Economic Update: Understanding Marxism

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Economic Update: [S9 E21] Understanding Marxism
This special edition of "Economic Update" is devoted to Understanding Marxism, the title of a short new book just published by Democracy at Work. Today's program, like the book, explains Marxism's systemic insights into capitalism now. We discuss Marxism's basic criticisms of capitalism and also its complex relationship to socialism. Finally, we offer a survey of the last century of Marxism's huge, diverse influences on modern economics, politics and culture around the world.
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Prof Wolff's self-described "highly incomplete" survey from the 2nd half:
- In Austria: Hilferding, Adler brothers interacting with Freud
- In Russia: Lenin, Trostky, Gorky, Eisenstein
- In Germany: Kautsky, Luxemburg, Brecht, Frankfurt school (Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno) Einstein
- In Hungary: Lukacs and the critique of consciousness
- In Italy: Gramsci and the critique of culture
- In France: Surrealists, Sartre, Althusser, Derrida, Levi-Strauss
- In the UK: great economists Joan Robinson, Maurice Dobb
- Beyond Europe (connected to its anti-imperialism)
- US: Sweezy in economics, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn in labor organizing, Jameson in literature and criticism, Lewontin in biology, Cornel West and WEB DuBois in philosophy and racism, Chris Hedges,
- China: Mao and so many others
- Asia: Nazim Hikmet, the Dutt family in India, Ho Cho Minh in Vietnam
- Africa: Fanon in the north, ANC in the South, Nkrumah and Cabral in the middle
- South America: Rodney and Williams on slavery, Castro and Guevara and Zapatistas, Mexico’s muralists (Rivera, Orozco, Siquieros, Frida Kahlo), Pablo Neruda

[@BallyBoy95]

I've always criticised Marxism for being unrealistic, but when you relate capitalism to slavery and how people thought a society without slavery was unrealistic has really provided me with some food for thought. Definitely going to give Das Kapital and read and check out what Karl Marx said exactly.

[@howardblackwell1422]

You misunderstand the terms. Free market capitalism is a system of voluntary transactions and competition. Slavery is involuntary. Socialism only works on a scale of an economy (as opposed to some hippie buddies or a family) when force is used. Therefore Socialism is slavery.

[@karlaazcona8728]

@@howardblackwell1422 marxist theory gives you the option to not be tied down to one job, but too many kinds of jobs for the benefit of society . please read more about what the context that you’re referring to.

[@zl4101]

Howard Blackwell socialism is more about planned economy where the government partially controls and intervenes the economy, reserving certain amount of power to mobilise the resources and direct major development in certain direction (eg. boosting infrastructure projects). Capitalists are subject to laws and regulations more compare to a free market society. Nothing slavery in literal sense. As for capitalism, the slavery is also not in literal sense. It’s probably referring to the working class being entrenched in their social status and are vulnerable, not able to secure their own interests in face of the market force or the influences by the capitalists

[@umayr2935]

Most of the things he said are right. However to consider capitalism just the same as slavery is inappropriate, because the employee has the right to leave the employer if he wants to. The problem is, most capitalists want to continue practices similar to slavery, this is why capitalism is known for treating employees like slaves. Now imagine you're in the communist utopia, where capitalism no longer exists, and suppose you want to volunteer or work for somebody who you think is doing a great work, it your choice, and its consensual, and anything system that stops you from doing that is flawed. From that point of view, you cannot even volunteer for a charity today. Capitalism had destroyed the economy, syndicates based on worker cooperatives are the suitable solution for future societies, but the space for free market will still have to exist in parallel, because you'll always have land and many resources in surplus value, more than what the syndicate needs.

[@tend7819]

@@howardblackwell1422 slaves weren't considered human. They were considered property. You dont have to ask your property for consent to sell it. Therefore in a society of slavery the transactions were completely voluntary.

[@johnkesich8696]

"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me... They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are..." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

[@Queenie-the-genie]

John Kesich So obviously true - and take a good long look at them. For instance someone like Mitch McConnell. Ultimately an ignorant to man. Just one example. Another that comes to mind is Eric Prince.

[@randallhilburn9592]

I have worked directly for some very wealthy people and I can attest that Fitzgerald was EXACTLY correct. That went a long way towards making me a socialist and causing me to begin studying Marxism. I saw them squander money just to impress each other while people working for them were going hungry in order to support their conspicuous consumption.

[@clarestucki5151]

Kesich Perhaps not better, but definitely smarter.

[@SimonSozzi7258]

He would know

[@eusebiusthunked5259]

Yes, the concentration of Wealth of Capitalism is a major problem in that it does dissociate the commonality of people. That said, Marxism is the scam, not the solution. Marx defined Capitalism, Adam Smith didn't promote it or use that name. Socialists were solving the problem but Marx dismissed them all as "utopian" and redefined their word to be about seizing property. Liberal Socialism was voluntary and didn't require bloody Revolutions, plural, before things can get better. Marx was more interested in Revolutions than solutions, and the world lost a sold century of progress due to his Bolshevists, and to this day we are captured by his Capitalism because of the justified fear of more Bolshevism or Political Communism or Marxist Socialism. True Socialism is impossible until Marx is laid to rest.

