From: PANDA-AT-pseud.pseud Subject: M-INTRO: Are we ready for Marxism? Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 09:05:50 -0700 I am currently enrolled in a class at my university studying Marx's Capital. This is my first formal introduction to Marxism. I've heard about Marxism. I knew he had something to do with socialism but I never read any of his writings or knew anyone who was a Marxist (at least they never revealed themselves to me). However, now that I have been reading Capital, I am fascinated by Marx's method of deconstructing the capitalist economy and examining it piece by piece to reveal its true aims. Having lived in the US all my life I have never experienced any other economy. Having worked for several large corporations in the US, I have had occasion to question the motives of our capitalist economy. It seems I have never been able to reconcile my feelings about how indifferent they are toward people; customers or employees. I have always been outspoken about my views and needless to say I haven't been successful at cultivating a career in these companies. Now that I have been introduced to Marxism I find myself becoming, not inspired but maybe validated by what I am reading. Some of the criticisms I have had about our economy seem to be expressed (much more in depth) by Marx. Now I am not saying I am a Marxist but I can't help at times being drawn into the ideas. Now here's my question. Marx seemed to believe that people behave the way they do in a capitalist economy not because of their inherent nature but because the economy forces these social conventions on them. Only by eliminating capitalism can people evolve to a more complex social system where everybody gets what they need and contributes as a whole to satisfy the well being of mankind. That somehow we will be less competitive and driven by greed because capitalism will not force us into these behaviors. But how is that supposed to work? It seems to me that capitalism exists because of the nature of mankind or the nature of Nature. Nature or evolution depends on competition. In order for mankind to adopt a system like socialism we would have to evolve within capitalism, not without it, to be able to eradicate our own natural instincts or at least suppress them in order to see beyond the me first mentality. I think mankind has a long way to go before we will be able to create an economy that could answer the criticisms Marx had about capitalism. --- from list marxism-intro-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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