Richard Wolff is a noted scholar of Marxism and very much a modern Marxist. The video below is nothing new but a delightful introduction to all things Marx for the uninitiated. Let's try and keep it civil now chaps.
A scolar of Marxism. You mean the same tried same failed system that is responsible for millions of deaths? Bahahahahahaha!!! And I'm a scolar of turning dog turds into gold nuggets. "The core principal of freedom is the only notion to obey" - Dimmu Borgir
That's nice and dandy Johnny, thank you for contributing to the discussion. Here's a video you may find of interest being a Libertarian and all.
I always found it odd how communism was responsible for much more death and suffering than say Nazi fascism, but some people still have a desire to attempt communism time and time again, yet it's Nazism that always gets labled as more evil of the two. Don't get me wrong, Nazism was and is terrible as fuck and I have zero interest in ever wanting to see that type of evil return, but communism is by far the worse the of two if we go by the numbers alone. Marxism, and communism as a whole, are completely antithetical to the notion of liberty and freedom. I have absolutely no desire to ever live within a communist/socialist system. If other people want to, and it's done on a 100% voluntary basis, then by all means have fun, but you won't find me there. Don't worry @SmokinP I'm not here to shit on your thread and derail it. I'll even check out the videos you posted when I get off work tomorrow morning. I just wanted to express my opinion on the topic. It must also be noted that I fully support the Kurds, especially the YPG/SDF/PKK/etc and they are largely socialist in nature.
I bet theres some really cool videos as to what socialism does to countries too...and there is real evidence there, not just conjecture.
I think you're confusing dictatorships with Socialism. A lot of countries have adopted Socialist like approaches on some fronts but we've never seen pure Socialism. Your own country is big on "big government" which at it's essence is Socialist. You all like to think you're free wheeling capitalists but you're more Socialist if we're to call a spade a spade. Take the US military for instance, it's one of the biggest Socialist organisations in the world. Every man knows every other man's wage, all very equal.
That's cool man, we can't all think the same. It's interesting that you bring up the Kurds. I've read many accounts of Westerners who went to fight with the them staying on. If we see a Kurdish state it will be interesting to see how it works out politically.
Very true and look where the U.S. us headed... not a good example to favor socialism. This is one more reason to advocate anarchy. If a group decide to try voluntary socialism, and it works well for them, more power to them. IMO the biggest hurdle is decentralization. We say capitalism failed, socialism failed etc, and people argue they weren't true capitalist or socialist, all the while ignoring the common thread of massive centralization. I have to agree with former assistant secretary of HUD Catherine Fitts, this is not a battle of red vs blue, liberal vs conservative, capitalism vs socialism, but centralization vs decentralization, and so long as people are trapped within that false dichotomy, humanity will suffer.
If everyone's equal but one makes sure everyone is is he equal to the others? Communism is a good idea but it doesn't work. What would you do if you saw everyone's been paid but there's still money left? Of course putting it into your own pockets if there's still some intelligence left inside you. Communism sucks capitalism sucks just as much. Altruism is the way to go
It certainly is big on big government J, around 20% of working Americans are employed by the government. 1 government employee for every 4 workers. It's the same here in Europe, worse in some countries. Now you understand why I sometimes address you as comrade.
I agree. The state as it stands today is rotten to the core and needs to be tore down. I think Communism/Socialism can work on an optin basis but sadly I cannot see how that would work on a mass scale.
I can't see how it would work big scale in our world today either but I think we can learn a lot from Marx. He also had an impressive beard.
Does it need to happen on a mass scale? We just need decentralization on a mass level, the level/scale of voluntary socialism may be left for communities to decide.
Do you differentiate between capitalism and centralized 'capitalism'? I am not aware of any good arguments against capitalism nor better alternatives, again it seems to me all arguments against capitalism and socialism boil down to arguments against centralization, people just don't follow the logic to its conclusion.
Maybe I'm just drunk but centralized capitalism seems to contradict itself. I don't like capitalism because it encourages greed and corruption and I hate communism because history has taught me to do so. we're lacking alternatives as you said. I'm spending a lot of time trying to find one but seemingly I'm too stupid despite being the 3rd smartest person I know. I think it takes a fundamental change in thinking to prevent us from exterminating ourselves for money
I agree it is a contradiction, point being, places we consider capitalist are not. IMO one big issue is that money/capital is decoupled from human energy. Ideally, they would be directly linked, so you couldn't cheat. "Greed" would just be someone working hard producing more value. Now they can just manipulate the market with debt, leveraged buyouts, inflation, speculation, and on and on it goes.
Richard D Wolff doesn't advocate a lot of radical ideas but more one of DEMOCRATIZE THE ENTERPRISE. He gives examples of large scale employee owned CO-OPS with each employee having 1 vote as to where the company is headed. Compare that to employees today with NO VOTES while jerk off elites who are the largest shareholders can send jobs to China or Mexico for example. Do you think American employees would vote to send their jobs to another country so that the shareholders can make more billions? BTW i started another thread on him a couple of months ago. He does a regular report on the economy pointing out how it's failing while giving examples from countries where it is not. Richard D Wolff - A Critic Of Capitalism 2017