[@jdt617]

Understanding Marxism is a great little book. You can knock it over in an afternoon - quicker if you're a fast reader. Great introduction to Marxism with a modern interpretation. Highly recommend it.

[@answerman86]

You can knock it off into the garbage even quicker

[@nlotsobabies996]

ANSWER MAN but then you’re refusing insight

[@jacintofernandes2907]

@@answerman86 rejecting reality is typically common for your kind, I don't blame.

[@MetalMew2]

Professor Richard P Wolff's analysis gets full Marx from me

[@ju5039]

Your comment made me exhale slightly through my nose- 10/10 joke

[@drawstraw4483]

miles lawrence, ah yes, agreed!

[@answerman86]

LIBTARDS MUST READ: For anyone who's political knowledge goes beyond Marxist indoctrination, that stupid video of the Wolff man should give a good, but tragic laugh. Of course he fails to mention that in order to institute & apply their Marxist ideology they slaughtered and deliberately starved to death 60,000,000 of their own countrymen. Beyond that, growth of China when calculated by the percentage is from a start of nearly nothing, meaning their 10% growth is less of a accomplishments than a 3% growth of a huge already very prosperous economy like ours. He also fails to mention that the success of communism in China is not success derived from communism, but from STATE CAPITALISM where the workers are paid only slave wages, assigned, with no choice, of what they will be doing for their life's work, and they are typically worked about 12 hours a day, & are often supplied Barrick's type housing to live in, and have little money to go out on the town, with no ability or choice to will go out and find a better job. Anyone who doesn't realize communism is a happiness restricting totalitarian nightmare that prevents you from making what you will of your own life through your own incentive, hard work and talent, is a Marxist propaganda programmed politically retarded nitwit. Real fairness and equality does not mean your purpose for existence being "To Serve The State" which is what you have under the Marxist governments of communism or socialism which also means only the "FAIRNESS & EQUALITY" of being equally poor with no control over your own life. (Not to mention poor rationed, less variety of products etc. etc.)

[@answerman86]

He fails to mention that in order to apply their Marxist ideology they slaughtered and deliberately starved to death 60,000,000 of their own countrymen. Beyond that, growth of China when calculated by the percentage is from a start of nearly nothing, meaning their 10% growth is less of a accomplishments than a 3% growth of a huge already various prosperous economy like ours. He also fails to mention that the success of communism in China is not success derived from communism, but from STATE CAPITALISM where the workers are paid only slave wages, assigned, with no choice, of what they will be doing for their life's work, and worked about 12 hours a day, & are often supplied Barrick's type housing to live in, and have little money to go out on the town, with no ability or choice to will go out and find a better job. Anyone who doesn't realize communism is a happiness restricting totalitarian nightmare that prevents you from making what you will of your own life through your own incentive, hard work and talent, is a Marxist propaganda programmed politically retarded nitwit. Real fairness and equality does not mean your purpose for existence being "To Serve The State" which is what you have under the Marxist governments of communism or socialism which also means everyone being equally poor with no control over their own lives

[@joshuaconner1346]

ANSWER MAN Fuck off with the bourgeois propaganda.

[@SamuelGarcia-lf1sm]

Workers of the World, Unite!

[@darthsidious1353]

Workers of the world, Fuck Off!

[@Ahmed_Hasan_]

@@darthsidious1353 i am sorry fellow worker that we offended you while trying to defend you

[@LetsGetitBoah]

@@Ahmed_Hasan_ defend me from what? Being successful? Having choices of where I want to work and what I want to work with? Knowing that when I decide to move that I'll be able to find a good job, because an employer will hire me for my services? Newflash, Wolfe hasn't had a real job for decades. He has zero job skills. No manufacturing experience, no corporate experience, he's never built a business from the ground up. He's hid in the academia world, peddling his unproven BS for years. He actually sells you against Capitalism, while making money off Capitalism. His pay comes from the work of others. The classroom he uses comes from the work and entrepeneurship of others.

[@raz8752]

John Doute Wolff is a market socialist, so he would still be fine with people choosing what they do in a market system. You may need to look more into that before you claim all this stuff. He also founded democracy at work, so idk where you got the idea that he hasn’t started anything or that he doesn’t do anything. They literally help get worker cooperatives started as well as help other companies transition to that model if they want. They also have different radio and web publish books, and I believe they write articles and stuff too. He also does have a job, which is being an author, helping run Democracy at Work, I believe he taught at one point (or maybe he’s currently teaching idk), doing his radio programs and stuff and more. Also, on that last part, that’s a fun rhetorical jab used by people constantly. You can criticize a system that you live under. Although some of what your saying kind feels like you didn’t really think through what you were saying too much (especially with that classroom comment) so I’m not gonna hold it against you. Anyways, you might like him if you dig deeper into some of his writings and lectures. He’s pretty interesting.

