Marx: A Complete Guide to Capitalism

[@ThenNow]

If you want a bibliography, recommended reading list, with comments on the books and the order you should read them in, PLUS if you want to support the channel AND get bonus videos like a mini course on 'thinking like a historian' PLUS (yes, there's more!) these videos ad-free and early, join the Then & Now Patreon community at: www.patreon.com/thenandnow

[@realchoodle]

Locking your bibliography behind a pay wall seems strange. The other stuff makes sense.

[@ThenNow]

@@realchoodle The bibliography is cited through the video for free, but these videos take a lot to make and are only possible with Patreon, so I've turned my recommendations into a document with some comments for Patreons.

[@realchoodle]

@@ThenNow Oh fair. Probably should have double checked before commenting.

[@ExiledGypsy]

When I was in university, I met an American who told me that he was in England to study Marx since at the time (mid 70s) that was not possible in the U.S. Things have changed, but only partially. I wonder how this video would have been received if it were part of hoax of discovery of a secret diary of say J. F. K. Or one of these Bible thumbing pastors. Given the general gullibility of Americans, provided it was presented in appropriate disguise, I tend to speculate that it would become a best seller with people like Jordan Peterson waving it around like a little red book. It might not lead to any change, but it might lead to a new type of enlightenment. I have always thought Marx was not prescribing what Lenin or Mao interpreted. Marx was imagining how things might change with education and his only sin was that he was an optimist and didn't know human nature. That is that he didn't the know about the indisputable natural phenomenon that for the sake of evolution sympathetic nervous system must always override the parasympathetic part because unless life survives there would be no need for a parasympathetic system. You can't get any further from non-materialism than this. It is the very makeup of physiology of life. From that simple observation you can see why Marx prediction were bound to be wrong.

[@kevinnolan6579]

Just wahoo! Epic!

[@WisecrackEDU]

You wrote a book on Marx and put it on KZbin. Legendary behavior by you.

[@transsexual_computer_faery]

welll..... it IS a documentary

[@sortof3337]

I wouldn't go that far since its just ELI5 summary of capital. But yeah, this is good. Your content is pretty fire too bro though too liberal for my taste. 😅

[@charlesbonner2748]

@@WisecrackEDU Marx advocated for the enslavement of black peoples

[@charliedoyle7824]

@@sortof3337 Too liberal? You want to roll the clock back to the halcyon days of your youth? Got a warm feeling for Archie Bunker in your gut?

[@NuanceOverDogma]

Too bad it's a fluff piece ignoring what a vile & hypocrite Marx was.

[@derpfaddesweisen]

No way! Over two hours of Marx, you are seizing my means of doing anything i planned to do right now!

[@leonardopatrizio]

Siezing your means of being productive this afternoon

[@derpfaddesweisen]

​@@leonardopatrizio I have nothing to lose but my internet access.

[@colonelweird]

Today's modes of production are well and truly fucked. Not that I'm complaining!

[@UCjNrKLyRJI-abFA8qiNo92Q]

he's seizing the video quality from other videos about marx too

[@Y7X7]

Listening to this at work keeps me going

[@baob1870]

His famous quote, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it,” summarizes his belief in action over abstract thinking.

[@sean-cubed]

i'd argue that the point of philosophy and abstract thought is to inform the actions that can change the world.

[@iwouldreallyprefernotto]

When the world needed him the most, he returned with the G.O.A.T

[@NuanceOverDogma]

LOL, this channel is a joke

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

What they haven't told you 👉 The Connections (2021) [short documentary] ❤

[@eorobinson3]

@@NuanceOverDogmait's just fairy tale soft-authoritarian control masquerading as compassion. However, to say that this channel is a joke is to dismiss the obvious and considerable work this leftist has done to entertain his 🦄.

[@erikzelada5578]

​@@VeganSemihCyprus33you are worst that the cryptobros

[@CuriousCrow-mp4cx]

I think you made your magnum opus. You should publish it, because it is an accessible, but comprehensive introduction to Marx's critique. And yes, we are in desperate need of it to better understand our modern world. Thank you.

[@DavidLockett-x4b]

It is easy to understand the modern world. It is total madness that otherwise sane people waste their all too short lives watching dumb KZbin videos.

[@trentp151]

Marx describes European Monarchical rule. It doesn't describe most of the modern world.

[@DanielAlves-ch9lb]

@@trentp151 Nobody seriously denies this historical limitation of Marx's works. However, several analyzes that Marx makes in Capital prevailed and are still true because he was dealing with a nascent mode of production that is now global. Obviously capitalism has changed over time, but several things that Marx noted remain relevant. So yes, Marx need to be read so we can better understand the modern world.

[@trentp151]

@@DanielAlves-ch9lb Marx has no bearing on the real, comprehensive assesment of human nature. He describes a system which is irrelevant in the USA.

[@trentp151]

@@DanielAlves-ch9lb Besides, Marx basically coined the term "capitalism" Marxists are fighting their own hero's demon-baby. Free Markets are not the same as Marx's demon-baby "capitalism." We have free-markets here in the USA. Capitalism is paired with tyranny, and can you say that small businesses, which make up the vast majority of American businesses, are tyrannical?

[@Marco-ki2jr]

I have a BS & MA in Poli Sci - what a great video. Thank you for sharing this for FREE to the people.

[@epochphilosophy]

It finally happened! Super stoked to watch.

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

What they haven't told you 👉 The Connections (2021) [short documentary] ❤

[@raquetdude]

Favourite bit about Marx is that he wanted to move to Mexico and himself says he didn’t device anything new. Alongside how he changed substantially after the failed revolutions

[@denisehead6680]

Thank you for helping me improve my thinking.

