Hey! soula avramidis!
>a young man ran towards the old marx all joy and zeal
>wanting to join the cause; marx simply told him to
>bugger off. he was nice but not naive.
That sounds heartbreaking. I'm sorry to hear it.
If you, personally, have to believe that Karl Marx was about the "iron
rule of the working class" as a fixed principle, power to ya. We all
need to have core ideas to continue our own lives (on our internal
level), and if taking that idea you have there, and giving it a bushy
beard and giving it a first name "Karl" -- if that is what helps you get
through the night, fine by me.
Karl Marx (the human being, which is the main focus of the article that
started this thread) was not an ideologue, he lived in a human body, he
had a father and mother who expected him to be certain things, he lived
in London after being chased outta the continent, he had rivals on the
plain upon which he vigorously competed, he had kids and some died (I
cannot comprehend living in such a time of high infant mortality, and
what it does to one), he apparently fucked around, he worked very hard
at what he did, and he had friends who loved him very dearly unto death.
But you know... even if Karl Marx had not been born... we'd still have
something like "Marxism." Just a different name.
As Michael P once put it to me, "Karl just nudged history along."
History was happening with or without that kid born on the Rhine (who
now apparently attends all "American Social Science History Association"
conferences as a ghost).
Ken.
--
You know how they make kosher meat?
They make the animal feel so guilty, it dies.
-- Elayne Boosler