[@fierce-green-fire8887]

@@LetsGetitBoah defend you from what? Uh, maybe you never learned that labor used to NOT have such things as weekends, a limit of 40 hours per week, worker compensation. Do you have children? If not for labor activist working in the spirit of improving capitalism your children would be working 12-16 hours a day like you. But instead, because of hardworking people who actually cared about the quality of life for future generations of people like you, you would t have the privilege and arrogance to speak so ignorantly about the evolution of labor. Your perspective has a context of lack of understanding of history and appreciation of the rights you now take totally for granted. It’s a shame.

[@naveenrajaka]

Finally I met someone who has answers to all my problems!

[@Gelbwyjbejki]

i love the way this guy talks. very concise and articulate. keep it up proffessor.

[@comradeblanshard1944]

Me: starts learning about marxism KZbin: starts recommending me prageru videos

[@glgina6]

Out-of-the-park home run!

[@leopoldocapparelli9434]

your description of marxism and the marxist is more than perfect.

[@aquilarossa5191]

My undergraduate history courses here in Auckland, NZ went through a list explaining the massive influence of Marx upon modern history. One of the most influential writers ever. I went to the USA and married a woman in MI who was a teacher and liberal. She said Marx was a nobody and had achieved nothing. I was quite gobsmacked, because to think that you have to ignore history from the Communards to the Bolsheviks, Cuba and Vietnam, The labour movement and labour parties, welfare states and social democracy, and the decolonization of Asia and Africa. I tried to explain but she just brushed it off. In the end she would no longer speak to me because I preferred Bernie to Hillary. Then she and her mom went and filed divorce accusing me of being a communist Russian spy working to get Trump elected. They seriously thought that is what I was doing in the USA. I was amazed that highly educated people could think that, but I should not have been. I have been down a few rabbit holes of thought myself I guess. My family in NZ got worried and flew me back to NZ. p.s. I noticed in the USA that there is free speech, but only within a certain range. It seemed like the far right was almost more tolerated than communism. I would say something like 'imagine if Boeing was owned by the people of Seattle and the surplus was used to improve the city and lives of its people'. The idea was outrageous to some people and they would get very angry. But not all. I told a guy working at a bank that we have a bank in NZ owned by the public and its profits are used to help pay for schools and hospitals etc. He liked the idea and asked why they can't do that. Some are more open than others. It must depend on the level of anti-communist indoctrination. The legacy of the anti-communism campaigns still exist in US culture I think.

[@cosmoreverb3977]

Holy shit that's insane! Hope you're alright, man

[@bademoxy]

communism killed 3 times more people than Nazism did.

[@copiumdealer1]

@@bademoxy Capitalism killed 10 times more than communism and is still killing today.

[@NonFiqShun]

@@copiumdealer1 your name is Vlad the Impaler... Describe to me who that was in history and what he was all about.

[@mars54mars54]

what a great talk, thank you so much

[@itzenormous]

When you work for a Capitalist "employer" and you're paid - let's say $25 an hour - how long do you think it takes you, through your labor, to produce $25 for that enterprise?? Let's be kind and say 10 minutes. That's how much time, each hour, you're actually working for yourself. The other 50 minutes out of each hour you're working to pay the salaries of all of those in upper management, the shareholder's dividends, the salaries of those on the board of directors; and you're buying a 3rd vacation home for the CFO and a nice Bentley for the CEO.

[@elrodtherocker]

@Lenin Lives Imagine a trekkie being an anticommunist!

[@DjViceroy]

@@somastic69 living on your own and having a job also happens under socalism/communism.

[@joebin3286]

@Lenin Lives You could put up the cash and start your own company and stop bitching.

[@juniorgod321]

Good luck finding any angels who are willing to hire you just to break even!

[@jaredneff5189]

@@juniorgod321 No one is arguing that they should be paid for all of the value they generate, they're saying that those at the top shouldn't take 80% of the value that workers generate for themselves and their shareholders

[@IMarx]

Love the Gorky and Eisenstein shoutouts. My dad gave me Mother to read when I was 12, changed my life. Learning about Eisenstein’s montage theory was also life-changing.

[@drawstraw4483]

This is so important to me at this time to my understanding! Can't thank you enough👍

[@crazydiamond91]

Great work Mr. Wolff. The world needs people like you.

[@kiphale9220]

Feeding everyone is what serves us better.

[@Amapola6754]

Thank you for your great works and teachings.

[@brianbooker8736]

Marx is one of the greatest philosophers of our time. Understanding his use of historical materialism and Hegel's use of the dialectic an individual can unravel the mysteries of the Universe.

[@eusebiusthunked5259]

Better off with a tarot deck I suspect...

[@dumyjobby]

yeah thanks to him and his bad ideas millions of people have died under his wonderful system

[@Retalak]

@@dumyjobby Just go ahead and quote the Black Book of Communism and be done with it. No need to be coy when spouting bullshit.

[@brianbooker8736]

Thanks to the bad ideas of Capitalism we're at the edge of extinction. Since we are keeping score let's see WW1 compliments of Capitalism, WW2, Vietnam, Korean War and Iraq ditto. Yeah you're right Capitalism has shown us who's boss.

