WebCT Discussion: Marxism

Speaker 1:
I would love to make this post sound intelligent like most of myclassmates do. But, I just am not that bright. I do however have have very honest and cynical views about Karl Marx and Marxism. Let me firststate that I do believe Marxism is a beautiful ideology. The idea of everyone coming together in a community for the common good and distributing the goods of that community evenly is a noble cause filled with enormous amounts of integrity and character. For these reasons alone I respect Karl Marx as much as anyone in history. But there are some problems that I see with the reality of this.

First where is the accountability for the assets and distribution of such assets evenly. It says in The Ten Steps of Communism that the state will handle these affairs. Which then brings me to my second point.

Greed will eventually rear its ugly head. Greed is a natural instinct born into every human being . Sharing with one another is a learned behavior and inevitably someone will want more than their share. What do we do in that case? Keep starting over and over and over? I said in the outset that my opinions are cynical and a bit dark. My experience has been the selfish cream always rises to the top and as much as it pains me to say, at least if we know the selfishness is out there we can keep an eye out for it. The motto in a capitalist society is, " he who has the most wins the game!" At least right now we know what game we are playing. In a Marxist or Communist society the rules of the game can change at any moment, but where will the referee be to call the foul?


Speaker 2:
I can't help but agree. As much as I idealize a communist model, I also feel it would not be sustainable.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember where I read a comparison on the communist government with that of a capitalist government, but I will never forget the point that was made. The comparison focused on manufacturing and production and pulled a few examples from the Soviet Union and the United States. Specifically, it illustrated how resources and manufacturing processes were constantly under research and development, as the capitalist factory structure perpetually sought to find the most efficient method of production. This was done either by improving production technology, increasing labor efficiency, finding economic substitutes for raw materials, or any other multiple means, which would lower the cost per unit of production. Whereas, the communist plant, lacked financial motivation to find a more economic and efficient means of producing the same product. Their interest was to maintain the production of a certain amount of units, not a more efficient means of production per unit.

This was one of the examples, but in my opinion, one of the most prevalent.

Speaker 1 brings up a very good reason for unsustainability, one that is not easily measured. The human factor. Whenever a discussion of communism occurs, I am always reminded of “Utopia” by Sir Thomas More. Their structure was communist/socialist and as their community pastime they would tend to their communal gardens and compete with other communities as to who had the best garden. Of course, the account of this society by Sir Thomas More is fictional, but it does bring up a point that human nature varies. Interest, desire, fears, pursuits; how tangible is it for an entire society to be molded into only one form of thinking, with limited options? Although communism has many positive, social benefits, as mentioned in class, ultimately someone has to make decisions that go against someone else’s desires.

Dolanism:

Communism or Capitalism. I seem to fall between the two at least in theory. It seems that everything is great in theory, but it becomes all screwed up once the human element places it in reality.

Speaker 1, the question you pose, “where is the accountability for the assets and distribution of such assets evenly” is a great one but just to simply ask where is the accountability in an all-encompassing manner would suffice. The idea of who will control the controllers always struck out in my mind. The idea that the State would watch over everyone is something that sounds like a nice plan, I mean hey if the State takes care of everything it should make life easier because of the less stuff that an individual would have to worry about right? Just as you say “Greed will eventually will rear its ugly head”, and that is the issue with the State overseeing things because the State is comprised of individuals with their own agendas and ideologies. The State is not some object and does things behind the scenes to make the country function, it is people and people are selfish. So it is inevitable for the failure of the State because of the inability for people to stick to ideas of Communism.

To say that your ideas are cynical and dark might not be true, I would say that your ideas are on par with the reality of human nature. I think that it is the abuse of power or intelligence that allows for the failure of Communism when taken from theory and put in to practice. I also think that the less educated do allow for greed and corruption to run rampant because they need an idea to follow to keep them in a civil or orderly manner.