Ask Prof Wolff: Marx on the Role of the State

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "I recall having heard you say that Karl Marx never really talked much about the State because he wasn't all that interested in the State. People tell me their beef with Karl Marx is that he advocated for use of the State to enforce communism or socialism. When asked where in Marx's writings that he advocated for use of the State, they never cite to Das Kapital (because they've never read it) but always reference the 10 Planks of the Communist Manifesto. How would you respond to those people?"
This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.
Submit your own question to be considered for a video response by Prof. Wolff on Patreon: / community .
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[@jamesmcmillan2656]

Recently I have been getting a lot of Tucker Carlson short clips on my KZbin auto play. Has KZbin changed its algorithm to gaslight its viewers?

[@HillbillyHippyOG]

Nah, it’s just ‘Redirecting the Masses 101.’ The powerful always look to run ahead of a movement and insert a ‘leader.’ So they’re trying to legitimize their silver-spooned spokesman by portraying him as a rogue FOX guy with leftist leanings. It’s an eye-rollingly common technique to redirect a grassroots movement into a gullible crowd of fans lead by a leader who will take them nowhere near their goals. ✌🏼

[@lug.5329]

Likely. I am getting Republican suggestions

[@melaniel.s8990]

Possibly, I think the algorithm has changed, this I don't like because a lot of the right wing stuff is misinformation and gaslighting, like the anti vax stuff ..

[@theprinceofcrows8691]

I have had some in my feed too but I assumed it was due to the Russo-Ukrainian war coverage. Maybe it is due to something else though.

[@dionysianapollomarx]

It could be that more conservatives are listening to the left media, like a reverse pipeline.

[@MsOceanstar]

Thanks Prof Wolff for clarification. Wish the working class in the US get more interested and educated regarding Marx re capitalism. And everyone should and by now see with their eyes and experience the oppression /dysfunction/ corruption of the US (the STATE ) government which has always been in cahoots with the corporate state billionaires class!

[@ninja1antelope]

…would love to sit in one of your lectures in person - bet it’s even more impactful. Thank you for sharing your thoughts they bring solace in the world of chaos - of the natural and unnatural kind.

[@jgalt308]

Given the thousands of students that actually have...the number of people that are actually willing to pay him (2500) does not seem to support that claim, and it took him 10 years to get that many. So I guess in the scheme of things and the effect of his lectures...ONCE WAS ENOUGH!!!!

[@RadicalCaveman]

@@jgalt308 Just like a capitalist shill to equate somebody's worth with how many people are willing to pay them...

[@jgalt308]

And another "willfully ignorant, functionally illiterate, unevolved talking hominid" insists on confirming the description. The facts speak for themselves, as have the people...so much for democracy and its ability to produce the results expected. Luckily, the constitution was written to prevent it as well as the tyranny of government while guaranteeing the right to free speech among others. Oh wait, FDR, fiat money, and the new deal discarded the constitution, so none of that is true anymore, and capitalism went down the drain, also. So, be careful what you wish for...as now it is not a matter of if you will hang separately, but when. Given the numbers, democratically speaking, you are a lot closer to the front of the line than the rear.

[@ninja1antelope]

@@jgalt308 the US constitution was written to be hacked up and rewritten, said it’s authors. Threatening an opposing view, not only misses its original intentions but encompass everything it strived to drive out of gov. To threaten or kill those who disagree, aligns with the Taliban….

[@jgalt308]

And the "willfully ignorant, functionally illiterate, unevolved talking hominid" insists on confirming the description. Again! It's a shame that the 'constitution" doesn't seem to have a "hacking up" provision, although it does have a process for any changes that made be needed or to replace it altogether. Unfortunately, neither FDR nor any other branch of government chose to avail themselves of that process, but employed "fraudulent deception" instead, and dangled the promise of "illusionary safety" in exchange for "essential liberty"...after all its "needing to do something" failed to solve the problems it had exacerbated in the first place...and it promised to do more, a scam that the public bought...and got them what they deserved...neither the liberty, nor the safety. The twitter brained ignorance expressed matches the lack of obvious effort but the mention of "authors" is ironic considering the real history. "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

[@jeffreywillstewart]

I love Prof Wolff!

[@3rdrock]

That's beautiful. Anarchy evolves from civilisation.

[@bluewater454]

Anarchy has always devolved into totalitarianism. There are no exceptions in history that I am aware of.

[@liasonlee1248]

Too early to celebrate, isn't it?

[@3rdrock]

@@bluewater454 Care to give some examples ?

[@bluewater454]

@@3rdrock The French Revolution

[@3rdrock]

@@liasonlee1248 Who's celebrating ? We've hardly made it to civilised ...

[@grndpahawk5990]

Thank you !!!

