Is Communism Still Relevant?
Lloyd Metz
Dr. Kersey
POLS-2270
November 20th, 2012
Is Marxism still relevant? In 1999, the BBC conducted a series of polls, asking people to vote on the greatest men and women of the millennium. Names like Albert Einstein, creator of the theory of relativity, Isaac Newton, initial theorist behind natural law, and Marie Curie, physicist and first woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, were listed, however Karl Marx was voted the greatest man of the millennium. Marx’s accomplishment was creating the idea of Marxism, which has unarguably shaped many governments and created immense criticism of capitalism and democracy. One difference between Marx and the pioneers listed above, rests upon the idea of modern relevance. It …show more content…
The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to the upheaval of their government and the induction of a “temporary” regime, known as the Bolsheviks or Communists. It is widely known that this government never disbanded, thus never completed the final step of crisis theory. Author Alan Maass and others claim that Russia never utilized pure Marxism, therefore is an insufficient example of it’s practicality. Although I agree with the author, I think that this further illustrates my aforementioned point. When dictators gain power they never willingly give it back up, governments will never disband themselves. That being said, it seems like it would be impossible to ever find a pure Marxist society. In conclusion, it seems that Marxism is a vehicle in which parties can gain immense support by manipulating the emotions of downtrodden …show more content…
However, I compare Marxism strangely to Conservatism. I only say this because both sets of ideas are only able to survive in an adversarial sense. In respects to that, just like a building, something that can not stand by itself can not be inherently sound. Marxism is only still relevant in describing problems within other ideologies. Marxism is a timeless discussion between first year political science majors, it is a philosophical debate that will never die. Marxism will always be relevant as a disposition or an interesting perspective but never as a fully applicable mind-set or
Dr. Kersey
POLS-2270
November 20th, 2012
Is Marxism still relevant? In 1999, the BBC conducted a series of polls, asking people to vote on the greatest men and women of the millennium. Names like Albert Einstein, creator of the theory of relativity, Isaac Newton, initial theorist behind natural law, and Marie Curie, physicist and first woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, were listed, however Karl Marx was voted the greatest man of the millennium. Marx’s accomplishment was creating the idea of Marxism, which has unarguably shaped many governments and created immense criticism of capitalism and democracy. One difference between Marx and the pioneers listed above, rests upon the idea of modern relevance. It …show more content…
The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to the upheaval of their government and the induction of a “temporary” regime, known as the Bolsheviks or Communists. It is widely known that this government never disbanded, thus never completed the final step of crisis theory. Author Alan Maass and others claim that Russia never utilized pure Marxism, therefore is an insufficient example of it’s practicality. Although I agree with the author, I think that this further illustrates my aforementioned point. When dictators gain power they never willingly give it back up, governments will never disband themselves. That being said, it seems like it would be impossible to ever find a pure Marxist society. In conclusion, it seems that Marxism is a vehicle in which parties can gain immense support by manipulating the emotions of downtrodden …show more content…
However, I compare Marxism strangely to Conservatism. I only say this because both sets of ideas are only able to survive in an adversarial sense. In respects to that, just like a building, something that can not stand by itself can not be inherently sound. Marxism is only still relevant in describing problems within other ideologies. Marxism is a timeless discussion between first year political science majors, it is a philosophical debate that will never die. Marxism will always be relevant as a disposition or an interesting perspective but never as a fully applicable mind-set or