The recent row with Ed Milliband, and the UK daily newspaper 'The Daily Mail' raised one interesting point for me (well apart from the fact that Socialists are a very thin skinned crowd, but happy to dish it out) .....
..... which is that extremists on the Far Left are invariably described as 'Marxist Intellectuals' or 'Marxist Theorists,' and hold good jobs at universities. If they don't hold a publicly funded job, then they merely become 'Marxist Activists' .... there's a class system even amongst the lefties.
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| Simone de Beauvoir - Jean-Paul Sartre - Ernesto Che Guevara. Cuba 1960 - All Marxist 'Theorists'. |
..... which is that extremists on the Far Left are invariably described as 'Marxist Intellectuals' or 'Marxist Theorists,' and hold good jobs at universities. If they don't hold a publicly funded job, then they merely become 'Marxist Activists' .... there's a class system even amongst the lefties.
This, regardless of the fact that Marxism has failed everywhere it was applied, and has caused more misery to mankind than any creed, except the recent bout of 'Islamic' revivalism. It's certainly responsible for the violent deaths of more of mankind than any creed - 10 million in Eastern Europe, including the USSR (conservatively) and another 40 - 100 million or so, in China and southern Asia ... which far exceeds even religions (although by the time its finishes, the religion of peace may have caught up).
Yet somehow its still OK to follow and propagate the idea that Marxism works in Universities and publications, without public comment or condemnation, despite all the evidence that in practise, its a despicable ideology, the practise of which has wrought nothing but great pain and misery around the world.Strangely, if you are Right Wing, the further to the right you are, the more you are wrong headed and can be attacked, vilified and mocked. You most certainly are not described as a 'Capitalist Intellectual' or a 'theorist' .... Even in the US Republican party, right wing politicians are described as loony, and yet capitalism is the dominant socio-economic system on the planet, even in China.
Maybe that was the Lefts greatest trick, to persuade us all that despite its practical outcomes being horrific everywhere, the basic idea is sound. Utter bollocks from start to finish of course, and only achieved by using pseudo scientific language (much like sociologists), but it means Left Wing extremists have the fig leaf of academic respectability to hide their nonsense behind.
Of course, there have always been more nutters on the left .... it attracts them, and if you don't believe me look at the number of Far Left political parties there are in the UK alone (compared to right leaning parties). That's probably why they are never described as 'Marxist Morons' in the press - strangely if they are not theorists or intellectuals, and are just street activists, they can be classed as the 'Lunatic Left'
Communism doesn't work but then neither does capitalism, that's why there are no purely capitalist societies, but mixed economies where the excesses of capitalism are reigned in through regulation. Even with regulation, capitalism showed what it could do back in 2008.
ReplyDeleteIf we have any rights at work, free from discrimination or favouritism, it's because the left is pulling the right towards the centre.
Actually, I also addressed injustices in wealth in this post as well ..... The Rich Get Richer
DeleteOr conversely, the only reason we are not in 'Gulags and Labour camps' is because the Right pulls the Left towards the centre. Of course after a couple of decades or more of first right then left in perhaps that sort of 'balance' isn't the best for the country.
ReplyDeleteAs for rampant capitalism, you might enjoy this old posting (I am nothing if not balanced).
Indeed, you have covered the failings of right wing politics which makes this post even more curious as it rejects all of the left as though your other posts didn't exist.
DeleteI don't why its odd to reject both the far left and the far right, if for different reasons, which are clear enough in the different posts.
DeleteThe Far Right for its economic greed which led to 'Reagonomics' and 'trickle down' theft, which has reversed all the social equality wealth measures of the post war years and now left the top 1% with 20% of the wealth.
The Far Left for its denial of the reality human nature, in favour of various utopian social states, that left us with nonsense such as Political Correctness and Multiculturalism. Then hypercritically ignoring the nonsense for themselves ... sending their kids to private and grammar schools, while closing them form their voters (Diane Abbott for example). Also the hereditary nature of Asian communist rulers is another good example of Far Left hypocrisy. .
By all means, reject all extremism. My impression from this post was that you rejected all left politics, not just the extremism.
DeleteI am no socialist by any stretch of the imagination, but I accept that some social wealth redistribution is required to stop a small group owning (via inheritance or inadequate taxation measures), too great a proportion of wealth. I wouldn't necessarily describe that as 'left politics', more common sense, but if its leftist, then so be it. However redistribution of wealth from the hard working, to the lazy or feckless via welfare benefits is counter productive and largely driven by ideological vote grabbing.
DeleteI agree, some wealth redistribution should be just common sense, but then we know what an oxymoron that tends to be. In any case, welfare fraud is a drop in the ocean compared with tax avoidance.
Delete'Welfare Fraud' and 'Tax Avoidance' are two different issues, and its a bit like saying 'rapes are up' when 'burglaries are down' .... They are not connected.
DeleteThere is a school of thought that tax avoidance goes up the more inequitable the Tax regime is e.g. when people who work, think that too much is being taken in taxes and 'redistributed' to those who are perceived to be 'free-loaders'.
We may well be at just such a point right now in the political cycle, with all the political parties seemingly vying to make cuts in the welfare bill in the UK.
Pretty interesting debate - quote from Mark Mardell a political analyst on BBC:
Delete"In Europe, for good or ill, the parties of left or right came to a grand bargain that the rougher edges of capitalism would be sanded off by a dose of big government and the welfare state."
Just thought I would throw that in to the pot. :)
As good a quote as any to end the debate on .... thanks for that anon.
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