Hunter, Fisherman, Shepherd, Critic: Karl Marx's Vision of the Free Individual

[JimN]

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Hunter, Fisherman, Shepherd, Critic: Karl Marx's Vision of the Free Individual

A lot of nonsense is talked about Karl Marx, most of it from people who have never read him.

Many consider his work to be discredited by the dictatorial regimes that were set up in his name. But what did Karl Marx actually have to say?

Was he in favour of dictatorship? Did he think that the state should impose dull uniformity, rigid regimentation and boring work on its citizens? Did he think that human nature and talents should be suppressed in the name of equality and altruism and for the benefit of a collectivity?

No. In fact, Karl Marx's driving passion his whole life was the free development of the individual. Karl Marx was not opposed to the capitalist ideas of choice, liberty and individual freedom. He supported the ideas, but opposed the society that prevented them becoming a reality.

He wanted to be able "to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic".

In this talk, we will consider whether Karl Marx's vision of the free individual is just an idle dream, or something that could actually be achieved. And if so, how?

Speaker: Stuart Watkins

Saturday 11th September 6pm

Socialist Party of Great Britain Head Office
52 Clapham High Street
London SW4 7UN

All welcome.

Free entry. Free discussion. Free refreshments.

For details of this and all our meetings please visit:
http://www.meetup.com/The-Socialist-Party-of-Great-Britain/calendar/14178309/

[JimN]

Just a reminder that this talk is this coming Saturday (11th September).
For details of this and all our meetings please visit:
http://www.meetup.com/The-Socialist-Party-of-Great-Britain/ (http://www.meetup.com/The-Socialist-Party-of-Great-Britain/)

[Comrade Outlaw]

I think Karl Marx was a libertarian.

And i think Karl Marx in those quotes was looking back into the past to the kind of tribal herdsmen that existed in the steppes and the druids (pre-roman invasion), because that is pretty much how they lived.

[ZeroNowhere]

Marx studded his writings with a comparable density of allusions to the ideas and terminologies of philosophers, historians and political economists. For example, when he likened life under communism where everyone would be able “to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening and criticize after dinner.” In the first three activities, Marx was mocking Adam Smith and almost every vulgar economist for their “unimaginative fantasies.” The post-prandial critical criticising was another dig at the Holy Family of Young Hegelians. Cultural semi-literates who fail to recognise these sources do not hesitate to berate Marx for putting forward an insipid picture of comforts suiting a country gent, or Tolstoy.-Humphrey McQueen, 'Reading the 'unreadable' Marx'.