[@paraguaymike5159]

Brian Booker Your premise is incorrect. WW1 was about the power struggle between aging empires and vain Monarchs. Greed to be sure but not capitalism. WW2 was caused by the expansion of Fascist nations. The Korean War resulted from Communist expansion as did Vietmam. Iraq resulted from a mix of Capitalism and Zionism.

[@MathUDX]

I dunno if it's accurate to characterize Cornel West as a Marxist. I've seen him explicitly reject the label before. There's a lot clearer revolutionary black Marxists than he, such as Adolf Reed Jr. and Glen Ford.

[@Beery1962]

I think he said that he only rejected the label because it's incompatible with Christianity. The impression I got was that he's a Marxist, but a Christian first.

[@zector4583]

I bought the book and read it. Is is fantastic! "Capitalism's Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown" is being delivered today and I can't wait to start reading it next!

[@leopoldocapparelli9434]

sir your description slavery and capitalism .and the analisys of socialism is perfect

[@BLARGHALT]

@@randomuser529 You want the rich to own everything.

[@Appleriver3]

News & Politics , no. Socialism is worker ownership and control. Workers own their own labor, means of production and have control over the goods and services they produce. It's a non-hierarchical system. One of the main and most fundamental goals of socialism is the removal hierarchy.

[@russelljames5631]

News & Politics that’s not what socialism is lol

[@asiyamacabantog5234]

wish I had met a great educator like you.can't thank you enough for the profound and very informative lectures you have given. 👏👏👏

[@bernardheathaway9146]

Thank you DAW!

[@geraldmantel4955]

The comparisons between slavery (then) and (now) wage slavery are accurate, to say the least.

[@Lembdadelta]

I feel for the passion of this man. People who align with his ideas have that same frustrating feeling of screaming in the desert. He should be on every screen. Yet we have bullshit.

[@bakhteyarali8127]

Well explained, sir.

[@KamalElfahssi]

Thank you

[@ThiagoFSR83]

Unfortunately, Professor Wolff had forgotten Eric Hobsbawnm in England And to mention Brasil's artists and thinkers in Latin America, just to mention one: Paulo Freire.

[@buddhangle]

Thiago Fernandes nice additions. The prof did say he was just takin a sampling from a long list...

[@ThiagoFSR83]

@@buddhangle Very true

[@dupin2010]

I agree, still, it would be a neverending list to capture them all, Enrique Dussell, Bolivar Echevarría, Mariategui, José Revueltas, and many more.

[@Hussain_Eidani]

Thank you 🌹

[@anaxa4883]

Richard, why don't you ever talk about how commodities work and how labor creates all value? That is arguably some of the most important parts of Marxism.

[@joshualocicero6799]

Labor doesnt create value thats marxs bastardization of the ltv which actually states competition lowers prices towards production costs. Easy way to debunk marxs ltv is pointing to anything that has value absent of labor

[@anaxa4883]

@@joshualocicero6799 Every "debunk" I've ever heard of the ltv comes from people like yourself who either haven't read Capital or Value Price and Profit - the two books where Marx actually fleshes out the ltv. If you'd read it, you would know that the ltv only applies to reproducible products or services - not land or art. In a competitive market, the value from all mass produced goods comes from the average labor time it took to produce the good. Modern input-output tables released by most of the industrialized countries in the world basically prove this.

[@joshualocicero6799]

@@anaxa4883 its really irrelevant even for those value doesnt come from labor labor is simply included in the equation. The only reason i sympathize with the position value is being extracted from labourers is because of the massive market distortions through the states monopolies like patents land tarrifs currency/credit but marx did bastardize the ltv and say any profits are exploitation which is just wrong since such arrangmenets in a free market are mutually benificial

[@jmanakajosh9354]

@@joshualocicero6799 What is mutually beneficial about climate change, homelessness, lack of employment, skyrocketing prices for basic needs and no medical care, poverty for the elderly? Do enlighten me.

[@joshualocicero6799]

@@jmanakajosh9354 its like you ignored what i said. In the status quo nothing because of the states distortions.

[@pairadeau]

I love you man.

[@yeetskeet7234]

"The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe, you have to make it fall" -Ernesto Guevara

[@karapana8398]

But Guevara was not a revolutionär

[@bademoxy]

quotations from a psychopath who wrote letters to his father describing his joy in executing political opponents.

[@yeetskeet7234]

@@bademoxy Batista pimped cuban girls to the mob 💯💯 #VivaLaRevolucion

[@alexanderfloyd5099]

bademoxy Kind of how America and the Allies celebrated the deaths and executions of their political opponents in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

[@rebeccamartin411]

What we need to abolish is work

[@rckoegel]

Work is a natural part of life. Has been at least since the beginning. At least for some. We can't all afford to just sit on our butts and still survive. This doesn't mean work needs to be a chore; for the most part, it could be a pleasure. Some people still need to clean toilets and trash cans though. At least till we get AI and robots doing the less favorable stuff.

