- cross-posted to:
- memes@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- memes@lemmy.ml
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/29626672
On May 5th, 1818, Karl Marx, hero of the international proletatiat, was born. His revolution of Socialist theory reverberates throughout the world carries on to this day, in increasing magnitude. Every passing day, he is vindicated. His analysis of Capitalism, development of the theory of Scientific Socialism, and advancements on dialectics to become Dialectical Materialism, have all played a key role in the past century, and have remained ever-more relevant throughout.
He didn’t always rock his famous beard, when he was younger he was clean shaven!
Some significant works:
Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
Critique of the Gotha Programme
Manifesto of the Communist Party (along with Engels)
And, of course, Capital Vol I-III
Interested in Marxism-Leninism, but don’t know where to start? Check out my “Read Theory, Darn it!” introductory reading list!
No one has yet to provide an example of any socialist government around today.
Must be a whole lot of them, huh.
The prevalence/popularity of an idea has no direct relationship to it’s merit.
In other words, even if there were no socialist friendly governments (which isn’t the case, but even if it were), that wouldn’t be proof that socialism is a bad idea.
Note: I realize this person is trolling; I’m not replying for their benefit. Still worth countering the nonsensical fallacy they’ve spewed into the community, IMO.
What specifically do you mean by “socialist government”? There are many valid ways to interpret that.
There are many governments which follow various socialist schools of thought (China, Vietnam, Cuba, Laos, DPRK), the ruling leader of Burkino Faso certainly has Marxist influence, the large Zapatista territory in Chiapas, Mexico (population ~300,000) is governed in a socialist manner, one of the two main parties in the Nepalese government is communist, as well as almost all of the opposition (it’s… complicated). And this is taking an anti-capitalist definition of socialism, none of that social-democracy Nordic model stuff.
This is not exhaustive. Many more self-declare themselves socialist..
Now, whether someone believes each of those governments fits their definition of “socialism” is a whole other story.
Not to forget all the peoples that practice Pre-Marxist socialism.
There are plenty of socialist policies in place around the world. Just like there are plenty of capitalist policies. There are no purely capitalist or socialist countries.
You can’t look at Scandinavia and America and say they are the same thing. It’s a different mix and Scandinavia is much more socialist leaning and has much better outcomes.
When people speak of Capitalism and Socialism, they aren’t speaking of the Private and Public sectors. In the US, for example, the millitary is in the public sector, but its purpose is to extract vast profits in the private sector.
Instead, what matters is which aspect of society is the principle, ie which controls large firms, key industries, and the government. That’s why Cuba, despite having a private sector, is Socialist, while Scandinavia is Capitalist.