[@raymondjensen4603]

So, the state withers away? Could you go into more detail as to how that would work after the revolution? It seems like we get a real defined map right up to and through the revolution, then it's fog after that. Historically, the power of the state after a revolution seems to increase not decrease, and no amount of democratic input seems to mitigate its coerciveness.

[@dildabekbekman1188]

То о чём говорит профессор очень интересно. Я имею в виду третий вид социализма. Я бы назвал его "кооперативный социализм". Это то что планировалось построить в СССР, но к сожалению не удалось и не хватило времени. Это то о чём много думал Сталин и его команда, особенно после второй мировой войны в прошлом веке. Это то, о чём мечтали простые люди в СССР после смерти Сталина. Это тот путь с которого свернул руководитель Хрущёв и его команда после смерти Сталина. Я, как бывший гражданин СССР, сегодня представляю себе такой социализм, где рабочие стали бы настоящими хозяевами предприятий и страны. Этот вид социализма может быть был тем примером к чему стремились коммунисты в СССР. Но к сожалению не получилось. А получилось, то о чём сказал профессор Вольф, когда политическая власть была сконцентрирована в руках людей, которые не думали о социализме и рабочем человеке, что в конечном итоге в середине 80- х годов привело к реставрации капитализма. Профессор Вольф рассматривает чисто экономическую модель такого социализма. Это правильно. Но он совсем не говорит о политической составляющей, при которой этот так называемый "кооперативный социализм" существовал бы. Он не говорит здесь, о том как прийти к этой экономической модели "кооперативного социализма". Ведь профессор совсем не затрагивает политическую борьбу и политическую часть этого вопроса. Эта всего лишь абстрактная экономическая модель, но как достичь её на практике, как прийти к ней в конкретной стране или во всех странах сразу не говорит. А ведь это очень серьёзно. Политика и политическая борьба, особенно борьба между классом рабочих и классом сособственников - капиталистов будет только обостряться. И самый главный вопрос, если крупная компания принадлежит небольшой группе частных собственников как добиться того, чтобы они передали свою частную собственность всем рабочим на этом предприятии. Вряд ли собственники добровольно отдадут свою собственность, а значит капиталы добровольно, без всякой компенсации в руки обыкновенных людей. По-моему здесь есть элемент идеализма. Вот для этого Маркс, а затем и Ленин придумали политическую теорию классовой войны и использования капиталистического государственного аппарата для достижения целей социализма. Ленин учил, что собственник никогда не отдаст добровольно свою собственность простым трудящимся. Собственники всегда будут сопротивляться и развяжут войну против народа, чтобы удержать собственность и власть в своих руках.Поэтому он выдвинул идею диктатуры трудящихся или диктатуры рабочего класса. Ленин продвинул идею Маркса не только экономически, но и политически. Поэтому без идей Ленина о революции, о подавлении диктатуры частных собственников и установлении диктатуры народа, по-моему, не обойтись. Может профессор расскажет, что он думает по этому поводу. Как перераспределить политически власть и собственность из рук корпораций и частных капиталистов в руки простых людей. Было бы интересно это узнать.

[@PoliticalEconomy101]

The withering away of the state is what caused Yugoslavia to collapse.

[@dennisyoung4631]

“The state is composed of its people.” Concentration of Power is invariably a bad idea - and Capitalism facilitates concentration of economic power. This concentration of power - ultimately, of monopoly - when combined with concentrations of political power - results in *Fascism.* It would seem that there is a connection between (non-regulated) capitalism and autocratic government. How strong of a connection - I suspect it varies. I am seeing a fairly solid connection in this here and now. I’m grinding through this on my own - much as if I’m too fatigued, or too stupid, to read. I have yet to read Marx.

[@mikedepidep5155]

wow,that was well explained sir WOLFE

[@MrDXRamirez]

It was.

[@frank124c]

Excellent explanation!

[@WokeDetection]

Is this what you teach your students?

[@mrduckman225]

Glad to hear Richard staying to quote Lenin. That's part of the reason why the American left is so stuck because we're in the beginning stages of socialist understanding.

[@maxyogi]

You cpuld easily argue, Prof. Wolff, that it was indeed Marx's premise that the State cpuld help drive these changes which opened the floodgates to newfound 'progressive' ideologies within Government and State that these can be used oppurtunistically as Political weaponizations to enhance a Political party/agenda. What marx assumed was/is that opening the Eyes of these exactingly corrupt minded pillars would strike a chord in the right direction. Yet, what was actually achieved was/is a reverse engineered mindset of more proficient exploitation using the System. Against it's own People.

