#Marx never suggested, contrary to what so many have said, that the #state
— the #government — had to play some sort of ongoing, central role in
what this future post-capitalist world would look like. Some later
Marxists interpreted him to have suggested that, but it's hard to find
within Marx's writings any idea like that. He never wrote a book about
the state, because it wasn't the center or focus of his analyses. That
focus was rather the relationships among people as they go about
producing their existence: relationships such as master-slave, lord-serf
and employer-employee. In each one of those relationships, a minority of
people makes all the key production decisions: masters, lords,
employers. They decide what gets produced, how it gets produced, where
it gets produced, and what is done with the surplus appropriated from
productive workers.
[Richard D. #Wolff, Understanding #marxism, 2019]

Why revolution takes forever and feels impossible?

Marx: Men make their own history, but not under circumstances of their choosing.

-Marx

Guten Hunger! #eattherich #datenpunks #marx #döner

That time when Marx speculated in the stock market with funds and stocks

https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Letter_from_Marx_to_Philips._June_25,_1864

For #Marx, the lower phase of #communism marks the /completion /of the
#socialist #revolution. This is the point at which there is no longer a
#capitalist class who may resist #democratic rule, and indeed no #class
divisions at all, hence the point at which the #repressive functions of
the #state are no longer needed and wither away. So whereas #communist or
socialist measures are part of ‘the real movement which abolishes the
present state of things’,38 the lower /phase /of communism is the first
destination. If it is to lead to the lower phase of communism, a
democratic government and a democratised state must make conscious
efforts to get there. That means progressively bringing value production
under #planned, democratic control, for the purposes of meeting #need.
Hence, #value production will recede under a #workers’ state and be
insignificant or non-existent at the point of reaching the lower phase
of communism. [Peter Jones, The Falling Rate of Profit and the Great Recession of 2007–2009, 2021: xxxv]

Για τον Μαρξ, η κατώτερη βαθμίδα του κομμουνισμού σηματοδοτεί την //ολοκλήρωση// της σοσιαλιστικής επανάστασης. Είναι το σημείο στο οποίο δεν υπάρχει πλέον αστική τάξη ικανή να αντισταθεί στην δημοκρατική εξουσία, και στην πραγματικότητα δεν υπάρχουν ταξικές διαιρέσεις καθόλου· άρα είναι και το σημείο όπου οι κατασταλτικές λειτουργίες του κράτους καθίστανται περιττές και σταδιακά μαραζώνουν. Έτσι, ενώ τα κομμουνιστικά ή σοσιαλιστικά μέτρα αποτελούν μέρος του «πραγματικού κινήματος που καταργεί την υπάρχουσα κατάσταση πραγμάτων», η κατώτερη βαθμίδα του κομμουνισμού είναι ο πρώτος σταθμός. Εάν πρόκειται να επιτευχθεί αυτή η βαθμίδα, η δημοκρατική διακυβέρνηση και ένα εκδημοκρατισμένο κράτος πρέπει να καταβάλουν συνειδητές προσπάθειες για την πραγματοποίησή της. Αυτό σημαίνει τη σταδιακή υπαγωγή της παραγωγής αξίας σε σχεδιασμένο, δημοκρατικό έλεγχο, με σκοπό την ικανοποίηση των αναγκών. Κατά συνέπεια, η παραγωγή αξίας θα υποχωρεί υπό ένα εργατικό κράτος και θα είναι αμελητέα ή ανύπαρκτη κατά την επίτευξη της κατώτερης βαθμίδας του κομμουνισμού.

#wednesday #marx

Happy birthday Karl Marx! Your 'workers of the world, unite' memo still terrifies billionaires, and your beard game remains undefeated. From exposing capitalism’s contradictions to inspiring movements that toppled empires, your ideas still hit harder than a picket line. In an era of gig-economy serfdom and AI-fueled alienation, your critique feels fresher than ever. So here’s to the man who proved theory isn’t just for textbooks, it’s a weapon.

Tomorrow is Labor Day in most of the world except the USA. Never forget they changed the date in the US precisely in order to separate it from the world wide leftist labor movement. Look it up!
#laborday #leftism #us #usa #uspol #france #communism #anarchism #mayday #workersrights #solidarity #nogodsnomasters #marx #karlmarx #history #ushistory

Ordinary people read and study Marx, the establishment comment on him and misrepresent him. The greatest compliment I've ever received from a bourgeois is that I was an "economist in a tracksuit". #Marx #socialism #capitalism

#WelttagDesBuches Besucht den Buchladen ums Eck, schaut euch um bei euren Lieblingsverlagen Denn der Buchbranche geht’s krass schlecht. Doch wir sind immer noch da: Denn wir brauchen Bücher, die Zusammenhänge aufzeigen, die inspirieren und die den Mut zu Widerstand stärken. Gerade jetzt.

@CptSuperlative @0f4d0335 @pluralistic

Certainly most Conservatives do not know #Marx, but I recently listened to a video that explained that billionaires like Jeff Bezos read Marx, to anticipate crises and prevent labour from organizing. It said: "The ultimate irony of history is not that Marx's ideas failed to destroy capitalism, but that capitalism's elite have adopted them as a survival manual."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrDqzURCH6M

Capitalism is cursed - Karl Marx

Modern capitalist society with its relations of production, of exchange and property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells. (Karl Marx)

#capitalism #socialism #communism #marxism #marx #karlmarx #quotes #wizards #spells #fantasy

Kennt ihr schon die #MEGAdigital der @BBAW? Letzte Woche ist der Briefjahrgang 1871 erschienen. Darin finden sich auch die Briefe *von* Dritten, nicht von ihnen an #Marx und #Engels. Die #Briefe werden zukünftig nur digital publiziert. https://megadigital.bbaw.de/briefe/index.xql?jahr=1871

Hot Take: The fun thing with #Marx's predictions about the final stages of capitalism is that at any point in the last 100 or more years, pundits can rightly have claimed "see, we are now exactly in the situation that Marx was describing".

Using Marx like this is like believing that the end times are near, all the signs are present, the second coming is right around the corner.

Human nature