Quoting ARLO J BENSINGER JR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > But let's not argue past each other here, Craig. The original point here was > whether or not Marx advocated freedom. YOU might interpret his arguments as > leading to a loss of freedom, but there is no denying that Marx was firmly of > the belief that man's freedom was his goal. He may have been "wrong", but he > never advocated tyranny or brutal dictatorship, and especially never the > patriotic state nationalism advocated by Lenin and Strauss.
Direct contradiction of Arlo's assertion that Marx "never advocated tyranny" from the "Communist Manifesto." Read and judge for yourself (emphasis added): "We have seen above that the first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class to win the battle of democracy. "The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state, i.e., of the proletariat organized as the ruling class; and to increase the total productive forces as rapidly as possible. "Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except BY MEANS OF DESPOTIC INROADS on the rights of property, and on the conditions of bourgeois production; by means of measures, therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoidable as a means of entirely revolutionizing the mode of production. "These measures will, of course, be different in different countries. "Nevertheless, in most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable. 1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. 6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. 7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country. 10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc." Of course, Arlo will argue these despotic measures would only be necessary as a temporary step towards Marx's goal of freedom. The history of communist mass genocide has proved the fallacy of that argument. Platt ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