[@freddiepullman5132]

I won't get the chance to sit and watch this start to finish for a while, but MAN I cannot wait til that moment comes. Commenting to help out with the algorithm!

[@natywubet2175]

it's friday, maybe today is good day?

[@jjoohhhnn]

Samsies, I just watched the whole video and it's PHENOMENAL!

[@ANewHuman]

I am a simple man. I see a new 2 hour Then & Now video, I click.

[@redpad79]

These go so much more in depth than most KZbin videos, your really raising bar, much respect

[@sortof3337]

Excellent video, but I found some things lacking for the length of the video. For reference, I am an RC, and have already read everything directly by Marx, some interpretations and more. I love Marx, Engels and Losurdo. So, I would like to go in the tradition of my homies and add some points that might have gotten oversimplified, 1. Labor Theory of Value: Marx says that the value of a commodity is determined by the amount of socially necessary labor time required for its production. However, this is not as straightforward as it might appear. Marx does not claim that value is simply a direct reflection of the labor put into each individual item. Instead, it’s the socially necessary labor time that counts-the average amount of time it would take a worker of average skill to produce a commodity under typical conditions in a given society. Moreover, Marx grapples with the issue of how values transform into market prices, especially in Capital, Volume III. This is known as the "transformation problem." Marx recognizes that competition, market fluctuations, supply and demand, and other factors make it difficult to directly tie labor values to the actual prices commodities fetch on the market. This is an ongoing challenge that Marx begins addressing in his later volumes, and it adds layers of complexity to his initial labor theory of value. And, later he does clarify how capitalism disconnect and transmogrify labor into value, but too complex topic for KZbin comment. 2. Commodity Fetishism: Marx says that commodity fetishism refers to the way social relations between people-specifically the labor relations embedded in production-are masked by the market, where these relations appear as relationships between things, or commodities. He explains that under capitalism, commodities acquire a "phantom-like objectivity" that obscures the labor and social relations behind their production. This isn't just a moral critique about the evils of capitalism but a fundamental insight into how capitalism distorts our perception of value and social relations. Marx argues that in capitalist society, the real relationships-between people, between laborers and their employers-are obscured by the exchange of goods, making the social dynamics of production invisible. This is why commodity fetishism is a structural aspect of capitalism, not merely an ideological one. 3. Falling Rate of Profit: Marx says that the rate of profit tends to fall because as capitalists invest more in machinery and technology (what he calls constant capital) rather than labor (variable capital), the source of surplus value-human labor-diminishes in proportion to the total capital invested. However, Marx acknowledges that this tendency is counteracted by several factors, such as the increase in the rate of exploitation (getting more productivity out of workers), cheaper raw materials, and technological innovations that make production more efficient. The falling rate of profit is not an absolute, inevitable collapse of capitalism but a tendency that capitalists constantly counteract. This dialectical process-where contradictions within capitalism lead to both crises and recoveries-is central to Marx’s analysis. 4. Revolution and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat: Marx says that the dictatorship of the proletariat is a transitional phase after the overthrow of the capitalist class. However, he leaves this concept relatively underdeveloped. While he envisions this as a necessary step in abolishing class distinctions, Marx does not provide a detailed blueprint of how it will function or how long it will last. He was cautious about prescribing rigid frameworks for post-revolutionary societies, preferring to leave the specifics to the proletariat based on their concrete historical conditions. Importantly, Marx also recognized the possibility of peaceful transitions in certain developed capitalist countries, such as England or the United States, depending on the circumstances. Revolution, for Marx, is not inevitable or deterministic-it is shaped by the unique material and social conditions of each society. This is an excellent way to distinguish between idea peddlers of the Imperium and revolutionary thinkers, western Marxist yell 'capitalism' or 'fascism' at China without reading Marx or realizing their imperial / white supremacist bias. 5. Historical Materialism: Marx says that history is driven by the material conditions of society-its economic base (the forces and relations of production) rather than by ideas or ideologies. However, this process is not linear. Marx's dialectical materialism shows that change arises from contradictions within existing social relations, such as the tension between the productive forces (technology, labor) and the relations of production (class structures, ownership). The progression from feudalism to capitalism, and eventually to socialism, is not automatic or inevitable. Marx emphasizes the role of class struggle in pushing history forward, with outcomes dependent on the balance of forces in each historical moment. Human agency, political struggle, and contingent historical events play a critical role in this process, which makes historical materialism much more dynamic and unpredictable than a simple linear progression through economic stages. 6. Alienation: Marx says that alienation is a multifaceted concept that extends beyond just workers being disconnected from the products of their labor. He describes four types of alienation: alienation from the product (where workers do not own or control what they produce), from the labor process (where work becomes monotonous and controlled by others), from one’s "species-being" (the essence of human creativity and potential is stifled), and from other people (as capitalism pits individuals against one another in competition). Alienation, for Marx, is not merely an economic phenomenon but a social and existential one. It is a reflection of how capitalist production distorts human nature and relationships, reducing people to cogs in the machinery of production. This complexity is central to Marx’s early philosophical writings and remains crucial in understanding his critique of capitalism’s dehumanizing effects. Capitalism operates through deeply embedded contradictions, where the forces of production (technology, labor) constantly clash with the relations of production (class structures, ownership), creating crises and changes. So you will not have sufficient understanding of how the world works just by watching leftist videos. Marx's ideas about value, profit, revolution, alienation, and historical materialism are dynamic, evolving concepts that resist simple, linear explanations. To fully understand Marx, it's crucial to engage with the dialectical nature of his thought, where contradictions drive historical change, and no single factor-be it economic collapse, revolution, or alienation-is inevitable without being shaped by the material conditions of the time. And please please always read the actual books, not just interpretations if you actually want to know what the man says. That's how the got us with the Bible and TWON. He metal AF. And remember guys, no matter how much we yell at your keyboards, revolutions happen in the streets. Go out vote, protest and help us stop the genocide. Free Palestine! Free the workers of the world! Free the oppressed! 🍉

[@yutubl]

Thanks for your comment, full of complex impression about Marx ideas. PS: I'm northern german technocrat and professional computer & software engineer (my grand parents escaped east prussian regions today poland + russia , very open to industrial progress as mechanical machine technicians).