[@jgalt308]

Capitalism was the "revolution" against the "system" and Marx expected it to succeed... and he was wrong. All Wolff has accomplished is to distort both capitalism and the"system" rendering Marx both incomprehensible and unachievable since it embraces the contradiction rather than exposing it.

[@PinkStalin]

If i remember correctly, das kapital had many more planned volumes than were published, one of which was planned to be about the state and the usage of the state by and for the working class. This is very much what these same socialists of the 20th century were hell-bent on practicing and trying, because of those experiments, because in the end thats what they were (and still are), teach us a lot about the role of the state, its strengths, especially in world war 2, invasions, the cia, etc, and its weaknesses, chances at corruption and the like.

[@MrDXRamirez]

Four volumes in fact merged into three by Engels. Only one volume the first volume made it to publication for general consumption the remaining volumes and all of Marx’s writings discovered later made publication in the 1950s and 60s long after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Chinese Revolution of 1930. So they did not have the benefit of the entire work of Marx to craft their state into a workers state. However, the material was available to the capitalist state and when John D. Rockefeller was asked by a reporter when he was governor of NY during the Attica Uprising if he ever read Das Kapital his answer was yes; he said the book would be the death of him. The rich study Marx with respect the working class does not out of disrespect.

[@twistedoperator4422]

The state is not the state. It's an extension of corporate power.

[@marywest6844]

In USA absolute, other countries the parasites have footholds and are in process of trying to envelop, encompass. But many of us, see what has been going on. Corporate hedgemony for the emperor's and empresses, unseen and unheard. Bigger, globalisation, monopolies, financialization is not better.

[@matthewingerson]

Yup. It is co-opted by the mob-rule of the wealthy-class minority to the detriment of the working-class majority.

[@36cmbr]

Hurry up and get it done, Professor. Time’s a-wasting. The divide and conquer impetus is alive and well. Later for you, bud.

[@pauladams1829]

♡

[@gabepace9296]

Thank you for explaining the two types of Markism. Not with standing the two versions, what does the left now? Obviously they want more governmental control/open borders /stacking the supreme court . etc etc. Which system do you and the left recommend that meets the requirements of the Constitution and other founding fathers set up? I think this is a better question than theone you chose.

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

Did you even watch the video?

[@plusixty8992]

he didnt explain two types of marxism lol

[@raymondjensen4603]

Yeah, there are two kinds of Markism...,, Mark 1 and Mark 2 (stay away from Mark 2)

[@rdg8390]

Thanks for the clarification. I always promote your channel. I do urge you to go beyond the traditional Capitalist, Socialist, Communist ideologies. The global population and pollution need urgent solutions that make these ideological differences irrelevant to our survival as a species. The new world order will be forced to adopt a stringent environmental government, where the elected state officials, regulate what is produced, how it is produced and in what measure it is consumed. It will also be forced to regulate population. None of the current ideologies have comprehensively demonstrated competency, which is why we now have Extinction Rebellion! They believe our governments are failing to lead. Your discussions need to widen and include their concerns. Invite their spokesperson onto your channel.

[@raymondjensen4603]

You might want to lighten up a little... and extend your band width.

[@glenngamst61]

Dr. Wolff: Time to reread Lenin's State and Revolution. To omit this work on a discussion of the state is very troubling.

[@sadwest1]

Glenn Glamst: you should check out Huey Newton's speech on revolutionary intercommunalism

[@MKL951]

I'd love to see Dr Richard debate Jordan Peterson

[@stevecu6176]

Marx had two major criticisms of capitalism, and leftists conveniently forget one of them. namely the anarchy of capitalist production. As Marx says in the communist manifesto, they create a monster they cannot control. In order to address this anarchy Marx advocated 'rational and conscious planning'. To achieve a planning system requires coordination, monitoring feedback and a whole host of others things. Western leftists ignore this aspect of Marxism because it doesn't sit well with their petty bourgeois masses, and they don't want to be associated with Stalinism, so replace the end of exchange ('rational planning') with woke bullshit and workerism.

[@jl8942]

Leaped from Marx to "wokeism" because of "Western leftist". This whole comment is pretentious word salad.

[@stevecu6176]

Word salad, I thought I was quite specific in what I said. Or maybe you have trouble reading? And your comment was word Kentucky fried chicken, i.e of no nutritional value

[@jl8942]

@@stevecu6176 you are ignorant... You don't know what "woke" means and you made up a term to serve your propaganda "western leftist". This is nonsense, it doesn't mean anything, and nothing you say matters.

[@michael511128]

China has done it. Rational planning for State Owned banks, oil, steel, food production, electricity, infrastructure construction, railways, airlines, communication, weapons. They produce just as many billionaires like Alibaba and Tiktok, green energy and electric vehicles but no billionaires in sectors where their entrepreneurial or capitalists interests conflict directly with the public. Imagine a US where no bankers own the Fed, no oilmen own the wells, and no Wall Street funds lobby for defence for the planet.

