Sunday, October 08, 2017

Edging Toward Sunset


6 comments:

  1. Russian police arrest hundreds in protests on Putin's birthday
    http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/08/europe/russia-protest-navalny-putin/index.html

    Good thing DT's birthday isn't until mid-June. By then he'll have forgotten.

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  2. Thanks, Alan, for the suggestion and links for the book on Marx. I've been able to download The Communist Manifesto from BARD (the download service of the NLS), which rather surprised me. They don't appear to have the book you recommended though, so the links will come in very handy.

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    Replies
    1. Started the book. I must be pretty dumb; having trouble with the introduction. :(

      OTOH the author makes an excellent point that I never thought of; namely, that Marx's thought is so all pervasive that even the staunchest of capitalists uses his terminology.

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    2. Glad to be of assistance, Cat. Those texts are unfamiliar to me, Cat; thanks for the link--they sound unintimidating. I find Marx's theory of value, his observations on the evolution of capitalist industry, and social evolution to be most interesting. Can't say as I understand what communism is--I think it was a theoretical early state of humankind. "Socialism" has had various meanings over time; now it usually means systems where the people own the means of production. Early on, it was a movement to ameliorate the evils of unbridled capitalism. In another sense, it is the cooperation of all people in a society (by paying taxes, for instance) to act for the common good; think of the modern armed forces or the Interstate Highway System. In the latter case, it is the foundation of the modern nation state.

      Alan

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