tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6573500847704693761.post9041005370101998020..comments2023-07-14T03:26:19.215-07:00Comments on The Iceman: Loving DemocracyThe_Icemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16887740772649135851noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6573500847704693761.post-72869948073671972802009-06-18T00:44:38.423-07:002009-06-18T00:44:38.423-07:00I have never read anything where Marx advocated de...I have never read anything where Marx advocated democracy, which is not to say that he never discussed it. I just look at the 20th century applications of Marxism, the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Cambodia, etc, etc, and none of them allow people to vote. Infact, in cases such as Tienanman Square, far left countries go to violent lengths to supress the desire of the people for a representative government.<br /><br />I just tacted on that comment about Marx and democracy at the end of a rant about democracy because the modern application of his theories discourages voting. I did indicate that I would have to look into it. Smith's The Wealth of Nations was a debunking of feudalism, Marx was an attempt to debunk Smith. Whether or not people have the right to select their government didn't really have much of an effect on Marx's view of the role of the state.The_Icemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16887740772649135851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6573500847704693761.post-76591796109927795132009-06-17T02:29:10.700-07:002009-06-17T02:29:10.700-07:00With due respect for Marx, there wasn't a grea...With due respect for Marx, there wasn't a great deal of democracy to go around in his day and age, what little there was he did advocate and campaign in favour of, and sought to extend. By and large autocracy ruled the European continent, no universal suffrage or civil rights as we know it, there were property qualifications for those entitled to vote, no universal public education, and so forth. What were termed "radicals" such as Marx campaigned for a Ministry of Labour, universal suffrage with no restrictions ( race, sex or property qualifications), health and safety laws, universal public education. The autocrats who ruled Europe, Hohenzollern, hapsburg, Romanoff, believed common man could not be trusted to govern himself, to make intelligent choices.<br /><br />Lenin reinvented Marx as some Bolshevik conspirator plotting the overthrow of the state, the downfall of law, order, responsible government, but to do him justice place him back in his 19th century context as chief organizer and architect of parliamentary European social democracy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com