[@stevecu6176]

Hi MF, you mention oil men etc, this is just repeating the same criticism of capitalism that leftists always use, i.e. exploitation, class dominance etc but your comment is not a criticism of the anarchy of capitalist production, which means demand and supply, purchase and sale, speculative production, markets etc etc etc. China plays a very pivotal role in reproducing this anarchy, even if we can credit it with bringing the bourgeois to heel somewhat.

[@bluewater454]

Yes, there seemed to be “two Karl Marxs” in writing. But there has only been one brand of Marxism in reality - the Marxism of Communist Manifesto, chapter 2. Marxists love to talk about the Marxism of Das Kapital. It seems to be very benign and analytical. The problem is that when Marxists come to power, they go straight for CM chapter 2 Marxism. Even Wolff, after doing the usual song and dance about how CM was written early in Marx’s life, and that DK was the more “mature” Marx, came right out and admitted here that “capture of the State” is necessary to neutralize capitalism. ….which brings us right back to early Marx. Communist Manifesto, Chapter 2.

[@bluewater454]

.

[@bluewater454]

Testing

[@jgalt308]

I thought this was fun: "They say you can't fix STUPID, and it turns out you can't quarantine it either." Still, you have to give the commenters of "democracy at work "credit" as they are working hard to "self-quarantine".

[@Tetragrammaton22]

You're also one such commenter. In fact you may be the most consistent commenter of all, never missing a single video. I'm sure they appreciate you boosting the algorithm as much as you do.

[@jgalt308]

@@Tetragrammaton22 Why is it that y'all keep on demonstrating the fact that you can't read? If the "wolff cult" were successful at achieving "self-quarantine" I wouldn't be here. And the continuous exposure of the B.S. here is hardly boosting the algorithm...

[@jgalt308]

Still, you have to give the commenters of "democracy at work "credit" as they are working hard to "self-quarantine".

[@chuckleaf8027]

@Account NumberEight There you go again. How did Galt inflict pain on others, or get pleasure from it? By depriving mankind of the motor? He left it in the factory. He was the "destroyer", but actually the liberator.. convincing the industrialists, like Danagger or Rearden, to leave...which is actually complying with the progressives in the novel who claim they are greedy and evil. The true sadist in the novel is Dr Ferris who tortures Galt with the electric shock machine. Why do you keep making shit up???

[@chuckleaf8027]

@Account NumberEight Go read his speech... It's from the speech according to Turnbull,,,(where your bogus quote comes from..) Show me where he vows that he will return with genetically superior super-humans and sweep up the stragglers.. Can;t you see that this is just Turnbull being hyperbolic???

[@cev12]

It's funny to me that discussions like this hold Marx up as some sort of God. He's just a man--by all means concur with him, but don't adhere to his texts like gospel.

[@thetreekeeper143]

??? I didn't get that notion in this video. What on earth are you going on about??

[@cev12]

@@thetreekeeper143 Im “going on about” the fact that people keep feeling the need to dissect Marx’ writing, the same as religious texts. Socialism is not limited to Marx, and there’s no need to be confined to his beliefs as some sort of gospel. Thanks for asking… 😐

[@jerryhann4698]

I think we need to change the term "democratic socialsm" to "democratic capitalism " That is the goal here so let's call it that. I believe more people will listen and be interested in what that means

[@MrDXRamirez]

really that would dictatorial capitalism because employees are not free in the workplace to decide anything democratically.

[@RadicalCaveman]

Democratic capitalism is a contradiction in terms.

[@chuckleaf8027]

Wolff sugar coats it. Just recently he was saying there'd be room for self employed in socialism but not employers. This would mean they'd need to use force, since the business owners would probably not go without a fight.. That necessitates having a state, with a police department or something of the sort to enforce their dictates.

[@williamforrestall2161]