[@EdwardSkihands]

Classic. Marxist mfs over here building text-wall so big that Mexico has look for a way to not pay for it.

[@GaylJDodds]

There is so much I want to say in disagreement, but. I'll simplify it as much as possible... Capitalism is the modern term for work, which is the same thing we have been doing for thousands of years in order to provide for ourselves and our families, either by means of performing labor for someone else, or by providing the labor necessary to create something to sell, or trade, to someone else. The results are the same and competition is absolutely necessary bcuz society is always changing and we must be able to change and adapt in order to continue to survive. It's nothing new! The only difference is that now it's become politicized by making Capitalism into a bad thing and socialism into a good thing bcuz socialism is simply the modern word for monarchy, where we are controlled by the few at the top who control our lives and take whatever they want from us despite the fact that we put our labor into it as a means of providing for ourselves and our families. If you TRULY understood Marx you would be a staunch Capitalist!! 😆

[@deathmagneto-soy]

From the river to the sea ✊

[@zorinamay3784]

​@GaylJDodds Socialism still exists only as a theory and totalitarian regimes have nothing to do with it. You might think that wars induced by producers and traders of weapons just to make them richer is a good thing but I can't agree with that. Alienation and inequality have reached such scale that's ridiculous.

[@rashidrehman1792]

KZbin served me a "why socialism fails" documentary ad during this video😂

[@BrokeTheGamer]

If you just exploit a few other people’s labor, you’d be able to afford KZbin Premium. 😂

[@Yatukih_001]

The more such ads criticizing socialism are shared the better. Took me years to accept socialism´s defeat - but in the end it did die. It will not have another chance of returning until after this century ends.

[@hex2637]

@@Yatukih_001 if socialism does not return this century, humanity will not survive this century.

[@hex2637]

@@rashidrehman1792 the ruling classes are trembling at the thought of a communist revolution

[@dairallan]

@@Yatukih_001 Social democracy flourishes. Or do you simply not understand that Socialism and Communism are not the same thing?

[@low_sky9]

Wonderful, you did a work here that should be praised, turning introduction to Marx so accessible, without losing it's senses. Congratulations, I hope a lot of people do watch this video as a whole, and not only the ones with left tendencies. Not to say about the huge and fun production.

[@JohnMoseley]

Hey! It's here! And there was me walking down Oxford St. today thinking, 'I just feel so alienated.'

[@beckybnyc322]

Ditto👏🏼

[@hhgonzal]

My deepest gratitude for making this video. All the labor behind it gives a new meaning to the Labor Theory of Value :)

[@0larue0]

Yeah, then and now does the labor and KZbin collects the value

[@ИгорьЧеркасов-ц7е]

So it is really the best introduction to Marxism i've ever heard. For the past 3 years i watched, read and listened to the tons of political content. No the main far leftist could represent Marxism better than you. Shared this video with all my friends

[@akhashverosh3555]

Marx's famous analysis of history is encapsulated in the opening line of The Communist Manifesto: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles."

[@ЛевМышкин-ъ5к]

Concept of the class struggle was developed by french scholars of the mid 18 century. They also had described the economic reality, which creates classes and makes them oppose each other. Marx contribution is the assertion that this struggle will be resolved in post-class society.

[@krunkle5136]

​@@ЛевМышкин-ъ5кpeople will always sort themselves into classes, unless humanity just loses its intelligence and becomes simple beasts.

[@paulussturm6572]

​@@krunkle5136Incorrect, seeing as class division stems from the structure of a particular socioeconomic order and not some innate and unknowable hUmAn NaTuRe.

[@cloroxbleach2520]

​@@krunkle5136then why don't every proletarian just sort themselves into the bourgeois class

[@dialecticaldiscourse]

​@@cloroxbleach2520 because first it is mathematically impossible, second the entry into higher classes is highly vanguarded the social super structure

[@Abcxyz-n6j]

amazing work done here. a video-essay/documentary on Marx which is both accessible and comprehensive. I will definitely be recommending this to people as a perfect introduction to Marx's thought.

[@SueDonim-iy6ml]

Neither communism nor capitalism has produced a functioning lightsaber.

[@Yatukih_001]

Because functioning light - sabers are a concept of science - fiction, a product of capitalism. Communists are bad at productivity but good at being noisy. Communists, socialists are also good at recycling useless items by making them into new things. Other than this they make poor film directors, poor writers, poor poets, poor draftsmen and poor painters because they are always focusing on other things and therefore never truly learn anything new.

[@DanFeldman-Edge]

And a functioning lightsaber is the pinnacle of a flourishing life in society?

[@samueloconner1482]

​@@DanFeldman-Edgeyes

[@PetuniaOnDaBeat]

@@DanFeldman-Edgehonestly it just might be, in a dialectical materialist way of thinking, and alienation in relation to individual fulfillment. With the potential historical context that could very well lead to free energy for everyone or something esoteric like that lol.

