If Marx was alive today, would he have the same opinion?

[Red_October]

I've always wondered this. If, say, by some magical re-incarnation stuff, Karl Marx was brought back to life in today's day and age, would he still retain his opinion, or would he rather grow less fond of communism, because of some countries implementing it badly, sometimes in the worst interest of it's own people. Because, today in an average middle-class family, many people don't have a job in manufacturing or agriculture, and many people also have more luxuries of a higher value than their class equals a century or more ago. Obviously, the advancements and progress are slower than what would have been done by socialism and other left political ideals, but arguably capitalism could have been a catalyst for some of the things we have today. I'm quite confused, as the quality of life is much larger for the average family than what we had a century ago, but of course, the average person's quality of life is still MUCH lower than the upper class (who in my opinion, get their wealth more unfairly today than in the mid-20th century) and technological as well as medical advancements will be restricted to them.

So yeah, basically...Do you think Karl Marx's political view would change if he was alive today? I am unsure and confused, as the class struggle remains, the difference in them is escalating, but the quality of life is rising as well. Thanks for reading, and I hope to get some good answers, and of course, sorry for the rushed writing :unsure:

[motion denied]

That's an odd question. If Marx was resurrected I guess he would have a lot of catch up reading to do. I'd appreciate his analysis of the fSU as well.

Quality of life is not rising, quite the contrary.

Also, I think we should resurrect Bakunin. Time to revive the old time fight classics.

[Sinister Intents]

I believe in reincarnation, though other people on this site don't, but my belief in this is besides the point and doesn't matter to this discussion. Say Karl Marx was reborn I don't think he would remember the previous life enough to be able to say anything. He could end up like any other person just going on with there daily lives. Assuming he remembers the previous life and all of his knowledge he gained during his life then, I would assume he would be able to create volumes more of information for the proletarian class to consume. I think Karl would be a communist most definitely assuming he can recollect the previous life if that's even necessary. There are too many variables though to know if Karl Marx would be a communist in this new life. He could end up being a fascist if the material conditions affect him in such a way, such as his family and those around him as well as the conditions of where he lives. I would hope though that the reincarnated Marx would be thoroughly communist, who knows, someone on this site could be the reincarnated Marx and not even know it!

[Sinister Intents]

That's an odd question. If Marx was resurrected I guess he would have a lot of catch up reading to do. I'd appreciate his analysis of the fSU as well.

Quality of life is not rising, quite the contrary.

Also, I think we should resurrect Bakunin. Time to revive the old time fight classics.

Indeed it is an odd question and I'm glad it was raised!!! He would have a ton of reading and his opinion of the fSU would probably be similar to what Emma Goldman had to say about the USSR: There Is No Communism In Russia. (http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/63/227.html)
I'd wanna know what he would have to say about the world wars and imperialism of today.
Let's resurrect them all!!! Even Stalin!

[Comrade #138672]

Of course. Even if it were only 10 - 20 years after his death, he would have changed his mind about at least a few things. As Marxists, we do not simply assume everything he said to be true. Marx was only human. He had some great insights, but he was no god. Obviously he would have learned new things over time and would have adapted his opinions accordingly. I do not think that he would actually believe that the class struggle is over today. He would probably be very surprised by the course of history, though.

Still, it needs to be stressed that there is a difference between learning and outright revisionism.

[Red Economist]

The development of an 'middle class' has posed serious problems for Marxist theory as it was assumed that the increasing power of the capitalists would lead to increased exploitation and economic polarization in which the works would have below subsistence living standards (and it has for 5 billion people on the planet, but a lot of people are still pretty well of by comparison, so... :confused:).
At the turn of the twentieth century, Eduard Bernstein argued that the existence of a middle class proved that relations between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie were not antagonistic, and this led to the development of 'revisionism'/'reformism'/ Marxian forms of 'evolutionary socialism'.
The only other explanation I've come across, is when Lenin talked about a labor aristocracy- but this applied to 'opportunist' trade union and social democratic party leaders, not 1-2 billion people.

On a purely human level, if you brought back Marx to life and told him what they have done in his name in the twentieth century, I think he would say something like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5R_pS0h5Qk

[G4b3n]

Well, if he was somehow brought magically back to life, that would disprove materialism most likely, as far as I can imagine anyway. After all, materialism is the believe that the material world is our objective reality which we experience through sensation alone and nothing else.

So, I believe zombie Marx would apologize for being so incorrect. But luckily, we live in a world where Marx was correct in his deepest convictions at least, so we won't be hearing from him again.

[Loony Le Fist]

...Do you think Karl Marx's political view would change if he was alive today? I am unsure and confused, as the class struggle remains, the difference in them is escalating, but the quality of life is rising as well. Thanks for reading, and I hope to get some good answers, and of course, sorry for the rushed writing :unsure:

I definitely think Marx would have changed the details of his ideas, but I don't think his overall opinion would have changed. See the book Profitting without Producing (ISBN: 978-1-78168-197-8) for an example of what I feel would be something similar to Marx's opinion would have been on the current financial crisis.

While quality of life did indeed rise for the middle of the 20th century, it started to fall again at the begining of the 1980's. People are actually making less than they did then when you factor in inflation.

We are actually making less

http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-p25_averagehouseholdincom.png


And even paying more in taxes

http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-taxrate_3.png

[Zanthorus]

Basically everyone thinks that Marx would've agreed with their opinions.

Just for the record though, he would've agreed with my opinions.

[Sea]

Title correction:

It ought to be "If Marx were alive today.."
Just for the record though, he would've agreed with my opinions.BS

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

I think some of his social attitudes and prejudices would have changed. Marx was still very much a man of his time in some areas. His views towards homosexuals would probably have changed, had he the chance to see all of the scientific knowledge on the subject of sexual preference we now have. He also probably would have been a little bit careful about various....terms he used when speaking about certain racial groups, though he'd also probably point out how PC language can ring rather hollow in the guise of bourgeoisie liberalism.

I think he'd also have some rather insightful analysis of the various social movements that have popped up in the last few years, like Occupy Wall Street. He'd probably be right in the midst of it, talking to all of the people there in his heavily-accented English.

And he'd probably experience one of the most amazing case of "I-TOLD-YOU-SO!" with the credit crunch and global recession.

Over all though, his essential themes would be mostly unchanged, and still be very much relevant, as he could easily point out that the same class divisions and conflicts are still very much in existence.