Oh Please ... Some people ( Millions/ Billions) want to be an "Employee" and some ( Millions/ Billions) want to be " Employers" in big businesses and small - many are self employed so Employers/ Employee in one person. The real question here is .....what kind of narcissistic pathology does it take not to understand this???? Or worse yet violate the rights and freedoms of others to choose the role they wish to play? See UDHR 1948 for a list of agreed upon HUMAN RIGHTS the Cultural Leftists just hate , and never mention Many "Employees" are well paid more so than any co-op might pay them - like Movie Stars - compared to unknown actors ... Funny but I do believe Dr. Wolff here himself , an " Employee" of an academic organization.... Then there is the wacky pathologies of the leading narcissistic racist of the 19th century Karl (kooky) Marx ....As all informed people know Karl Marx was a virulent RACIST. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIvLYWSuh7SSh8k Nobody, not even his most devoted cult followers disagrees, as the evidence of Karl Marx’s explicit racism in own words is too overwhelming to deny ( see N. Weyl “Karl Marx Racist” ). It is truly pathetic to see anyone taking “Marxism” and its embedded racism seriously ... Sad but True. Karl Marx’s RACIST discourse is veiled in a fraudulent pseudo-rational, economic mumbo -jumbo. A rhetorically closed self-justifying system, subjective definitions, an absence of natural economic or independent price signals, lack of internal consistency, bogus analytical categories (“social class” lol), the nuttiness of a “labour theory of value”, the semantic nonsense of “use” value and “exchange” value , the pagan religion (dogma) of “historical / dialectical materialism”, sectarian intolerance, envy rhetoric, racism, anti-Semitism a series of rather glaring epistemological problems and so on. It was more an expression of a narcissistic pathology than rational social or economic analysis, as noted by one of the worlds leading Economists Robert Solow (Nobel Prize Economics 1987) “most serious English-speaking economists regard Marxist economics as an irrelevant dead end.” But facts like this will never dampen the enthusiasm of people like Dr. Wolff to latch onto any excuse to project a controlling pathology , that seeks to violate the rights of others. Human Rights law is a useful tool to identify both the intrinsic RACISM and Human Rights Abuse that Marxist and Narcissistic Cultural Leftists always promote (see UDHR 1948) www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights... sad but true

[@Xenoyer]

It seems to me that the corporations have captured the state. Also, in my estimation, to have democracy in the workplace laborer's interests have to be represented in the place where the decisions are made, the corporate boardroom. Therefore, codetermination would be the best way at present to realize true democracy in the workplace. Of course, the corporate powers that be would fight tooth and nail to prevent anything like that from happening. The People's pathway to democracy in the workplace has been labor unions. I think the concept of labor unions has failed. Corporations, through government control, have fought unions from day one. They have done everything in their considerable power to crush unions. They have been largely successful. The evidence of that success is the proliferation of so-called "Right to Work" laws. With unions, labor and management are in an adversarial state. They are always at loggerheads and constantly are in battle. For the good of the corporations and laborers, codetermination seems to be the way to go. Codetermination would cause management and labor to become true partners. True democracy in the workplace could be had through codetermination. It would not be easy to install codetermination. Personally, I believe that it would take nothing less than a prolonged, and determined nationwide economic strike. Such a strike would be in the form of the denial of all of labor's services. No working, buying, selling, driving, turning off all nonessential electrical devices, and refusing to do anything that puts profit into corporate coffers. During the covid-19 pandemic, there were hints of what such a general strike would do. Corporations and politicians used propaganda and threats trying to get laborers to come back to work in highly infected places, such as meat packing plants. Corporate profits were suffering. The health of the corporation was regarded as more important than the very people who produce the profits. A lot of people don't realize that all profits are the result of the laborer's efforts. There is nothing made or served without the hands and minds of laborers. They not only produce the products and services that profit can be derived from, but they are also the primary consumers of those products and services. People should also consider the source of some of the products they produce, such as gasoline and other chemicals. The plants that produce these things have got to be maintained on a constant basis. If people started walking off the job in a place like maybe a plant that produces chlorine, higher management would have to get lower management to come from behind their desks and mind the processes. They would have to at least scramble to shut down everything properly or catastrophe would soon happen as the unattended processes start to break down. I hope more people embrace the concept of codetermination. Labor really holds all the cards. They just need to be better poker players. They need to become unafraid to use their awesome power.

[@jgalt308]

So you don't see the state as a "protection" racket? Government has a monopoly on FORCE as well as unlimited resources that dwarf that of any corp...so pay to play is not an option even if you don't want to...this doesn't mean that there are not advantages to corruption and they are not employed by those so inclined...but in the end, the power rests with "government" and if the last two years haven't made that clear...then you really don't understand the dynamic that is in play.

[@Xenoyer]

I can't see the reply. It is probably one of the people like Josh Hawley, chicken.

[@jgalt308]

@@Xenoyer So you don't see the state as a "protection" racket? Government has a monopoly on FORCE as well as unlimited resources that dwarf that of any corp...so pay to play is not an option even if you don't want to...this doesn't mean that there are not advantages to corruption and they are not employed by those so inclined...but in the end, the power rests with "government" and if the last two years haven't made that clear...then you really don't understand the dynamic that is in play.