[@StrangePowers123]

​@@DanFeldman-Edgeyes. Of course it is. Your intelligence is obviously not on a level to understand that most definitely true fact that is so true it doesnt need any other confirmation than mine just now

[@Mucologist]

Impressive, to say the least. A primer on Marx even I can understand. Seems to me he nailed our predicament. Good job! Thanks,

[@KamKamKamKam]

You guys are wrong when saying that the "transformation problem" poses a problem to Marx's theory of value. It's a misinterpretation of the theory of value that leads to the transformation problem. Marx himself doesn't commit the error, so there is no "transformation problem" in his theory. Some other people, such as Answar Shaikh, disagree with Marx on some points and have a different interpretation of the theory of value. And the transformation problem is a problem to THEIR interpretation. Their interpretation directly leads to the problem, and they then try to find a way to work around it. But Marx interpretation doesn't have this problem to begin with. I can explain more, if someone else is also confused about that so called "problem". And if someone is curious about the difference between Marx's interpretation and that of those other thinkers (who run into the problem), I suggest checking out Andrew Kliman's book about Marx's Capital. He explain in depth where the misinterpretation comes from and why the problem isn't real.

[@nickolasrobert7340]

Yeah, but, Kliman's reading of Marx's theory of value produces a scientifically useful theory of value? As far as I know Shaikh's reading of Marx, the so-called "Standard Sraffian" reading ends up rejecting the Labour Theory of Value but also leaves us with a reasonable theory of value and distribution that's both empirically verifiable and mathematically sound.

[@KamKamKamKam]

@@nickolasrobert7340 Yes, no problem on that front either. Is there a part of that interpretation that bothers you? I spent quite a bit of time on topic, so I think I could help clarify some details if needed.

[@samcassidy2441]

Thanks for the recommendation So much hinges on the law of value, it is important to understand it correctly

[@StephenDarling-g5r]

Fred Moseley's recent book on the so-called transformation problem, "Money and Totality", is worth looking at. It seeks to overcome, as Tony Smith says, the endless obsession with this so-called problem. This is something worth thinking about, as such a problem may well get in the way of focusing on some of the core philosophical issues underlying capitalism, especially about the nature of real freedom and whether capitalism is an impediment to it (as argued by Prabhat Patnaik in his very recently published book, 'Beyond Liberalism"). Cheers.

[@seanbeadles7421]

Why did he write about the transformation problem in capital 3 if it wasn’t a concern of marx?

[@rankcue6824]

You crushed the Hegel video, now this? Thank you!!!

[@BrutalSnuggles]

Dude it's crazy that you're so fucking smart and good at this and have just a half million subs. I love your work and am so grateful to have access to it, especially because you regularly upload these amazing videos

[@brendanhoffmann8402]

What a joy. I've been learning about communism this year. I've been inspired by the community online but now can fill in all the pieces. A straightforward and clear documentary. Thank you!

[@petercorral19]

Your work is so impressive and valuable. Thank you so much for this. I'm happy to be a patron.

[@nancinyols8015]

Well Done!!!! A+ for Accessibility!!! I'm sure this is going to reach more people than a pure lecture or discussion. Thank you very much.

[@haruhivt2405]

The best summarization i've seen from anyone in the global north about marxism, nonetheless it genuinely sounds like you've read critiques and summarizations of past thinkers instead of reading them themselves. You're imbuing common sense of our liberalism to works that didn't even begin to drink from these waters.

[@johnayers2483]

I can’t believe I haven’t subscribed until this episode. I’ve been freeloading for so long. Please forgive me!

[@stesj4]

Sarcasm?

[@clockworkzen]

Good heavens, what a magnificent channel I stumbled upon by algorithm recommendation! Thank you, desperately thank you, for this magnificent introduction to Marx. I was familiar with many of his concepts, but it's just so good to see an intellectual analysis of Marx's work without letting capitalist ideals and defensive mechanisms get in the way of properly interpretating his works. Brilliant stuff. Subscribed to both channels! Keep up the sensational work. We desperately need actual intellectual discourse when it comes to formulating the solutions of the future.

[@karenbarto5057]

I was so confused, bc I have seen this (awesome video!!!) already -- I forgot I watched it as soon as it came out on Patreon. 😁 Amazing work, thank you so much.

[@Baczkowa78]

As an avid documentary watcher (100 or so per year), I can put this in my top ten. Very fact-intensive, very well done. Gets to the core issues of Marx and Engels. Explains his economic thought well.

[@Shawn-id7gc]

I value your Labour

[@aporiaiseuphoria]

This really is a spectacular summarization of Marx and his ideas. Wow. Just blown away.

[@TwigRig]

What a fantastic video - remaining accessible while tackling so many components of Marx. I will definitely recommend this as an introduction, although its breadth will naturally be overwhelming for any newcomer.

[@n1nja_hamsters]

Very well done. I can only imagine how it would feel to hear these things for the first time in such a concise, in-depth video. Thank you

[@gavinmcphie6936]

I won't have time to watch this for a while but I think this channel is incredible and I'd happily comment for engagement's sake

[@nastynates1]

This is the beginning stage of understanding the world and stuff

[@Gustavopez]

This is the B E S T Marx 101 I ever seen. Can I translate it to Portuguese?

[@Solano1111]

cara se a pessoa não sabe o mínimo de inglês ela não vai aprender marx

[@Gustavopez]

@@Solano1111 até concordaria com você, mas... Opção A (pedancia): o original é em alemão Opção B (sarcasmo) aí seriamos dois burros falando merda.

[@00Platypus00]

@@Solano1111 Nao ha nenhum impedimento cognitivo entre entender as ideias de Marx e o conhecimento a respeito de qualquer lingua

[@SuspensionMark]

Cara uma traduçãozinha pra PtBR aqui ficaria jóia ein. Eu quero indicar esse video pra uma galera numerosa, mas estar sem legendas complica bastante.

[@hb3393]

You've done some brilliant videos but I think this is your best yet, well done mate!

