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Leamington Letters #55: Marxist or Marx-ish?

13/10/2013

18 Comments

 
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Unlike Ed Miliband, I did not have a Marxist father.

But my children do.

Actually, I think I am currently, to borrow a phrase from Alexander Cockburn, more accurately described as Marx-ish rather than Marxist.

There was a time, I confess, when I adopted a more strictly reductionist point of view; when I really did believe that “it is not the consciousness of man that determines his existence; but, rather, his social existence that determines his being”.

I was not alone is taking this literally and as a single sentence out of context. And we therefore presented an easy target. It is not difficult to argue against, as did Russell and Popper amongst others, that class interest, greed and hidden motives are the sole driving forces of history. This is vulgar Marxism – simple, and simplistic.

Marx was less obvious, subtler and more nuanced than this. (Forgive me if I read as if I am describing a modern Australian Shiraz.) And it is the subtleties and nuances of Marx  which make him good reading and increasingly relevant today.

He wasn’t merely an economist. In fact, he wasn’t strictly an economist at all. Although, of course, he was sufficiently prescient to predict that capitalism naturally progresses towards monopoly and thus to globalisation, and also to predict that  the profits taken by those who control the means of production (we call them company directors today) would increasingly exceed the wages of those who create the wealth (we call them employees today). 

This is why  one occasionally reads that a hedge fund manager in the City or New York has paid tribute to  and thanked Marx the economist for his insights into the markets. Whether they know it or not, it is to Marx that they owe their analyses and their huge bonuses.

For me, Marx was first and foremost an historical materialist. Or maybe, a materialist historian. And as  even Popper said,  Marxist historical materialism is “a most valuable suggestion to us to consider things in their relation to their economic background”. Marx, of course, would have gone further. He never made judgements about capitalism ( word, incidentally, he never used); he praised it (political economy) for its enterprise and innovation.

So why is Marxism so denigrated? Why are Marxists portrayed as people “who hate our country”. What’s the problem here?

Well, much of it is the equation of Marxism with communism. Or to be precise, with Leninism and Stalinism. It’s difficult to attribute this to anything other than ignorance or malice. It’s akin to equating our present society with Burke or Hume or Hobbes or Adam Smith or Locke or Mill.

But as we recently seen, this kind of nonsense is standard practice for the likes of Paul Dacre. I speak as someone who, proudly and for many years, has owned a lapel badge which reads “Hated by the Daily Mail”. They don’t know me from Adam Smith, but if they did they would hate Max Smith. Because I have read Marx and think that some – even much – of it is accurate and sensible and helpful in understanding the way in which our society works.

And one of the ways in which Marx is helpful to me in his moral and social analysis. True, he railed against the impotence of morality in his day and criticised those who would seek to mitigate the worst excesses of capitalism with the introduction of charity.

But he also claimed that “although an individual cannot become free in isolation from others, nonetheless it is only individuals who are free”.

There is such a thing as society. It is the nature of that society which determines whether or not each of us is free.

Right now, some are, some aren’t. We are not in this together. Some are, some (many of whom are in the Government and used to be in the Bullingdon) aren’t.

As John Lanchester has reminded us, “If you take the Jubilee Line from Westminster towards the east, male life expectancy goes down a year every stop for the next eight stops”.

I find this unacceptable. I don’t know whether this makes me a Marxist or not. But it’s certainly, as the publishers of the Zinoviev Letter would claim, Marx-ish.

And I am happy to accept this.

18 Comments
Allan
13/10/2013 12:20:15

This is rather more like it. I suspect that this is where we have all arrived: plucking Marxian memories and applying them to middle and old age angst.

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Max
15/10/2013 05:26:09

Speak for yourself.

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Anders
14/10/2013 00:22:58

There seems to be something of renaissance going on at the moment. Marx and Marxism is having a bit of a revival, and it may well be the result of the centre consensus of coalition politics and the absence of a real opposition. Marx for me was always a way of thinking rather than a series of objectives. Still is.

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Max
15/10/2013 05:28:19

I agree with you. Always found the answer when turning Hegelian dialectic on its head,

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CJ
14/10/2013 00:33:26

Two weeks out of three: no music. Is there nothing left in the everysmith vault?

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Max
14/10/2013 04:22:35

Loads! This weekend was going to be the new waxing from The Swaps, but didn't make it to the launch gig. So I'm dipping into Roky Erickson and the Explosives and remembering the 13th Floor Elevators ...

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CJ
16/10/2013 10:35:48

He could/can play. And the days of those nugget gems were wondrous days. The new Wolfgang download is a lovely JGB show. Download it now.

JonathanP
14/10/2013 03:52:31

He's the bogeyman, isn't he? One word which sums up everything that our rulers are afraid of. Of course, there are two of them. Marx the philosopher/political theorist and Marx the revolutionary. The latter is the one they are worried about, but it is his analyses of history that they should frighten them more. In fact, what they have done - whether they know it or admit it - is to learn from him. Marx actually believed in capitalism as a progressive force and pointed out the infinite ability of the system to reinvent itself. I doubt whether anything that is happening now would surprise him in the least. The problem is, it is surprising the political classes who simply cannot adjust.

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Max
15/10/2013 05:31:25

Nothing surprises me, that's for sure. How many times, in reply to a friend ranting against this or that, responded in this way: 'why are you surprised? This is what they do!'

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Mark
14/10/2013 05:07:02

Where did you get that stat about the Jubilee line from? Is it really true, even today?

Reply
Max
15/10/2013 05:33:06

Shamelessly stolen, but with attribution, from a piece in London review of books by John Lanchester, entitled Marx at 193. About six months ago I think.

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DanW
14/10/2013 07:17:52

It was Thatcher and the Daily Mail who hated Britain, and set about dismantling and destroying it. Do they now have what they love? Probably not, because they have a view of a country which has never existed. The problem? Millions believe their propaganda.someone told me Dacre lives a few doors away from Marx's old house in Haverstock Hill!

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Max
15/10/2013 05:34:42

This is right. Not sure about the geographical synchronicity of Marx and Dacre, but the rest of it!

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WillW
14/10/2013 12:04:21

So now we know where you're coming from. Always enjoyed your 'Marxish' take on stuff in England and France. More and more relevant in my opinion. Thanks.

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Max
15/10/2013 05:35:22

... And thank you.

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Dan
15/10/2013 07:19:35

Max! I will be in Leamingrad on the 15th of Nov. or possibly the 14th. Will you be around?

Reply
Max
15/10/2013 08:49:13

Dan! Welcome back and congratulations. Yeh. We're around. Both days. Would be great to see you.

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Sam Cleary
29/11/2013 02:44:18

Absolutely loved this piece, Max. Keep up the good work! Can I request more politics/philosophy and less Dylan? ;)

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     Max Smith

    European writer, radical, restaurateur and Red Sox fan. 70-something husband, father, step-father. and grandfather. Resident in Warwick, England.

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