[@MrDXRamirez]

Co-determination is practiced in Germany, workers are in the board room with executives, planning and producing. Not much good because they are still subservient to a dominant capitalist power in the person of the US. Point being; co-determination is a halfway mark before getting to the other side the journey is met with capitalist encroachments, take backs, and resistance every step of the way. I think we need to get across the lake to the other side full throttle and stop dilly dallying with half baked ideas about democracy. The productivity of labor is what capitalists depend on for existence it would be the productivity of labor I would weaponize productivity to remove the capitalist from the workplace completely. Problem is; Americans have bad habits of acquiescing, give-back, can’t stand their ground, second guess and put themselves last, that talks about productivity used under capitalism is taboo. No work unless woman’s rights are restored. No work unless Congress raises the minimum wage to $25 an hour. No work until Universal Healthcare is established nationwide, a national energy policy, immigration, gun violence, national plan for infrastructure development and on and on. No concession granted to the working class than the productivity is not for sale,---revolution. It really is that simple. But Americans do not think in revolutionary terms; the world is a static place and a creation of an almighty God that religion, drugs, and debasing and excesses materialism crushes solidarity, and cultivates an individual with individualistic attitudes toward property, wealth, work and society.

[@noelbrown6771]

I'm not convinced codetermination could survive in a competitive economy. 🤔

[@alejandromol3682]

En Marx se puede advertir una filosofía del capitalismo brillante, es una pena que no se estudie en las facultades de economía pues puede alumbrar muchos puntos ciegos de la teoría clásica y si la economía es una ciencia, debería y debe estar sometida al rigor de la realidad y no solo a simples modelos matemáticos. En este aspecto es obligatorio empezar a hablar de bio economía, pues estamos indisolublemente anclados a los límites finitos del planeta y las leyes de la termodinámica. Evidentemente el Estado per se no es una garantía de justicia social, el derecho moderno es la vieja espada del feudalismo. Autores anarco capitalistas como Hayek y Von Misses fueron sagaces en advertir cómo encorsetar la voluntad soberana de una nación mediante estructuras superiores al servicio del capital, la Ue es una muestra de ello. La competencia perfecta es un cuento, pues a la postre, lo que existe es un oligopolio internacional que pugna por recursos para consolidar su primacía internacionalmente y en ese afán los estados son adláteres. La política monetaria es un instrumento para ello, pues las reglas de juego están predeterminadas y hay poco espacio para alternativas. El estatus quo es la base del sistema y la disidencia será castigada legal y materialmente. Personalmente tampoco le encuentro gracia a los modelos cooperativos,pues desgraciadamente lo que ha de ser la voz de la razón se convierte en una coral desafinada. No obstante lo importante no es llegar a Ithaca, si no el camino. Algunos lo llamamos utopía. Saludos cordiales, seguimos!

[@MrDXRamirez]

No estoy fuera de acuerdo con lo que dices. Bravo.

[@David-ni5hj]

Sin estado no hay imperialismo, el capitalismo nada tiene que ver ahí.

[@PoliticalEconomy101]

the withering away of the state idea is a utopian fantasy. The state will always be relevant.

[@bluewater454]

A Marxist admitting that the state will not wither away like the “utopian fantasy” that we hear about sometimes? I’m honestly surprised by honesty. I don’t get that a lot from the left. 👏

[@DavidCodyPeppers.]

"Capitalism has never met a Democracy it couldnt defeat" D.C.P. Peace! \o/

[@boi9842]

This video is disinformation, even if you just want to reorganize the working place(which Mao tried to), you still need the state and authoritarian methods, the capitalists are not going to give up of their stuff without a fight. Read Rethinking Socialism, it's better than to understand socialism than watching Wolff.

[@DavidCodyPeppers.]

@@boi9842 Capitalism is authoritarian, not democratic. The United States goverment is run 'like a business' therefore THE REGULATION power of the government is captured by an Authoritarian System (capitalism). The socialist systems of 100/200 years in the past isnt relevant as to how it MIGHT operate tomorrow. Free Your Mind. Peace! \o/

[@boi9842]

@@DavidCodyPeppers. that's not my point, my point is that Wolff is trying to say that 20th century socialism is not real socialism or failed because the focus on the state, which is nonsense. 21th century socialism is not going to be different, you still need to capture the state to implement changes.

[@DavidCodyPeppers.]

@@boi9842 I didnt get that from Mr Woolf. Peace! \o/

[@MeagainstYT]

Who is D.C.P. ?

[@gariochsionnach2608]

Dear Professor Wolff, a question for Ask Prof Wolff: How about do a treatment on Marx / Marxism and the question of religion? Must religion for a Marxist always be an "opiate of the people"? For in the heart of religion is a direction / effort at shepherding people to a better & just society ... The Marxist's charge that religion is an "opiate of the people" has frequently been used by religious people to denounce Marx & Marxism ...