[@Zineas]

Fantastic summary! I listened and waited for the moment you would make a common misconception or a common mistake but there were non. Only thing I would find issue here is maybe that, you made it seem the path to class consciousness and revolution is a spontaneous one, yet in other writings and from his lifelong endeavors we can see he tried to influence workers movement all the time. The writings and his struggle for thr first international and social democratic party are examples of this

[@sean748]

For sure, but I think also the rejection of idealism suggests that it does take more than theory to affect systemic change, but also shifts in the material conditions. The workers movement does not in itself change anything if it does not move anything.

[@LK-cl6jj]

Your channel is by far my favorite one in this platform. Amazing work

[@leandropppp]

Brazil here

[@SuspensionMark]

Vim pelo Pedro Ivo do AteuInforma 🐸

[@filipesilveira6111]

Brasil em peso aqui 🐸🐸🐸

[@0x0FF5E7]

aff ta em brasil com z

[@desdenova1]

Hello, Brazil. Hope you're doing well.

[@henrycgs]

@@desdenova1 hello! we aren't. but we're trying.

[@reneemm6519]

Wow, what an interesting and extensive documentary you have made. It was a pleasure to watch it, thank you very much for your time creating it

[@markwrede8878]

It was Adam Smith who recognized the transactions of capital to be extortion. It was his trace of the price of "corn" over centuries that gave rise to the Marxist notion of history proceeding from imperialism to feudalism to capitalism. The labor theory of value places Smith and Marx on the same moral team.

[@hex2637]

Marx gave props to Adam Smith and Ricardo many times. They were certainly some of the best bourgeois thinkers of their time.

[@markwrede8878]

@@hex2637 Indeed, but of those he regarded Smith as the only real economist besides himself.

[@BeenchHoopla]

Moralist detected, Cheka twist his balls

[@nemzecski]

@@BeenchHoopla ultraleft breaching containment

[@mrkanenas]

One of the few channels that makes KZbin worth

[@الفيلسوفأبوفكرالزنديق]

half way through the video I had to hit all buttons - like subscribe. bell - what an amazing work thank you so much!!

[@bernicefenton]

finally getting a chance to watch this masterpiece.

[@pkmallick]

Thanks

[@f1nch1312]

Amazing work on this man! I know this will be the first of many times I watch this.

[@aliteralparadox5998]

marx has revolutionised my view of the world after i read capital and he also has and will continue to revolutionise the world

[@AhmadAmr98]

Dude. Great video essay!! Such an important one, too!

[@jmeals1]

16:31 He said the thing!

[@stanleykubrick8786]

There's often a difference between quality and quantity and it's clear why you often take two months to create your next video. Thank you.

[@inkeldinky]

holy shit this video, that I put off on watching, is so damn good. Really good, in depth knowledge on Marx and his ideas. Thank you!

[@fuad000100]

Possibly the best topic on theory one could think of right now (even though there's no shortage of such content on KZbin). I also loved your Hegel video, which I found quite suitable for a newbie grappling with continental philosophy. Looking forward to this banger!

[@lonepantalones8284]

Had sat down to watch something at lunch and thought, maybe I'll watch an old Then&Now vid... and was greeted with this feature length Marx vid. Booyakasha!

[@Jackieception]

who needs college when we have this... absolute based gem, thanks for making this dude

[@ejdavidson8800]

The materialist dialectic is the theory of the proletarian revolution

[@adamrosendahl8090]

Ummm, not quite. Thanks for coming out.

[@axelblack1799]

@@adamrosendahl8090If not Dia-mat, then what? Dialectical Materialism is the foundation of our understanding and critique of capitalism. The worker-owner dialectic is at the foundation of class society, the dialectics of ideology and material conditions is fundamental to the continuation of capitalism as a mode of production/social relations to labour. Dialectical rupture is fundamental for the theory and praxis of communism, the progression towards and creation of a society without primary contradictions. Dialectic Materialism is universally applicable and universally fundamental to both the reproduction of existing social relations to production, and all theories which progress society forward. There is no more proletarian theory than that theory which gives “proletarian” it’s definition.

[@charliedoyle7824]

This is as good as or better than any public-tv philosophy doc. Thanks for the great work!

[@Web3Future333]

One day the remaining half of the world that hasn’t, will realize that Marx was extremely based.

[@aliteralparadox5998]

"reality is marxist" -Michael Parenti

[@Amin-al-Husseini_1941picture]

until you realize his fallowers now are weak and pathetic blacks, jews and gays.

[@WCC-ps8jt]

And completely wrong😂

[@warrioroflight6872]

He couldn't manage his own household budget, refused to get a real job, didn't pay his maid, cheated on his wife, regularly exploited other people for money, and produced an ideology that has resulted in impoverishment, famine, and misery everywhere it has been tried on a mass scale. How is that "extremely based"? He was one of the biggest losers in human history.

[@warrioroflight6872]

Marx couldn't manage his own household budget, didn't pay his housekeeper, regularly exploited other people for money, and didn't bathe regularly. And all that isn't even considering the enormous failures of his ideology. How is any of that "extremely based?"

[@5UM0N3]

Amazing video! I see it as a sign of intellectual maturity not to reflexively reject theories and instead seek to understand their strengths/weaknesses on their own terms. This is such necessary viewing in these contentious times 🎆

[@sierramelody3886]

Immediately subscribed based on how sane the fanbase is in the comments

[@MadTracker]

The time that must have gone into this, the production value✨, God! Thank you!

[@susanwilliams4953]

Thank you, I learned today.

[@watergawd2605]

Lets goo! I checked and theres a new video!! Love it! I haven't been checking the patreon lol

[@Bojoschannel]

At the end of the day, Marx's most important message and the one that has kept me as a marxist thru the years, is the freeing of humanity from abstractions, be it gods, magic, kings, the market, capital or whatever, and opening the possibility for us truly becoming "human" (post human?). Can't wait to see this!