[@puppy8125]

Work in what sense? In the sense that here will be no body to perform open heart surgery if somebody needs it, or in the sense that the government will provide everything for the people including open heart surgery?

[@mchammer3432]

Prof Wolf what an absolute necessity for anyone who wants to understand how our neo liberal capitalist society is run. I show these videos to my kid whose going to high school so he is aware and not brainwashed into thinking capitalism is to be worshipped.

[@CrazeCreativesHQ]

He said this 2 years ago . Here i am now Amazing

[@toms3142]

Good video

[@ThatsMrPencilneck2U]

My favorite quote attributed to Karl Marx, "I am not a Marxist."

[@Unknown-eg5xz]

You’re missing the context

[@ThatsMrPencilneck2U]

@BLUE DOG First, I say "attributed," because I have no idea whether or not Marx ever said such a thing. He didn't speak English, so it really isn't likely. What it means is that the term is used in so many different ways to describe so many schools fo thought in different disciplines and ideologies that the term is problematic. Everybody identifies Che Guevara with Marxism, but Steve Jobs quoted Das Kapital when interviewed about actualizing profit. The John Birch Society applies the term to every minority group that claims their getting a raw deal. The term is so overused, it's meaningless.

[@IAmNumber4000]

Marx was saying it to a revolutionary, Jules Guesde, who he accused of misappropriating his ideas. What Marx said, in response to some revolutionary sloganeering from Guesde, was “If they are Marxists, then it is certain that I, myself, am not a Marxist.”

[@bloanta]

Thank you proffesor Wolf, greetings from Colombia

[@foodparadise5792]

If there is a real revolution, I don't mind dedicating my life to it and be proud of it.

[@karapana8398]

educate yourself www.wsws.org

[@anhedonic-voting]

Thank you 🌎 ✊️ 🌹 🗽

[@OMGAnotherday]

Things are soooo bad, its horrible to see what a mess we are all in! Hopefully we can get out of this mess, but I'm not holding my breath.

[@annford6640]

1.2K "Likes?" 'Nuff said. ;)

[@randallhilburn9592]

Any concessions wrung from Capitalists will be taken back by them at the first opportunity. A worker may sometimes improve his position but he can never be secure under Capitalism as a result. Capitalism by its very nature must constantly strive to increase profits, and there are only three ways to accomplish that: drive down the cost of raw materials, overcharge customers, and finally Drive Down Wages. This is also why present day Capitalism in the West is beginning to resemble Feudalism and Slavery is starting to be practiced once again where they can get away with it. Under Capitalism the Worker can never take anything for granted up to and including his very freedom.

[@zaco-km3su]

Actually there is a 4th way to increase profits: automation.

[@randallhilburn9592]

@@zaco-km3su I stand corrected. Thanks.

[@nvonliph]

Any increase in production efficiency would do it, actually. Automation or reorganization of the process. A business owner might even train an employee up to higher productivity and position. Or perhaps open a new location with an experienced employee as a partner. I suppose one could find substitute goods for the inputs, as well, if the price of the materials went up high enough to warrant accommodating that in production. Just sayin: more than three ways. Also, I might point out that workers, and especially the poor, benefit the most from free markets, in which competition and the incentives of both profit AND loss lead to cheaper and more abundant goods, and a generally higher quality of life.

[@Lefty-hj6ny]

Dat makes sense.

[@Queenie-the-genie]

Professor Wolf, Thank you for your work. I am a great admirer. I do think it is important to address the major concern that ordinary non-intellectual people have about communism. That is, that the police state seems to arise. Maybe not as extremely in a mixed culture like European Capitalism mitigated by Socialism. The destruction of freedom of the press is an important issue. This is what most concerns people. And of course so many have not thought or read deeply about what Marxism, Communism and Socialism even are in reality. I am an example in that yes, I have thought deeply about this but I have a 12 grade education and my education has been sporadic but I landed on your side of the fence as a teenager. How to dispel the notion that this must be a part of any culture based on Marxism. How to eliminate things like the cultural revolution, the invasion of Tibet, imprisonment of dissidents, The horrible things that went on in Cambodia, the Berlin Wall, the police state, destruction of a free press. etc. This is what most people think of and what frightens them in regards to any form of socialism, marxism, communism etc. These are issues that the fascists use for their conquest over leftist thought even though they employ these things sometimes even more brutally, as well while they use the term freedom in an Orwellian manner to indoctrinate. Please direct me towards articles or videos where these issues are addressed. I have great respect and gratitude for your work.

[@billyoldman9209]

Maybe you would find Foucault's lectures interesting on how he deals with this kind of inherent violent normalization and state racism that "socialist" states like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Stalinist Russia were/are also guilty of (not just liberal states). He used a "thinking aloud" style which is easier to follow. As to how to create a revolution that does not take revenge on the bourgeoisie is a question that is totally unanswered. Is it even possible? The young Tibetans who joined the Cultural Revolution certainly couldn't forget the feudal barbarism they had to suffer. And wherever the former lumpen element does atrocities against their real or imagined enemies, similar grievances are in the background. But keep one thing in mind, that when people talk about class war and peace-time politics being "war by other means", they mean it (or at least they should). It's not simply a matter of making convincing arguments when real power and your own hide is on the line. Of course everyone will try to obfuscate and confuse any counternarrative that threatens his power and way of life.

