A Real Socialist Theory of History

[@patricktan7120]

I think this quote from Marx’s The 18th Brumaire is a perfect response to accusations of technological determinism “men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please, they do not make it under self selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead traditions weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.”

[@geoffreycanie4609]

If someone doesn't have crazy hair, I am not interested in what they have to say about socialism and history.

[@TheGodFr0mTheMachine]

Based

[@1Charlotanne]

Everyone has ideas helpful hair is irrelevant

[@RobinHerzig]

Well reasoned, yet smokin’ hot take

[@jamesmurphy9105]

Narrow Minded

[@danyalghaznavi6818]

Or facial hair.

[@dumupad3-da241]

Already in the beginning, I must point out that 'socialists' and 'Marxists' isn't the same thing. The accusation of economic determinism is levelled specifically at Marxists. You can very well advocate socialising the means of production just b/c you think it's a good idea, not b/c you subscribe to a grand theory of human history which includes it as an inevitable element.

[@ZenBen_the_Elder]

Young Cale has some serious theory chops. Impressed!

[@joshuak8194]

How is brushing your teeth not a part of class struggle though? Its really easy, do you have dental insurance and if so is it through your employer? Congratulations historical materialism

[@d34dmantwoguns]

Technological determinism is not that bad of an idea if you think about it in the broader sense. The hand behind the technology and its development is actually more along the lines of the same force that drives capital.

[@Dummy257]

The entirety of marxism is meant in a broader sense. 99% of the criticisms against it are akin to that guy bringing a snowball to congress as a "proof" that climate change wasn't real.

[@sgriffin9708]

Excellent explanation. That clip was a riot. I didn't see that coming. LoL Great work guys. Thank you

[@Sresuify]

Heard the audio, coming into the comments to say Cale killed it.

[@CaleBrooks]

=D

[@glm4054]

Socialism+Humor=👍💋👄🎆💘🐦🌠🌠🌠

[@realdanrusso]

I would love the transcript for this! Are you going to make me type it out? :(

[@CaleBrooks]

But then you’ll realize my jokes are scripted 😓

[@realdanrusso]

@@CaleBrooks hahaha I love your jokes no matter what !

[@johncarter7264]

Thank you!

[@pawnstorminreno]

Brushing your teeth is certainly part of class struggle, just not in most parts of highly developed nations. Access to clean water, a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, and the education to know the value of such things are not givens in places like rural India or the slums of Kabal. as mentioned by others, dental plans, family dentists, scheduled check-ups, and employee dental care plans are all a part of the class struggle. If you lose your job what happens to that dental insurance? Are you not quite tethered to that position?

[@apartofthewhole6639]

Maybe would should emphasize a fight fit a thirty hour work week alongside $15 dollar an hour minimum(which is still too low)

[@jamesmurphy9105]

Conflicts over metaphors priceless

[@RobinHerzig]

My question is always *How?*

[@coldcoffee1506]

Can anyone give me an easy explanation of the difference between dialectical and historical materialism, I understand historical materialism well but I don’t really grasp the dialectic material part.

[@liamwalt4406]

i think your view of history is also a bit of. Marx was newer techno deterministic or class deterministic. He saw society in at least two layers one superstructure e.g ideology, law etc and an material base e.g economy, class, geography, social relations, technology, ways of organizing production etc. Both of these matters that is whats make Marxism genius its not vulgar materialist like Feuerbach "you are what you eat" but its not idealist where only ideas matters like Hegel or other Hegelian views of history. if you would like to do a simple analysis on for example China you would see that china has enormous class differences and its an dictatorship. The state seems stable enough. But the class differences are big. But its ideological machine works well and people don't rebel. But what will happen if for example china's housing bubble explodes i.e a part of the material base. If that leads to for example a 10 percent drop in China's GDP. Well then people would be angry, it would impact the ideological superstructure. Their would probably be large protest in the street. from that china could take 2 roads social democracy and a parliamentary democracy. building up a welfare state etc. Or do a neoliberal shook therapy like Russia in the 90's. which way they go is largely determined by ideology i.g the superstructure but its also impacted by class powers and a lot of other things as well. So ideology impacts class and vice versa. Superstructure and material base impact each other.

[@abrahamgomez653]

Marx contradicts himself when he says that class struggle begins with the industrial revolution,l between owner and wage earners, when he also says that all history is a class struggle between have and have nots. If class struggle has always existed than it will always exist.

[@zackwalker8756]

Do ya'll think that Marx had a French Fork growth pattern in his beard?

[@micixduda]

Isn't marriage women's equality struggle and/or subsidized birth rate?

[@princesskenyetta4745]

Historical Materialism begins with materialism. That basic frame seems to be missing from the present Marxist interpretation. The gist of materialism is that only matter exists, but the prescient context is that of the scientific method. Marx said to use the scientific method in the scope of history. Historical Materialism Implicit is to use a working-class perspective on justice, instead of the amoral perspective of conventional science under capitalism.

[@anypercentdeathless]

You could save a lot of time by simply defining your terms, then saying what you want with them. Don't debate yourself vis a vis different prescriptive definitions.

[@GhostOnTheHalfShell]

Y’all need to learn from anthropology and its history regarding its own ideas wrt to the history of civilization. Your and Marx’s ideas about hunter gathers and the rear is a bit narrow and quaint.

[@lukenineteentwentyseven5051]

.

[@peakedmalefeminist9782]

It is not bad to acknowledge the illusion of free will and I find socialists who try to ignore such truths boring.

[@quinnvj52]

Very stupid. A waste of my time.

[@FloraDoehler]

This is so disturbing for jacobin to be associated with this adolescent,caricature of the marxs. Based on the title, I was so looking forward to this video. As a socialist, a woman and a feminist, I feel that you have deeply insulted Jenny Marx and your entire audience with this pathetic attempt at humour.

[@deelee4639]

Agreed...

[@arjunravichandran7578]

Yeah..that bit really took away from the rest of the video which was quite good. The bit wasn't even that funny.

[@seanconnolly6002]

The delivery of the joke was subpar and it went on way too long. It wasn't sexist though. Talking about sex =/= sexism.

[@1Charlotanne]

Yes I didn't like the Jenny part but as a 78 year old socialist female who has been beaten up emotionally by the work force and patriarchy its a great conversation overall. Bravo! No one's perfect

[@sandradigiantomasso5378]

agree. that was dumb. Jenny Marx was an intelligent person independent of Karl. I was really enjoying it until that point.

[@iamscoutstfu]

No no guys. That wasn't REAL socialism. This is real socialism. What a novel and unique argument. Ya'll really just dont get it.

[@jrad410]

Marx just isn’t that compelling to me, he was wrong with a number of his predictions and ideas