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Edited on Sat Sep-20-08 12:47 PM by BraneMatter
Not just since WWII, but all history:
"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." -- Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto
Now, of course, there ARE other interpretations of history (lol), but Marx was making the point that it all boils down to those who are being exploited and those doing the exploiting.
Certainly, if you look at feudal society, it's hard to argue against Marx's point of view, and the world was still transitioning out of the ancien regime in Marx's day. (In some ways, we are still digesting the effects of the Enlightenment today, but that's another matter) And, of course, the Church was not on the side of the feudal serf, but the nobility and king, so one can see how Marx saw the Church as part of the exploiting system.
Going further back, you have the ancient empires: Rome, Greece, Persia, Egypt, Assyria, and so on. Certainly, class exploitation was a feature of these conquering empires for a greater part of their history.
Certainly, the Manifesto was a brilliant piece of work, and transformed history, especially the history of the Twentieth Century, but Marx, I believe, totally underestimated the ability of Capitalism to morph into hybrid forms, and to exercise control. Give human beings just enough beer and circuses, dumb them down enough with a constant stream of mind numbing propaganda and half-truths, and suddenly The Revolution can wait. Marx also underestimated the tenacity of the capitalist class and the historical timeline that might be required.
Mao was a little more realistic:
"After the enemies with guns have been wiped out, there will still be enemies without guns; they are bound to struggle desperately against us, and we must never regard these enemies lightly."
And,
"It will take a faily long period of time to decide the issue in the ideological struggle between socialism and capitalism in our century."
Well, obviously a century was not even long enough... at least not THAT century
If one considers the bitter conditions under which socialism was born in both Russia and China, it is amazing they got as far as they did, and it wasn't pretty. The capitalists, of course, made the most of the opportunity, using economic boycott, counter-revolution, war, and propaganda to make life difficult for all the new socialist experiments, Cuba being a prime case in point.
Marx never imagined that socialism would first plant itself in Russia, which was far behind England, France, and Germany in industrialization, nor could he have forseen the coming world wars, and the devastation suffered by Russia (or China, for that matter) as a result.
And yet, fololowing the war, Soviet Russia emerged as a major player on the world stage and started the race for space! And the capitalist West, of course, was determined that the communist experiment would not survive.
I am certainly not saying here that there was no corruption in communist Russic or China, or trying to conceal that things often took a nasty turn, but it was tough times and the wolf was always at the door.
Socialism WILL learn from the mistakes of the past, and it will evolve. I believe it WILL eventually supplant capitalism, but I will predict no timeline. The struggle is far from over.
It's just a lot more complex than Marx ever imagined, even though his basic insights were pretty much right on the money.
Capitalist nations, like Rome, will, in time, all decay from within, but even that does not guarantee The Revolution, as history has a way of throwing curveballs, and who can really predict human consciousness and will at any given point?
The fall of the Soviet Union was not, as some have said, "The end of history," nor was it the death knell of communism and socialism. We now see how arrogant and narrow that view was, as the neo-cons are finding out in their quest for an American global empire. The struggle continues.
So, I ask, how many of you feel exploited living under the neo-cons and Bush??? How many feel they are getting screwed having to bail out the Wall Street gangsters?
And, unless I totally underestimate the intelligence of the people on this board, I highly doubt I'll get bounced for being a Marxist! Plus, I am even capable of being quite civilized and polite at times... and being attacked for being a communist is, well, just the heat in the kitchen. And besides, I can hate Bush and the neo-cons with the best of you!!!
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