You might not like hearing this, but... capitalism is responsible for many more deaths than could be attributed to Marxism. It’s been used to justify genocide since the Age of Exploration, all deaths caused by artificial scarcity (and by Nestlé and Chiquita), and so much more.
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Replying to @mediocre_danny @simon_enefer and
That being said, modern Marxists don’t support the policies that led to so many deaths, bc they aren’t needed by socialism— the biggest tragedies were just bad agriculture No specific course of gov’t action is *needed* for socialism beyond the state not suppressing labor anymore
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Replying to @mediocre_danny @KEEMSTAR and
3. The issue the wealth and power of the elite remains. How to align their interests with the rest of us? Venice is the only state to do this over an extended period. Read Julius Norwich history of Venice. Brilliant book, especially the section on how Doges were elected!
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Replying to @simon_enefer @KEEMSTAR and
In any properly (market) socialist system, the only rich would have received their money through their own labor or art, rather than through their property ownership. The main thing socialism objects to is the ability of owners to continue profiting massively without labor.
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Replying to @mediocre_danny @KEEMSTAR and
4. Need a more contemporary example? Look at the wage increases in Hungary over the last decade. I was in Budapest last year and business managers were lamenting high pay increases and the difficulty of recruitment. Want to help workers, stop immigration.
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Replying to @simon_enefer @KEEMSTAR and
The notion you’re suggesting is that you have to hurt some workers to help other workers, while restricting the freedoms of both in the process. But a much more direct solution that does NOT have these effects is known— strengthening unions internationally.
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Replying to @mediocre_danny @KEEMSTAR and
3. Adam Smith himself supported this approach. If the Left pursued this it would benefit its voters, workers everywhere and make the world a safer place.
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Replying to @simon_enefer @KEEMSTAR and
Adam Smith supported closed borders? I mean, that doesn’t really affect me since I think the central ideas of his work are a bit naïve anyway Closing borders doesn’t “make the world safe” though, it does the opposite. It keeps the desperate stuck in dangerous places.
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Replying to @mediocre_danny @KEEMSTAR and
Not close borders. But he recognised that the idea of Free Markets had limits, like national security, equality of cost etc. He even favoured regulation to prevent collusion and cartels forming. Not something the purist Right likes to discuss!
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Replying to @simon_enefer @KEEMSTAR and
Oh right, I knew about that! Yes, compared to actual late-stage capitalism, Adam Smith’s system seems like a utopia. Chomsky went as far as to say Smith would hate modern capitalism and could even identify more with today’s socialists, but Chomsky says that about everybody.
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True. It is strange though, that certain aspects of Smith are emphasised others ignored. I never bought the Free Trade mantra.
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