All I know is that I am not a Marxist

[Subversive Pessimist]

Excuse my ignorance, but why did Marx say this?
I've also heard he said something like:
"I've lived long enough to know that I am not a Marxist"

[Postteen]

Was Jesus a christian??

[Roses in the Hospital]

It was in responce to a Socialist group who claimed to be Marxist, Marx however did not approve of their methods so he said something along the lines of "If they are Marxist, then I am not." That's where the quote originates from...

[Subversive Pessimist]

Thank you. But what about the last one?

"I've lived long enough to know that I am not a Marxist"

They say he said it right before he died.

[Ian]

Originally posted by [email protected] 6 2004, 12:05 PM
Thank you. But what about the last one?

"I've lived long enough to know that I am not a Marxist"

They say he said it right before he died.
No that's a myth I've never heard of before. His last words were, "Go on, get out, last words are for fools who haven't said enough already"

[Subversive Pessimist]

Did he pass away right after he said it, or did he just keep his mouth shut until he died?
Wow, I think I need to find me own last words...

[Forward Union]

Originally posted by [email protected] 6 2004, 01:37 PM
Did he pass away right after he said it, or did he just keep his mouth shut until he died?
Wow, I think I need to find me own last words...
Well, that would sort of go against Marx's teachings. Why not just say your 'last words' in life. And you can save the panic, at the end.

Besides after you say some last words, you can't say anything else until you die...because you could come with some inspiring last words, on your death bed....and then say something stupid like...pass the sandwiches.. :D

[Hiero]

I think all last words in history are all bullshit.

[praxis1966]

Could be. People definately make more out of them than they are. Pancho Villa's last words, spoken to a reporter doing a deathbedside interview, were "Do not let it end like this. Tell them I said something."

[Hate Is Art]

Last words are kinda weird and I agree with them being changed to seem more heroic. Some kind of media friendly sound bite.

I'd like mine to be a simple "bye"

[BOZG]

Originally posted by [email protected] 6 2004, 01:05 PM
Thank you. But what about the last one?

"I've lived long enough to know that I am not a Marxist"

They say he said it right before he died.
Most of the social democrats of Marx's day, considered themselves Marxists and distorted his theories. Marx's response was that, if this is what Marxism had become, then he was not a Marxist like them.

[RedCeltic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 6 2004, 07:53 AM
No that's a myth I've never heard of before. His last words were, "Go on, get out, last words are for fools who haven't said enough already"
Yes, that is exactly what Karl Marx had said as his "last words."

Of course, history is always being rewriten by "historians"... take the most famous words attributed to Nathan Hale, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country." This was supposedly his "Last words" yet had never said this. It was a fabrication by an author almost 100 years after his death.

In attacking Karl Marx... many attribute different meaning to the line Karl Marx had uttered, "I've lived long enough to know that I am not a Marxist" which already has been said in this thread, was attributed to a particular group calling themselves Marxists... but has been used by anti-Marxists to say that on his deathbed Karl Marx recanted and said he didn't believe what he wrote about. That.. is bullshit because unlike Nathan Hale, what Marx actually said was well doccumented.

[PRC-UTE]

I can shed some light on why he said that, and that quote is supposedly true.

Whilst living in London some guy was obsessed with Marx and bothered him a lot, talking about "marxism" which Marx himself did not call his ideas - he called them "Scientific socialism". And as we know Marx's followers called in dialectical materialism.

Anyway this fellow followed him about annoying him and said he was starting a "marxist club". Marx rounded on him saying, "JE NE SUIS PAS UNE MARXISTE!" french for "I am not a marxist". No one knows really why he said it in French.

odd, that. is ait an rud e!

[Take the Power back]

Oscar Wilde's last words had something to do with the curtains in the hotel room.

[imperator]

by "last words" i think history means "last serious thought voiced"


;)