Reading the communist manifesto made me realise the flaws in Marxist thinking as well.
Don’t misunderstand me, Marx was right about a lot of things and still is. Das Kapital is still 80%-90% relevant and accurate but the parts Marx is incorrect about (that capitalism naturally trends to socialism and the worker will have necessarily poorer conditions under capitalism) are addressed through other political philosophers who built upon his and Engels’ work.
Socialism as a political ideology has evolved considerably. Tankies are stuck at a point in time and it’s sad they stand in the way of a socialism without authoritarianism.
I’ve decided to answer your, likely rhetorical, question from your first comment and this one in one comment instead of two:
Perhaps the tankies are making you question some deeply held beliefs you have and that’s making you uncomfortable?
You’re not wrong here. Even if my views don’t differ that much in many ways from even the lemmygrad or hexbear users (at least on economical terms) there’s still some topics that I just do not share their views on (You mentioned their stand on authoritarianism) and it does make me uncomfortable because very often you either have to 100% agree with them or are instantly excluded.
In the end, I’m usually hopping on to see memes to give my brain some distraction, enjoy some good banter or laugh at some quality memes and not see yet another online civil war unfold.
And for the last I’m often just too tired to participate in after 8hrs of work
I see it like this, the manifesto was a call to arms for the factory workers of Europe; join our revolution and your life will improve.
And some did, and their lives did improve for a while, but most importantly the majority of workers (ie European workers who didn’t have a revolution) did not join and their conditions still improved (WHS laws, working hours, sick leave, PTO, pension, healthcare).
How does Marx explain this? This shouldn’t be possible according to Marx.
When I was saying people have built on Marx I was alluding to revisionists like Bernstein.
He points out that self interest is a motivating factor, once a worker has a certain level of condition then they are no longer willing to risk that in a revolution, capitalism has effectively satiated them. Revolution is no longer possible in this situation.
This is the western world I see today, a lot of people who aren’t willing to risk what they have to get something better.
My solution (which isn’t really mine) is to appeal to their self interest, sure it’s nice now, but it would be even better under socialism etc.
You’re not wrong.
Reading the communist manifesto made me realise the flaws in Marxist thinking as well.
Don’t misunderstand me, Marx was right about a lot of things and still is. Das Kapital is still 80%-90% relevant and accurate but the parts Marx is incorrect about (that capitalism naturally trends to socialism and the worker will have necessarily poorer conditions under capitalism) are addressed through other political philosophers who built upon his and Engels’ work.
Socialism as a political ideology has evolved considerably. Tankies are stuck at a point in time and it’s sad they stand in the way of a socialism without authoritarianism.
I’ve decided to answer your, likely rhetorical, question from your first comment and this one in one comment instead of two:
You’re not wrong here. Even if my views don’t differ that much in many ways from even the lemmygrad or hexbear users (at least on economical terms) there’s still some topics that I just do not share their views on (You mentioned their stand on authoritarianism) and it does make me uncomfortable because very often you either have to 100% agree with them or are instantly excluded.
In the end, I’m usually hopping on to see memes to give my brain some distraction, enjoy some good banter or laugh at some quality memes and not see yet another online civil war unfold.
And for the last I’m often just too tired to participate in after 8hrs of work
deleted by creator
Hmmm well maybe we are talking past each other.
I see it like this, the manifesto was a call to arms for the factory workers of Europe; join our revolution and your life will improve.
And some did, and their lives did improve for a while, but most importantly the majority of workers (ie European workers who didn’t have a revolution) did not join and their conditions still improved (WHS laws, working hours, sick leave, PTO, pension, healthcare).
How does Marx explain this? This shouldn’t be possible according to Marx.
When I was saying people have built on Marx I was alluding to revisionists like Bernstein.
He points out that self interest is a motivating factor, once a worker has a certain level of condition then they are no longer willing to risk that in a revolution, capitalism has effectively satiated them. Revolution is no longer possible in this situation.
This is the western world I see today, a lot of people who aren’t willing to risk what they have to get something better.
My solution (which isn’t really mine) is to appeal to their self interest, sure it’s nice now, but it would be even better under socialism etc.