[@englishsteve1465]

I take your point and to make allies of the less fundamentalist religious believers would advance the cause. But, religion or more properly the church or organised religion is another system of leaders and followers with higher up's telling the people what to do AND how to behave. Somewhat of a problem then.

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

I like your point. One of the many mistakes that the Soviet Union made I think was trying push religion aside. It is a point that capitalist sympathizers use against us certainly but it seems to me that there is no reason to discard religion in Socialism today. The capitalists are, as usual, taking a piece of 100 year old history and pretending like we haven't learned anything from it. And that we would make exactly the same mistakes they made five generations ago. I like to remember that the Book of Acts itself shows a communist society so Socialism and Christianity at least are not opposed.

[@tommackling]

Syndicalism? Some alternate means of coopetative enterprise must be able to operate essentially independently of the current financial / economic system (I think). I mean, suppose a bunch of billionaires got together and bribed our government to give them each a trillion dollars, and then the trillionaires turned around and basically bought and controlled everything. If money was still the primary mover, and the trillionaires all agreed that everyone that is not at least already a billionaire no longer has the right to eat, then the only way the 99% could establish the right to eat would be... to work together outside the financial system and to essentially act as if they no longer recognized the significance or value of the trillionaires' mountains of money, right? Or would the 99% all have to die of hunger? Seriously, I'm trying to understand how society could be reballanced.

[@SephStuff_]

This is the most concise and informative little video on leftist theory, it is such a great introduction for most people so they don't think socialism/marxism is scary.

[@sandiegopete4955]

I think the state should not so much control the means of production, but that it should create law that makes cooperative production and employee ownership the main driver of the economy.

[@frank124c]

@ayan If this be communism than make the most of it.

[@amymartin7272]

What are the driving ethics behind the different theories? Wouldn't language workshops help us to answer the state?

[@georgefurman4371]

All the roads of those wanting equality , a fair system and progress for humanity to overcome poverty , hunger and injustice leads to the conflict between the two forces of our present history that may change and solve that conflict. All would realize the need of the state and government to solve it by force if needed , peaceful as well in order to set the conditions for that state to gradually disappear as a coercive force. The goal is to prepare the immense majority to be able to function in conditions of prosperity and equality . Once the people is able to behave according to the social needs for peace and the inertia of said condition will make the state a needless instrument to preserve order and advance to a new era for humanity.

[@crimony3054]

But if they had done away with the state, what would Lenin and Stalin have done for work? Test this: every worker has three complaints: aspirational, agitated, and legitimate. Aspirational is like a better world ahead. Agitated complaints are the aspirational hopes that your political opponents arouse. Legitimate complaints include roads without potholes now. What Marx/Lenin/Stalin perfected was a gulag system where the state quells its citizens' aspirational and legitimate complaints simultaneously by silencing the agitators and putting them to work fixing potholes.

[@ProleDaddy]

This almost sounds like AI copypasta.

[@crimony3054]

@@ProleDaddy Imagine there's not potholes It's easy if you try You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday they'll ensnare you And you'll live each day to fill one

[@ProleDaddy]

@@crimony3054 I'm a communist, bootlicker, and I'm telling you right now that you don't even have a clue what communism is.

[@chadmarx7718]

Professor Wolff, what would you say to libertarians or the "anarcho capitalists" who say "true capitalism" is independent from the state and vice versa, when you say that the state helps in the reproduction of capitalism? And what are your thoughts on anarchists? They believe that we shouldnt capture the state at all, but abolish it outright immediately, and that the state cannot just "fade away"

[@jgalt308]

The united states established the proper role of government in the constitution but this was undermined over time and ceased to exist in 1939...so what exists now is illegitimate, unconstitutional, and criminal...so you can choose to restore it, and give up the parasitical nanny state, or be eliminated by it as your faction becomes inconvenient and supporting it is no longer an option.

[@chadmarx7718]

@@jgalt308 i dont exactly see how this is relevant?

[@jgalt308]

@@chadmarx7718 Really??? You're talking about the state/economics but the proper role of government is not relevant? That FDR and fiat money and an unconstitutional state destroyed capitalism is not relevant? You begin your question with "true capitalism" which is nebulous...asking someone who has never defined "capitalism" in any way...and whose definition of Marxism is " a critique of capitalism"...on a site that Wolff ignores since it is a recruitment site for "paying" ..."partners"...where none of the words used here have any meaning that is consistent with "reality" or any common understanding...historical or economic, nor is there any factual evidence available to support his predetermined destination that ironically is "capitalist" as are its desired goals yet adds democracy, the single element that makes achieving those goals highly improbable. You can ask all the questions you want here...Wolff will not answer them. So look on the bright side...as least you haven't been totally ignored?

