- 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!
Any social relation that exists is natural. The term natural is practically meaningless and is built on a fallacious idea that there is one true way humans were meant to live.
Also, natural does not mean better or worse than any other way.
The one true way humans were meant to live is free, it is the natural way for us to live when we’re not distracted by capitalism. Not just because we don’t see it, but because it actually no longer exists in the collective consciousness in any form it takes, at least not as a “reasonable alternative” to communism and more as something that must be prevented.
Humans are just animals surviving however we can, like any living thing. There is no way we were meant to live because there is no intention behind our existence, other than our own intentions. The way we live now is just as natural as we lived 500,000 years ago because both lifestyles evolved from how our nature interacts with the environment we live in.
I agree with you that being free is a better way to live but I think that’s a different and more solid moral argument than speaking of how we were “meant” to live. The latter idea can smuggle all sorts of ideas into the conversation, such as appeals to authority, tradition, religion, etc.
KS Robinson addresses this in the Mars trilogy. With adequate aging suppression and some post-scarcity on a thinly populated planet, a movement of hardcore primitivism emerges, tempered by brushing up against the modern. For some, it’s still an instinct.
Even Alexander commented that if he wasn’t in his social position he might live like Diogenes, naked and wild. It’s an old conundrum, a million years of wild vs. 80,000 or so of settled.
Just because an author addresses it in a book doesn’t mean they’re right
Right about what? I don’t think he makes any definitive arguments or assertions, other than maybe that some people are like that.
I know a few people who can be seen in that light, as marginally re-wilded. Rather extraordinary people, so I would not say they are representative of anyone else, but do illustrate the existence of the urge.
Oppression and slavery are older than feudalism, even agriculture.
Hey LibertyLiz. Nothing to add, just wanted to say hi. I enjoy seeing your name pop up spitting truth. Hope you’re doing good!
Similarly, the word “Humane”; if a human does something, it is human-like behavior. It is not synonymous with “good” or “ethical”.
We define human ideals to guide us in most cultures, and in english, at least, it does reference this narrative quality to the word ‘humane’, as more human-like behaviour than behaviour that is bad for the species, such as cruelty.