[@nvonliph]

you should read Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell.

[@ClitoridectomyGroyper]

The thing is it was rarely a police state in the USSR, more of a representative democracy.

[@rafeljesus]

You are an amazing teacher and communicator dr. Wolf, thank you very much for this extraordinary explanation.

[@christopherarmitage1030]

So glad to hear the shout-out to Mao. Yay Mao! Who's afraid to break a few eggs to make that omelet? Not Mao!

[@CaptainWaffles]

a list of the names in the second half of the episode would be awesome I'm trying to look them up but I can't spell them for the life of me.

[@democracyatwrk]

Just added to the description above!

[@elisab8659]

"Adler Brothers" is a bit misleading. I guess you mean Max Adler ("Marx Studien") and his politically less relevant brother Oskar (musician), not to confuse withe Viktor Adler (Austrian Socialdemocrat but not part of the Austromarxists), or Alfred Adler (psychotherapist) or any other of the many famous contomporaries of Freud with the surname Adler. Also: the most important Austromarxist was Otto Bauer.

[@enikojanosi]

intro low-key a bop

[@Jone952]

there was more about capitalism than Marxism

[@Jone952]

@OriginalTharios Abolishing private property is more than a critique

[@ToxicGillesBE]

Rene Magritte was an citizen from Belgium ;)

[@lisica8745]

I have never seen a Theory so well written but in the same way so misrepresented by people who demonize Marx's theories without any simple look what his theories really stand for. My curiosity and interest in Marxism has not and probably will never disappear from me, I want to know more about Marxism.

[@dumyjobby]

the proof is in the pudding my friend, Merxism is bad because everyone who tried it failed miserably

[@impresauro3210]

optimistically, it could be just a scar from the Cold War, a temporary setback in this eternal "post-ideological" interregnum we all live, a card that some "politically interested" people can use to scare others from Marx's theory cause "Ceausescu did austerity" or something. No matter, almost 2 centuries later there's still a spectre that haunts the world...

[@ClitoridectomyGroyper]

@@dumyjobby Citation needed

[@dumyjobby]

@@ClitoridectomyGroyper read some 20th century history comrad

[@ClitoridectomyGroyper]

@@dumyjobby It never failed, if it did the Cold War wouldn't have happened

[@mativhs]

Hi DAW. Why will capitalism be it's own downfall in marxist analysis? Is it because of a contradiction between basis and superstructure that will end in a dialectical movement or because of the falling rate of profit that will destroy the economic basis? Thoughts on Althussers thesis of an >epistemological break

[@kiphale9220]

Isn't there some way that we can realize our own determinations that also give us options of our own cultural determination?

[@milesfielding6584]

Solidarity Comrades...

[@KamalElfahssi]

I would love to translate this video and use it in my channel if I am allowed to do so, thank you.

[@thomascarroll1551]

In the mid 1980's, I lived in Willimantic CT, home of Eastern CT State College, where there was an active and independent popular coffee shop/ bookstore. The owner was an avid Socialist and carried a large collection of Marxist literature, often peddled outside on the sidewalk. Willimantic also had a large and prosperous local farmers' socialist Co-op grocery store. I have forever since held great respect for Socialism, though I don't know how that 1980's experience fared for that community today.

[@karapana8398]

now the grocery store is here: www.wsws.org www.marxists.org

[@jordantoni1306]

There are others. Michael Parenti, for example..., but Steinbeck is right about Americans.

[@theicyridge]

92,000 subscribers! Amazing!

[@paraguaymike5159]

theicyridge A sad commentary about the inability of man to learn from his mistakes and the denial and mental gymnastics a fanatic will go to in order to continue believing in his failed ideology.

[@AboveFaction]

Based

[@tnewanz]

What's the best history source or book on the erasure of Marxist history from post WWII U.S. public discourse and school textbooks?

[@Zhicano]

Tod Wanzer I too wish to know of a book with that topic

[@caiojulioferreira]

Hi Mr Wolff. Have you heard of Oscal Niemeyer? He was a Communist up until his last days in 2012. As an architect he built Brasilia, the UN headquarters and The Lincoln Center in NY was inspired by his work.

[@acas6551]

Our son just got into Umass. Hope he can take your course if you are still thete His dad did;) 30 years ago

[@user-yr9sf2yr3n]

U should pick up Marxist Dependency Theory, a South American unique contribution, fundamental to understand capitalism as a global system and the effects to the peripherical countries. Thanks for your work!