[@plusixty8992]

@@jgalt308 marxism is a critique of capitalism. Marx never laid out a way to achieve communism or socialism.

[@jgalt308]

@@plusixty8992 MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, you’re absolutely right about what Marx said, that there had to be a revolution. But he said a revolution is what industrial capitalism is all about. He said industrial capitalism is revolutionary because in England and Europe, it’s gotten rid of feudalism. It’s the strategy of industrial capitalism is to free economies from the landlord monopoly, from the landlord class and from predatory finance. So when he said he expected capitalism to spread to the rest of the world, he meant the capitalist revolution against backwardness, the revolution against feudal monopoly and the revolution that he thought would indeed lead to socialism.

[@genfari9522]

It would be nice if we could help the employees of these Starbucks, Amys kitchens ect that are closing their stores due to unionizing. If there were some organizations that could guide them how to co-op these businesses. We can't just leave it on individuals we need organized support.

[@MrDXRamirez]

We can boycott Starbucks and Amy’s kitchen...that would help them tremendously.

[@SocialCreditScore]

Great video Prof

[@alveronng9191]

It is true that Marxism and Capitalism can’t survive alone by itself, they have to co-exist. The degree on each side would depend on the government. A good balance of both would bring prosperity to majority, if is the the goal of the people. US and China are two very good examples representing the opposite.

[@improvisedsurvival5967]

State more powerful isn’t good for we the people.

[@kobemop]

in the french civil war marx did talk about taking control of the state machinery and the communist manifesto calls for centralizations (e.g. banks, other industries, ..., etc). also, stalin argues to wither the state and make it more superfluous (in the future) one must strengthen the state first.

[@bluewater454]

Which is exactly why Marxism has the reputation that it has. It is well deserved.

[@liasonlee1248]

True, strengthening the state apparatus is one way to stabilize social economy and educating the masses about the revolutionized economic system, it also serve as a defensive bulwark against the existing capitalist system. If capitalism is undone and achieve full socialism, the strengthened state apparatus is no longer needed, and will most probably devolve into a communications and information hub between communities.

[@bluewater454]

@@liasonlee1248 That’s the theory. So tell me when this Marxist theory has ever developed into a reality.

[@liasonlee1248]

@@bluewater454 Since this planet is dying, it won't be happening here (all thanks to US and Europe efforts in crushing any socialist efforts), we might see this in other advance civilizations in other universe though, in fact, Marxist theory is the universal civilization survival handbook for space faring civilizations, so if we managed to meet any advance civilizations outside solar system, they are most probably commies.

[@bluewater454]

@@liasonlee1248 Space travel? OMG. So Communist Manifesto is recommended reading by space aliens everywhere. 😂 I don’t think we can have a serious conversation, but I have to admit, this was entertaining. Enjoy your fairy tales.

[@jgalt308]

So in the end, Marx like Wolff, contradicts himself...and in "capitalism" ( industrial ) workers are NOT exploited ( Hudson ) and Steve Keen in his recent interview with Lex Fridman further explains Marx contradiction...who's realization is responsible for his "mature" transition. Of course, that economics is itself B.S. is the more important revelation... and should be avoided as a career at all costs. That we can expect Wolff to mature anytime soon, is probably overly optimistic.

[@jgalt308]

Still, you have to give the commenters of "democracy at work "credit" as they are working hard to "self-quarantine".

[@thomaswikstrand8397]

@@jgalt308 Ayn Rand was insane, fyi.

[@jgalt308]

@@thomaswikstrand8397 and the purpose of your non sequitur would be? Still, you have to give the commenters of "democracy at work "credit" as they are working hard to "self-quarantine".

[@thomaswikstrand8397]

@@jgalt308 what's the purpose of your spam, I wonder, oh Johnny G?

[@jgalt308]

And another "willfully ignorant, functionally illiterate, unevolved talking hominid" insists on confirming the description.

[@alloomis1635]

marx had no notion of democracy. neither does his successors. so we get oligarchies of apparatchiks in place of politicians. neither group much concerned about anything beyond striving for more power in the hierarchy. but until power is in the hands of the citizens of democracy, there will never be any chance of the benefits of society being widely spread, nor will there be a defense against aggrandisement by would-be elites. prof. wolff ignores political reality, it's in his 'too hard' basket. economists can tell us how to manage society, but they have no answer to the retort of politicians: "come back when you have power."

[@reversedragon3]

So... you're saying that first of all Marx aligned with the idea _we need to create a workers' state_ in order to stop capitalists from simply thwarting our efforts to create better industries via the Liberal government.

[@MrDXRamirez]

Capitalist do not thwart a revolution or a workers state, they bombed the shit out of it with heavy massive arsenal of weapons until it is destroyed. Thwart is nieveté.