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View Full Version : My beliefs and a few questions. (long post)



eric922
24th March 2011, 16:04
I have a few questions for you as to if my beliefs are compatible with Marxism. So here are a few of my core beliefs, though they are subject to change as I don't believe anything is written in stone. Feel free to let me know if you want any clarification on these or if there is anything your curious about I didn't answer.

I basically believe in rights written in the Bill of Rights. I do support democracy, however I feel that in the U.S. and other western countries we don't have a democracy, but more of an oligarchy hiding behind the mask of a democracy to keep people happy. I feel that capitalism is incompatible with democracy as it concentrates wealth and power in the hands of a few and reduces the rest to virtual slavery under the guise of freedom.

I believe that workers should be in charge of their lives and be able to run their factories, stores, or whatever as they see fit and not how some CEO who has never worked a day in his life tells them. I believe that CEOs and stockholders should be banned and any profits a company makes should go to the workers and be distributed among them. I think that workers should vote on their wages, hours, and who they want to be in management positions if those are necessary.

In fact I believe there should be only workers, no CEOs or board members. Granted you might need a form of management but those positions too should be elected by the workers and not chosen for them. In short you could say i basically believe that all power should be in the hands of the workers and that there really should be only workers.

I also believe that we should have a fully socialized medical system where anyone can get medical care for free. I believe that no one should have millions as long as single person is homeless or in poverty, and if that involves making everyone equal than so be it. I believe the military's only purpose is to defend a country from foreign invasion and not wage wars of profit or imperialism.

blake 3:17
25th March 2011, 03:39
Sounds perfectly compatible.

¿Que?
25th March 2011, 04:05
Yes, it all sounds perfectly reasonable, but you need to explain further how you justify your beliefs. I realize this post is mostly for explaining your position, but I think it could use some elaborating as to why, say for example, you believe in rights as they are written in the Bill of Rights.

Lenina Rosenweg
25th March 2011, 04:37
I have a few questions for you as to if my beliefs are compatible with Marxism.


I basically believe in rights written in the Bill of Rights.

The extent to which our "constitutional rights" actually existed in the US often depended on the level of class struggle. Freedom of assembly or speech didn't mean anything without a huge fight. The conservative "strict constructivist" argument of the Constitution is nonsense.





I believe that workers should be in charge of their lives and be able to run their factories, stores, or whatever as they see fit and not how some CEO who has never worked a day in his life tells them.

In fact I believe there should be only workers, no CEOs or board members. Granted you might need a form of management but those positions too should be elected by the workers and not chosen for them. In short you could say i basically believe that all power should be in the hands of the workers and that there really should be only workers.


People in the Trotskyist tradition generally call this "worker's democracy". The economy should be democratically run by a network of worker's councils. Worker's representatives would be subject to instant recall and would earn what the average worker earns.Elements of this existed in Russia in the early revolutionary period, in Spain, the Paris Commune, Italy in around 1919, and many other places. Everytime socialism has been attempted though its been viciously attacked by ruling classes-massacres after the Paris Commune was crushed, bloody civil wars in Spain and Russia, incredible violence in Chile under Pinochet, the list is endless. Every attempt was made to snuff out any attempt by the working class to take control of the forces that rule them.

Our entire world has essentially been built by the capitalists from the surplus value expropriated by the capitalists.The ruling class lives parasitically off our labor. Socialists want to "expropriate the expropriators", as Uncle Karl said.



I also believe that we should have a fully socialized medical system where anyone can get medical care for free. I believe that no one should have millions as long as single person is homeless or in poverty, and if that involves making everyone equal than so be it. I believe the military's only purpose is to defend a country from foreign invasion and not wage wars of profit or imperialism.

Couldn't agree more. The reason why Canada has a national healthcare system and the US doesn't is because an independent working class movement, which coalesced in the NDP, fought for it.In the US the Democratic Party is the "graveyard of social movements", it exists to co-opt, marginalize, and dissipate struggles. Its very good at this job. There are are many, many examples of this. The Republicans are horrible, vicious thugs but the Dems are our real enemy.

Anyway your ideas sound very compatible with Marxism. Similar to what El Vagoneta said, I would add an economic analysis. I'm learning myself, being a Marxist, that is using the tools of Marxsism to analyze society, is a process of constantly learning. Its a lifelong thing.