historical materialism, ie. 'marxism', is built around an incredibly simple premise, and yet history insists it's impossibly difficult to realize. or at least that's what history would have us believe by showing us those immature stages we mistook for true marxist states. but nobody well versed enough in marxism would ever call china or russia or any of the little satellite countries 'marxist' in the full sense of the word. state capitalist dictatorships, maybe, but shirley not worker-run and controlled democratic governments. and this is why marxism gets a bad rap; it's associated with instances in history at which is wasn't fully developed. like this stuff:
What do banksterism and Marxism have in common?
Centralized control, oligarchy, under the guise of liberty and equality.
to be sure, 'centralized control' plays a role in the establishment of a marxist state, but isn't the end-game at all. most marxists agree that during a revolutionary period some kind of central leadership is required to mastermind the operation and give it organization and direction.
but the real give-away when you're talking to someone who's only repeating the same old tired nonsense about marxism, is the 'equality' myth. so common it ought to be on bumper stickers by now. abolishing privately owned business and putting the means and modes of production into the hands of the workers has nothing to do with any 'equality'.
it's the genius of the conservative right to portray marxism as some kind of utopian fantasy that even an idiot would deny was possible, see. today there's really only two kinds of anti-marxists. one kind has been brainwashed into believing it's impossible, and the other kind has something to lose directly if it were ever realized. the first kind isn't the real danger. they're just uneducated and backward. the second kind is the problem; they're the capitalist parasites that have something to lose if they're no longer able to profit from someone else's labor and are forced to become productive workers in society. i mean who the fuck wants to work, right? if you can figure out a way to make some other guy do the work while you get the rewards, you'd have to be a decent person not to do so. and how many capitalists do you know that want to be decent people?
so my beef - and imma third party anarcho-nihilist just watching the show, btw - with capitalists is that they're still trying to convince themselves and others that they have any concern for the well being of anyone but themselves and their immediate family/friends. in such a case you'd have to be either a liar or an imbecile. and that's my problem; i don't like liars because they're weaklings and cowards... and i don't like imbeciles because they're imbeciles.
When most capitalists and workers are pretty ethical, when capitalism has been purged of corporatism, state capitalism and fractional reserve banking (and when there's a strong safety net), capitalism is one of, if not the best systems, but when most people are unethical
and therein lies the fundamental error. ethics
begins and is only made possible for/between people when they are equally obligated to share and engage in material production. if a society can't get this much right
before anything else... before any idiot philosopher utters the first word about any 'social contract' or 'constitution', there can be no reconciliation or peace between the classes such a society necessarily creates in the event that this obligation is not met by all its citizens.
it baffles me how so many brilliant thinkers here and elsewhere can't seem to grasp this essential troof. i have seen every argument under the sun for the 'rationality' and 'necessity' of capitalism, and every one of them is full of hot air. no for real, bro. like i've been doing this shit for a looong mufuckin time. when i wuz 27 i thought i was possessed by the spirit of che guevara. it was bad, man.