Posted by Peter Ceresole on August 03, 2003 at 06:49:02 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: 'Marxist nonsense' posted by John Lambert on August 03, 2003 at -1:39:15:
Marxists have to accept some responsibility for the horror the application of those same thories have unleashed upon the world.
No more than capitalists have to collectively accept responsibility for what has been done in Latin America, for example. Marxism is an analysis of social and economic relationships which has proved accurate and has been one of the intellectual bases of the civilising of capitalism.
The connection between Marxism and the excesses of Communism is about the same as that between Christianity and the genocide and dispossession of the American Indians, or Judaism and the disposession and murder of Palestinians now. All of these connections have, however, been politicised to such an extent that nobody can think straight about them any longer. That's very sad, but I suppose it's human.