Well done Speed. I'll freely admit to not knowing much about Marx; that was an informative read. Hopefully this will help kick up the level of conversation a notch. I have a couple of questions:
Wasn't the Manifesto written in collaboration with someone else? Were Marx's other works co-authored by this same person and do you think that there was some influence; perhaps this guy he met got him all fired up about revolution?
Did Marx argue that once upon a time, there was no social hierarchy? This makes sense if someone is trying to use a vision of an idealized past as an inspirational tool, but it seems irresponsible for an historian. Was this part of the Manifesto?
Your assertion that he made sense as a theorist, but was dangerous as a realist seems to fit well with my understanding. I always thought that he argued socialism as an inevitable development. Do you think that perhaps he was growing concerned and frustrated with his lack of impact? Did he maybe kick it up a notch hoping to turn some heads?
End questions.
Theres an book called
Totalitarian Language (I forget the subtitle) which explores the language used by the Soviets and the Nazis in their propaganda and relates it to Orwell's 1984. It seems interesting. I've picked at it for research, but I've never really read it. I read a book about the Chinese Communist propaganda machine,
Mass persuasion in Communist China by Frederick T.C. Yu, and I think they win. The vocabulary of the peasantry after their "education" is truly impressive.
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For the rest of this thread:
My first problem is the use of this left/right political science concept which was proven useless over fifty years ago. Politics are ridiculously complicated and constantly becoming more-so, yet this two dimensional spectrum continues to be the yardstick for people, movements, and ideas. I mean, shit, G.W. Bush is further to the left and the right than anyone I know.
As for the term extreme, I highly recommend looking into Daoist philosophies. These philosophies also address big government and just about everything yalls is arguin bout. The progress of harmony is a slow, but worthy goal. Socio-political extremes lead away from harmony toward conflict, blame, demonization, hatered and revenge. That's why the eye of black is white and the eye of white is black.