[@zachflame123]

not unique. It draws from uneven combined development theory in Trotsky's "Permanent Revolution" essay

[@user-yr9sf2yr3n]

​@@zachflame123 actually not really, it's actually drawn much more from other studies that were carried out for 30 years and Marx himself, and it brings a whole bunch of peculiarities with it. Maybe trotsky's essay might have been some sort of inspiration somewhere, but it's for sure not "drawn from" it Btw, do u have a link to trotsky's text? I'd like to read it

[@starrypanda1394]

Of course more has to be done but improved wages and work conditions allows ppl more freedom to fight for bigger change

[@eve36368]

yes! never turn down tools to fight with

[@starrypanda1394]

@@eve36368 yep revolution is the goal but ppl are to scared to dream big rightnow and frankly we just need a victory or 2 to remind us its possible

[@eve36368]

@@starrypanda1394 to be fair, the bigots have been loading up on guns for decades. Like the 2nd amendment supported militias which became the KKK. Also because of the military industrial complex, to avoid snuffing a revolt at least partial control of the govt would be necessary. The GOP & their coalition have been doing this for decades, & it's about time to catch up before climate change becomes unstoppable. So hence, controlling the govt via any means by premise doesn't exclude elections. (it means multiple methods should be used.) Point being, Revolution includes war & ppl are familiar with PTSD & how the govt drops bombs as a form of #PrayFor. Like seriously the fear of constitutional amendments & Dems being conservatives since the 1970s reflects this fear of civil war. So yes, victories are awesome & hopeful.

[@rckoegel]

@@starrypanda1394 smlr.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/documents/ResearchDocs/3-21-18_main_street_employee_ownership_act_summary_5_copy.pdf the victories are many, and flowing, you just don't get to see them stream across the bottom of fox news. you gotta look for them.

[@rgaleny]

STYLES OF MARXISM, SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM, ANS ANARCHISM CAN BE CONFUSING

[@ernestoelche9161]

My dear professor Wolff, you forgot to mention Carlos Mariátegui and Eduardo Galeano (open veins of Latin America)

[@cpp2300]

You know what’s the craziest part about all of this we are using the technocrats platforms or apps . So we are directly contributing to Techno feudalism .

[@username19237]

Great video sending it to everyone I know lol

[@p.brooksmcginnis1749]

No More War

[@brunopbch]

Prof. Hans Hermann Hoppe, who studied under Habermas, has a great talk titled "What Marx gets right" here on You Tube. Have a listen.

[@contraband100]

@Justin Time Ah Hoppe, the unironic anarcho-monarchist.

[@thomascousins9150]

How come you didn't mention David Harvey whose books and lectures have been very helpful in understanding Marx's "Capital" and the relation between geography and Marxism?

[@ceemill167]

what about Daniel De Leon?

[@yeetskeet7234]

Don't forget Esperanza

[@themecha47]

oh and aside from trotsky and lenin being "friends" (trotsky claim to be correcting lenin and lenin called him a half menshevik) great video

[@brendamartinez6955]

🗣

[@jaredkeklak1797]

*slave owners 1800s* "Didnt abolition kill a BrazilianMillionKwazillion people??"

[@sols4102]

Hey Richard! Talk to Destiny!

[@PoliticalEconomy101]

About what?

[@SpecArch96]

I believe he's already offered. Destiny is the hesitant one.

[@sols4102]

@@SpecArch96 Check out this clip! Destiny streaming Just Chatting! clips.twitch.tv/LachrymoseExquisiteCourgetteDeIlluminati

[@sols4102]

@cso2040 lol chill

[@CosmicCricket]

You got it wrong mate, you need to go to Destiny’s channel and tell him to talk to Richard

[@truthmatters5209]

How about covering the recent history of Cambodia? I'd like to see someone explain the virtues of Marxism after we've heard about the 1.5 million Cambodians who were killed by the Kymer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. Their leader Pol Pot learned about Marxist ideology while studying at University in Paris in 1950's.

[@lazyguy5446]

Oh and can you tell me how much aid the American give them, how Vietnam(another Communist country) overthrow Pol Pot for his crimes, and you think all of the modern Capitalist countries don’t have their fair share of genocide ?

[@nthperson]

One more time I suggest that the just response to what is thought of as "capitalism" is neither socialism nor communism but "cooperative individualism." This alternative set of socio-political arrangements and institutions would establish the just balance between property rights and human rights in a way no other systemic structure is able to achieve.

[@kimobrien.]

What you propose is Utopianism. The British Imperial ruling class has been getting just the right mixture of democracy and monarchism for 400 years now.

[@nthperson]

@@kimobrien. The British citizens I know have a very different view of this "mixture of democracy and monarchism" but have not been able to bring about meaningful reform.

[@kimobrien.]

@@nthperson You can't reform capitalism any more than reforming feudalism not that the Britts haven't tried both to a certain extent. (Cutting of the head of Charles 1st and the General Strike)

[@nthperson]

@@kimobrien. Perhaps not. Many people (myself included) have been trying to get our elected representatives to enact laws that would make the rules of the game fair. One problem is that even among those of us who agree the game is rigged cannot agree on what changes are needed. I am among a small number of people scattered around the globe who have studied the works of Henry George and embrace the systemic reforms he advocated. I have also studied Adam Smith, Karl Marx and many of the other main theorists who have offered schemes for progressive change. In my view, George makes the most cogent case.