[@Barklord]

Marx freed humanity from abstractions? I thought Aporia and Ch'an did that.

[@LPSlight0]

This also ties into one of the critical theories of Nazis being defined as seekers of destroying abstraction. The obvious examples of this were their disdain for modern art like abstract expressionism or conceptual art- reactionaries hating the Fountain (Duchamp) come to mind- or their systematic attacks on academia and higher education. But the ideological history of Nazis comes from Italian fascism, which has its hands in both irrationalism, the idea that emotions and feelings should be prized over reason, and something I call actionism- a form of anti-intellectualism whereby contemplation and abstract thinking are detested (the passive intellectual) and the concrete and practical are elevated are valuable intrinsically (the active intellectual). Moving along, Italian fascism was a response to the alienation felt within capitalism. It sought to end alienation through nationalism and perpetual war, so folks would feel comfortable subordinating themselves to the capitalist machine if they thought it was necessary for their survival and the survival and prosperity of the nation-state. So Italian fascism was at least symbolically anti-capitalist, and Nazism took after that tradition and this is seen in their official name- National Socialist German Workers' Party. When we think about capitalism, it is an incredibly abstract system with invisible working parts involving larger-than-life ideas. Finances, markets, banking, money, commodities, production, natural resource extraction, homogeneous labor, etc. It seems to create real-life consequences-like economic crises, poverty, unemployment, inflation, and deprivation of basic necessities- through purely fictitious and abstract means, some kind of invisible force that exerts an influence on the concrete life of humans from seemingly another dimension. Because anti-semitism in the 19th and 20th centuries implicated Jews to be the symbol of this abstract "international finance" system responsible for so many problems, the Nazis projected their internalized property relations and alienation regarding the abstract nature of the world *onto* the Jews, turning them into a scapegoat that must be sacrificed (through the Holocaust) in order to release this inner collective tension felt by the Germans-don't forget that most Nazis came from middle class or below backgrounds so they were most affected by the workings of capitalism. As a result, fascism and communism are both opposing responses to the same underlying phenomena: abstraction. But while communism identifies highly abstract systems and seeks to destroy those systems such as the state, capitalism, money, class, etc. Fascism identifies highly abstract PEOPLE (and nations) and seeks to destroy them through genocide, slavery, war, ecocide, and occupation.

[@Bojoschannel]

@@Barklord no he didn't...

[@dandylandpuffplaysminecraf8744]

@@BojoschannelContradiction is not an Argument. I came in here for a good argument.

[@Barklord]

​@Bojoschannel This is the No Theory Required faction of Post-Leninist-Marxism.

[@parsa8624]

Stunning work. I truly enjoyed how you covered mostly all the general matters. 👍

[@endodouble6691]

I remember the first time I came across „On the Jewish question“ and went: „On the WHAT NOW?!“ How the meaning of words can change

[@bloodspartan300]

Nothing has changed since it was written...accept that now its "the jewish problem"

[@endodouble6691]

@@bloodspartan300 the Jewish question in the 19th century was whether Jews should have religious freedom, while in the 20th it was whether Jews should be allowed to live

[@BioChemistryWizard]

@@endodouble6691 Seeing as their culture gives the absolute worst possible inputs into capitalism... Perhaps not as unjustified as people think.

[@dehtyarUA]

@@BioChemistryWizardback to antisemitism we go

[@seanc411]

@@BioChemistryWizardWhat a disgusting thing to say.

[@hiddenbear5306]

That's an amazing amount of work puted in this video. Gonna watch this few times at least.

[@FreyrDK]

28:22 made me spit hamburger all over my screen. Now my brand new shining gaming laptop feels alienated and is protesting against my exploitative use of it. Thanks.

[@VeteranVandal]

Your laptop isn't a worker or a human. It cannot be alienated just yet.

[@33up24]

Amazing video. This is one of the best inteoductory content on Marxism and left economics outhere by far. Very accessible without sacrificing meaning and dumb it it down too much. Again, a cannot understate how great this video is, thank you.

[@yashasvi2]

Use value comes from the physical property of the commodity.

[@moldytomato9130]

Such a well made and very informational vid that was super easy to digest and was a great overview of Marx and the ideas he came up with!! Loved every second of this, you were fantastic at presenting all of this, amazing work fr!!

[@demetriomoura170]

Valeu!

[@Albatrossamongus]

Finally had the time to get though this and it's a masterpiece. Thank you yet again, the quality of work you put out is phenomenal.

[@Le0mas]

This actually feels like video-essay is an appropriate term, great job in that!

[@daniildanzig2842]

Thanks so much, your work is amazing! One of my fave channels!

[@freniisammii]

42:44 That's the wrong fourier 😭 He's the mathematician Jean-Baptiste Fourier. Not the French Socialist Philosopher Charles Fourier

[@childofgod2471]

Came to say the same thing 😂 At least they got the correct Fourier at 43:05

[@DJWESG1]

Kind of impressed that you throw in the odd reference from alex and david.. Very good presentation. Well done.

[@nopasaran191]

I literally yelled fuck yeah when I saw this video pop up

[@epochphilosophy]

Same, same.

[@nopasaran191]

@@epochphilosophy I got that initial feeling of excitement when I saw the thumbnail but once my eyes made it to the timestamp I threw my first up and yelled out. I don’t think I even waited to read the title at first to make sure it wasn’t titled like “why he sucks” because I saw dude in the thumbnail and knew that wasn’t gonna be the case

[@UmEditorMarxista]

Best video from a non-communist channel I've ever seen on the subject. Truly amazing!

