for the economy and the economy was in those countries already in crisis. The Egyptian government has received a loan from the International Monetary Fund and one of Saudi Arabia. But we know that the IMF does not give money for nothing - from the IMF, it is certainly something for nothing, but its loans are tied to conditions that exist in the core from the fact that more neoliberal reforms must be introduced. That's pretty much the strategy of the Obama administration: using the revolution in order to reach a broad neo-liberal restructuring of the Middle East. The masses are therefore under considerable pressure material. And so they must organize themselves to defend themselves and push through reforms. This seems to happen by itself, independent trade unions and other social groups form. When I was in Egypt a few weeks ago, I heard that out of nowhere a huge movement of people has formed, appearing confident and for the first time in the history of the country makes its demands. So we have a whole world of different fighting moves. They need to be stronger and better organized, and in the course of this debate and the confrontations with the forces of counterrevolution, which is the cause, can open up the possibility for a much deeper radicalization process. There are many successes and a lot of hope in these revolutions, but also problems and dangers. Is it possible to be a socialist to be prepared for such situations? Now, the debate on MARX IS MUST Shakespeare's Hamlet, I have been quoted as saying: "The readiness is all" But what it means to be prepared for a revolution.? No one can predict such events. Lenin was known to be still in February 1917 shortly before the Russian Revolution, the older generation will experience the coming revolution is no longer good. What do socialists have to be, in essence, as strong as possible to build revolutionary organizations, both through the development of Marxist ideas, as well as the fact that we translate these ideas into an organization that is rooted in the struggles of our time. And we can now see the fruits of that labor in Egypt. The Revolutionary Socialists in Egypt are a group of Marxists, largely created under the former dictatorship in the underground. But because they were part of the movement, which developed over the last ten years - against the war in Iraq, in solidarity with the Palestinians, for democracy and especially the labor movement that emerged in 2006 or better reborn - they were in a position to to play significant role in the fight, which focused on the Tahrir Square. To return once more to the revolutionary ideas: What do you think is Karl Marx's most important idea? The main idea of Karl Marx is this: The world must not be so, as it is, and ordinary working people have the power to reshape the world for themselves and to direct them. (Interview by Stefanie Graf Translation: David Meienreis) -- You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole. -AMBEDKAR http://venukm.blogspot.com http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