[@user-mm5qw9mk5v]

Take any life style of everyone at any time because there aren't religions or philosophy of someone.

[@johnellis7614]

Be it socialism, capitalism or a dictatorship, there is a 50% laboring-class, 25% middle-class and a 25% ruling-class. And so, let us not be so filled with pride as to think we should tell those more intelligent what to do.

[@Appleriver3]

John Ellis , there is no ruling class under socialism. Socialism is a non-hierarchical system. One of the main goals of socialism is the removal of hierarchy. It's a bottom-up system, not top-down. Top-down hierarchical systems are prone to corruption.

[@jmanakajosh9354]

wer the fuck did u get these horrible ideas

[@rockydark]

Creative Destruction is a way of increase productivity and that is unavoidable. Marx never thought this way. Of course, envy and inequality provide fuel to violence but that is the same as a child crying against his father who force the kid to eat his vegetables in order to be healthy. Humans are not on Earth to live in permanent joy. This is a matter of work. Good luck!

[@quanta7992]

Lecture on neo Marxism plz.

[@devinnewstead5513]

Everytime i download kapital my phone gets stolen and everytime i buy the art of war my dog eats it

[@eusebiusthunked5259]

You should use the techniques of Klausewitz to win your dog to your side... And maybe it will help protect you from Marxists... They have been a problem for a long time now. Consider that Socialism existed for at least a generation before Marxists corrupted it. Maybe start with Smith and Ricardo, then explore the Socialisms that are more interested in better systems than in destrying established systems.

[@floro7687]

I am waiting for the Professor to explain this passage: "Die Stunde des kapitalistischen Privateigentum schlägt. Die Expropriateurs werden expropriiert"

[@joecathome]

“The realm of freedom actually begins only where labor which is determined by necessity and mundane considerations ceases; thus in the very nature of things it lies beyond the sphere of actual material production. Just as the savage must wrestle with Nature to satisfy his wants, to maintain and reproduce life, so must civilized man, and he must do so in all social formations and under all possible modes of production. With his development this realm of physical necessity expands as a result of his wants; but, at the same time, the forces of production which satisfy these wants also increase. Freedom in this field can only consist in socialised man, the associated producers, rationally regulating their interchange with Nature, bringing it under their common control, instead of being ruled by it as by the blind forces of Nature; and achieving this with the least expenditure of energy and under conditions most favorable to, and worthy of, their human nature. But it nonetheless still remains a realm of necessity. Beyond it begins that development of human energy which is an end in itself, the true realm of freedom, which, however, can blossom forth only with this realm of necessity as its basis. The shortening of the working-day is its basic prerequisite.” Karl Marx

[@joecathome]

@@randomuser529 If we could be perfect. Where in that brief summary is he mistaken?

[@williamsego6058]

What about the freedom to contract with anyone one chooses, not by force or coercion?

[@Appleriver3]

william sego , what about it?

[@jmanakajosh9354]

Why do you think you need centralized ownership of corporations, utilities and government in order to have voluntary contracts. *Deprive the capitalist of his right to subjegate,* and then have whatever else you like.

[@_Viking]

" _We_ have written a book", yet it's only _his_ name on the cover?

[@bluzcompany2293]

Ressetion , Depression whats your up session ...

[@LetsGetitBoah]

Richard should mention his former student who took over as PM in Greece......tell them how that eneded up Richard.

[@user-cd2ut4fx1m]

Agree - I would say Marxism is fluid, is always evolving. It is not dogmatic + stationary.

[@illegalsmirf]

lol, I love the way how slick marketing companies are targeting millennials with for-profit-socialism and turning it into a niche market within capitalism. There is literally no escape!

[@mikeanonymous4678]

If you can’t beat em join em I say

[@Xenoyer]

I am in favor of continual process improvement. The process, which Marx examined, continually needs to be improved. When there is an error, instead of playing the blame game, study the error, then improve the process. Marxists are attempting to do just that, while modern neo-capitalists play the blame game. Who do they normally blame? Labor, that's who.

[@texajp1946]

#SandersWolff2020

[@drsiiiiin]

Question to you! Do you own your house and car ? How did you pay for it ?

[@Anthony-mr9sh]

You really left out Stalin, smh

[@benkenobi292]

Anthony Carter , Stalin a Marxist?

[@zachflame123]

@@benkenobi292 -- Trotsky said it best. That man was the gravedigger of the revolution

[@Madaaguu]

Please help! In this video it is said that socialism is just trying to improve capitalism (3:50) . Shouldn't Socialism always require the democratic ownership of the means of production? Isn't this the cornerstone of socialism? Isn't improving the conditions of workers under capitalism just welfare capitalism/ social democracy?

[@contraband100]

He's saying that the current system can be improved by replacing it. Wolff wasn't literally saying capitalism can be reformed by socialism.

[@parishj3]

INVITE ANAND. AUTHOR OF “WINNERS TAKE ALL”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ClitoridectomyGroyper]

@BLUE DOG Quit talking idiot