Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2000 01:45:35 -0700
From: DasKapital-AT-pseud.pseud
Subject: Re: M-INTRO: What are we to do?


even as an investment banker there is still hope for you. Once you get over 
your very likeable but somewhat naive form of vulgar marxist pondering, you 
might find that the stock market could promote class aspects for the 
workers, albeit in a rather intricate way. You might want to contact David 
Brennan (d_brennan-AT-acad.fandm.edu) at Franklin and Marshall College and ask 
for a copy of a paper he presented at the recent Marxism 2000 conference in 
amherst. Title: The Class Aspects of Pensions and Progressive Pension 
Policy in the US.

as a marxist, he outlines interesting ways of looking at the liberating 
force of the stock market. i do not quite agree with his optimistic outlook 
but it might help you to sleep better and find a satisfying spot in this 
world of unfettered casino capitalism. I do sympathize with your dilemma...

At 10:02 PM 9/30/2000, you wrote:
>I am a college student who is about to graduate.  Having been lost in the 
>fantasy world of academia for most of my life, I feel a bit unsure about 
>my place in society.  I am sympathetic to Marxism.  I see the abuses of 
>capitalism and would that they end.  However, I feel the career that I 
>will enjoy the most is business, specifically investment and financial 
>analysis.
>The stock market and Wall Street seem to be calling my name.  I recognize 
>that the stock market is the epitome of people getting something for 
>nothing (or nothing for something).  However, I could see myself managing 
>a mutual fund or something similar.
>
>I have a friend who is quite active in a local socialist group.  When I 
>discussed with him my dilemma, he predicted that in twenty years, after I 
>became management, I would forget my socialist sympathies and align myself 
>with the capitalists.  He claimed that I would look back on my exploration 
>of Marxism in my college years as foolishness.  I then asked him what I 
>should do.  He replied that I should fight for the REVOLUTION.  I then 
>asked what should I do up until the revolution for my means of 
>subsistence.  He advised take any job to pay the bills.
>
>I find my friends advice unsatisfying.  First of all, I am not one of many 
>interests.  It is hard for me to picture myself having a career outside of 
>business.  At least, if I did have some other job I would not be satisfied 
>with it.  Second, I have an overachiever-type personality.  I see myself 
>as one who would run myself ragged to climb up the corporate ladder until 
>I was at the top.  If I made it to the top I would hope that I would be a 
>benevolent capitalist.  However, I realize that a benevolent capitalist is 
>still a capitalist.
>
>I feel that the capitalist system is forcing me either to pursue a career 
>that will be satisfying to me, but make me a part of the exploitative part 
>of capitalism, or take a job that where I will be the exploited part of 
>society and unfulfilled.  Hence, I am left with a choice to exploit or be 
>exploited as long as capitalism is king.
>
>I find exploitation of workers as morally wrong.  I want to avoid it, but 
>my career goals seem headed directly for it.  My reason for pursuing this 
>career is not monetary gain.  I tend to leave a Spartan life.  I would not 
>know how to spend a large amount of money on myself.  I realize that I 
>could and probably will give a lot of my future money away to charities to 
>lessen the abuses of capitalism.  However, charities of this nature seem 
>to be one reason why capitalism is so widely accepted.  The charities 
>attempt to mitigate the abuses of capitalism.  The unfortunate result of 
>these do-gooders is that people do not see capitalism for what it is.  At 
>any rate, giving to charities is a Band-Aid rather than a long-term solution.
>
>I feel that I will live a my whole life being discontent with the system 
>in which I live, but at the same time helpless to do anything but write 
>nasty emails denouncing capitalism.
>
>My questions are these: What is one to do if one has Marxist sympathies 
>but has a career in the mechanisms of capitalism that Marx attacks?  What 
>can those of us with Marxist sympathies do to be a positive force for good 
>in the real world even though out of necessity, we must participate in the 
>capitalist system?
>
>I would appreciate any comments on how you have come to terms with these 
>issues.  The realm of academia seems ever more alluring as I contemplate 
>entering into the work force full-time.  Perhaps I may change my career 
>goals to becoming a professor where tenure will shield from the forces of 
>capitalism while I decry it for its shortcomings.
>
>Unzufrieden
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