[@Matheus_FO]

é bom mesmo? não assisti ainda e to com medo de passar raiva com revisionismos

[@UmEditorMarxista]

@@Matheus_FO pode ir sem medo. claramente não é um video de agitação, mas é honestíssimo. me lembrou a pegada do Wisecrack

[@henrycgs]

@@Matheus_FO é um bom vídeo, explicando de forma honesta os trabalhos de marx. ele não dá uma opinião contra ou a favor

[@robderiche]

some other animals use tools and even shape them to their purpose, but humans, uniquely, use tools to make tools.

[@ExplodingWalkie-talkie]

I'm brown and grew up poor in a country where now thanks to Marx ideas, we have a failing economy, rampant corruption and zero freedom of speech. Yes, I know you'll say it's not Marx's fault but without Marx's seed reaching the mind of our former leader, we'd have a dynamic economy with a new president every 4 years just like our neighbors do. So it'll never not seem ironic to people like myself, brown and poor, watching the excitement and adoration these figures get from white people who never had to endure the consequences of living in an authoritarian regime that got started thanks to Marx's ideas. It's just so easy to sympathize with almost anything if you grow up in the comfort of a nice home with a government that has elections and guarantees that basic necessities and things like school and the electrical grid keep working.

[@kromeface4976]

Poverty and corruption existed before Marx and after. It’s easy to reduce all these problems to a single ideology or person, like here in the states we blame single presidents or political parties for a country’s issues when it’s too complex to narrow down a single cause. Modern China & Russia backbones were both built off communist ideology and both were improved because of it. Russia became industrialized and had exponential growth in a short period of time, making breakthroughs in science (space travel being a major one) after being a semifeudal land under the czar. China was comprised of illiterate peasants and was a also feudal with no industrial power. They also drastically improved they’re economy, standard of living and military after adopting communist ideas. But again, it’s complex, like with any new process there are success stories and failures. This goes for Communism and Capitalism. No one ever says the roman empire was a failure because it fell apart. Again complexities there too: migrations, barbarian invasions, military decline, cultural changes, internal division. No one blames the slave system during this time for its collapse. And i understand that you’re speaking from personal experience and thats not to invalidate what you and your people went through because I don’t know what you went through or why it happened. But with anything you’ll find people with vastly different experiences, anecdotal evidence isn’t sufficient for determining the correctness of ideas. The execution of these ideas and the context surrounding the execution must be taken into account.

[@ExplodingWalkie-talkie]

@kromeface4976 right right, never blame Socialism or Communism, when it fails and leads to corruption, torture and tyranny, it's something else 👌🏻

[@thevillager8339]

Say what you will about the modern world, but you can't convince me that businesses have our best interest at heart when they say that living wage is a Union word

[@LunaLynn111]

Your channel is amazing 👏 Thank you for all your hard work and long, knowledgeable, entertaining videos!

[@iamnobodyuknow]

Amazing work, thank you! And thank you (from a Russian person) for explaining, though briefly, that USSR doesn’t equal socialism

[@dorinpopa6962]

It was the first attempt and of course an imperfect one, but I'd argue it helped advance Marxism and the communist struggle. It also inevitably uncovered new challenges and failed in facing some of them. Lenin truly continued and carried the Marxist analysis into the political struggle and the analysis of advanced monopolistic capitalism.

[@Cast36x]

@@dorinpopa6962 Did it help? And where is it now in the post-Soviet space? This is an example where even with such a size, a planned economy loses in competition to the free market, destroying its own population to buy factories.

[@dorinpopa6962]

@@Cast36x you clearly don't know much about the history of the USSR. The USSR was rapidly industrializing and integrating new machinery when the rest of the world was in the Great Depression. The USSR started having economic issues exactly when the technological and organizational limits of the planned economy of the time tried to be overcome with market reforms, and it started with Khrushchev. The difficult economic situation that post-Soviet states find themselves in is exactly the consequence of returning to capitalism.

[@Cast36x]

@@dorinpopa6962 я знаю об истории СССР больше чем ты себе можешь представить. The USSR industrialized by buying from the US market until the Great Depression. The USSR created starvation for its own population, killing millions. After the revolution, progress naturally slowed down. Guyana's rapid development does not yet indicate economic success for its population - same for the USSR. What kind of difficult economic situation are you talking about when you look at the Eastern Bloc, the Baltic countries? Where are the lines in the stores in Russia and Ukraine? The crisis and coupons in the USSR began before market reforms, and in 10 years under capitalism they were overcome, the only reason for the decline of today's post-Soviet countries is the war of the nomenklatura for its power, there is no capitalism in these countries. Capitalism has its own institutions that are completely destroyed in today's post-Soviet countries.

[@leon3589]

It was a socialist country. By all metrics. You might be confused by Left-Communism rhetoric; the idea that the material conditions are irrelevant and we have to have a dogmatic understanding of socialism, and where it fails, it stops being socialist or is revisionist. There is no greater example of socialism than the USSR. There’s a reason we call ourselves Marxists-Leninists. As did Mao, as do the CPC currently. Socialism will not present itself as a checklist of ideas. It will vary from country to country. From time to time.

[@Otsgekee]

Thanks. Good video perfect 2 hours for my stronglift set!

[@nimged8952]

9:17 I believe it's inaccurate to label Stirner as an anarchist, as he predates anarchism as a coherent ideology. While it's accurate to say he inspired later individualist anarchists, Stirner's philosophy is distinct and often considered a precursor to anarchism rather than a direct part of it.

[@seanbeadles7421]

He says Stirner’s an early anarchist which is fine, it’s like calling Robert Owen an early socialist.

[@philappen8819]

this is such a great video! Very comprehensive without over simplifying. Thank you for making this !!

[@JeffCarey-s6y]

A very balanced discussion of Marx. I do wish people understood the difference between Marxism, Stalinism, Maoism, and all of the other failed utopian projects. Maybe if people understood him better, there would not be so many yearning for authoritarianism and nativism among the disadvantaged.

[@nemzecski]

Marxism is not utopian

[@therealxz7434]

Marxism is the scientific application of socialism. Maoism is the critique of Marxism-Leninism applied to Mao's Communist Revolution. Stalinism is the slandering buzz word uses by left opposition can liberals to picture Marxism-Leninism and equally horrific as Nazism. Marxism-Leninism is the Revolutionary Vanguardism taken on by the Bolshevik Marxists to establish a vanguard party in the DOTP

[@fredfisher5546]

Then and Now best teacher on this whole platform. Crash Course gone academic and my favourite channel here

[@jrkirby93]

I think of the labor theory of value not as a descriptive theory, but as a normative theory. From that perspective, it's not wrong, it's just unrealized.

[@jayzbreemo]

It’s not wrong as a descriptive theory. In terms of goods across industries, surplus outputs are directly proportional to labour inputs. This is easily tested and proven, like in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m57RioCcn76bZ7Msi=ecJlNKYMTqqks9Eq

[@henrycgs]

yes, and we also can't forget that marx was talking about a general trend in society, not that everything works exactly like that. of course the labor theory wouldn't explain NFTs for instance, but it does explain quite well what humanity as a whole values in general.

[@jrkirby93]

@@henrycgs that's exactly the type of thing I was talking about. A normative labor theory of value perfectly explains the general public reaction (anger and confusion) when faced with the supposed "value" of NFTs. Labor theory is not a sufficient explanation for pricing under capitalism. But when prices deviate too far from this ideal, there tends to be a moral objection to it from the common man.

[@jameslazer819]

Sir, your channel enriches my life. Thank you so much!

[@leviathanv3135]

Jeff Bezos doesn’t deserve what he has

[@henrycgs]

yeah no billionaire does

[@Niaz_S]

Obviously. Billionaires are not working hundreds of millions of times harder than the people in the sweatshops or the single mothers or the ones with multiple jobs. Capitalism is not a meritocracy.

[@Turdfergusen382]

Well it’s not to say someone can’t build a business to a massive size from nothing. But you need to pay your fair share in taxes and also held account for polluting and destruction.

[@henrycgs]

@@Turdfergusen382 it's not possible for anyone to go from literally nothing to a billionaire. every billionaire is only that rich because of the exploitation of workers, and almost 100% of the times it's because they were already born rich

[@leviathanv3135]

This dude had his delivery drivers taking dumps in buckets inside the vans to cut bathroom brakes. He’s gotten in trouble for copying products in his website created by entrepreneurs’s stealing their ideas to make money for himself. He fires people through an app. No manager involved no nothing just your fired. Maybe some of these things changed but these are the last things that have heard as of late. He also has cameras watching which part of your body you use the most so that they can move around to work different parts of your body. That is absurd and petty. Plus he has an army of lawyers.

[@Lildoc911]

Im about 3/4 through, and i am already planning to watch this several more times.

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

Even _Chomsky_ made the horrendous continuous-mistake of telling people to vote for Democrats. You have to fully oppose Noam Chomsky telling you that, _and also all these media “journalists” for the Ds or Rs of the duopoly._

[@stav-tt3vg]

Parenti is the Goat . He expose Chomsky in Blackshirts and Reds

[@Barklord]

Even Ralph Nader said it repeatedly back in the 90s.

[@aturchomicz821]

Ok Trumpist🤣🤣

[@truthbetold8233]

WAT

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

@@truthbetold8233 YAP

[@X21XXI]

This needs multiple viewings

[@DugongClock]

Alienation, for Marx, is not a feeling. This is a tired and incorrect reading. Its too often abused as a muddled catch all concept that is used in the place of various phenomena to avoid saying something concrete. It’s a functional fact of property. I am quite literally estranged from my labor activity and its product not because I don’t feel like I see myself in it, but because I do determine it nor own the product. The firm does. I am estranged in actuality from my fellow worker as we compete for job positions. I am estranged from the world because I own none of it, despite everyday contributing to its creation. Althusser’s assertion of the young/late Marx dichotomy was rigorously disproven and even abandoned by him. It requires we pretend the Grundrisse doesn’t exist, a text which ought to have been mentioned. Alienation was never abandoned, it’s overcoming is the practical abolition of property. It also would have been helpful to dive into the “is/ought” dichotomy, particular Hegel’s critique of it, rather than just asserting it. Also, Marx did not wish to combine economics and philosophy, but just as with religion, thought himself to be going beyond these schools through their critique. Hence Capital being “A Critique of Political Economy”, or his earlier critique of philosophy as such.

[@Alex-jj1jx]

Alienstion is both a feeling and a socio-economic reality for Marx. It's a socio-economic reality felt by the worker. So saying alienation is a feeling isn't wrong, just incomplete.

[@DugongClock]

@@Alex-jj1jx I am discussing specifically how Marx develops the concept. Not to be conflated with other uses or misappropriations. You can “feel” alienated, just as you can feel like you’ve been robbed, but the feeling is not equal to the actuality of the situation. If I feel like I see myself in my work, but I’m a wage worker without ownership of my product, I am still alienated from my labor in reality.

[@oisingunning7483]

He mentioned the Grundrisse several times man

[@DugongClock]

@@oisingunning7483 I meant specifically in response to counter Althusser’s late-young Marx “anti-humanism” myth. Instead he brings up David Harvey to counter Althusser, instead of just using the author (Marx) himself. Harvey is also a terrible secondary source and sneaks in plenty of dubious innovations of his own into his reading guides. It just smacks that he’s picking fashionable names contemporarily attached to Marx out of a hat, rather than using (or doing) the better scholarship.