Marxist Ideology

Communist Political Prisoners

Masters of Money

From 1945 until 1989, this was the main remand centre for political prisoners in communist East Germany. Today it’s been turned into a memorial. It must serve as a reminder that the communist view is always an alternative ideology.

Guard “There was a special ideology. Whoever we arrest, he or she is guilty.”

It’s possible that places like this explain why even capitalism’s toughest critics today seldom talk seriously about replacing it.

Professor Slavoj Zizek “You can see with all these protests in Europe, Greece and so on. I was in Spain, in Greece, asking always the same question, OK, what do you want? Apart from some purely moralistic answers, I didn’t get any good, complete proposals, you know, answers like, Oh, money should serve people, not people serving money. My God, Hitler and everyone would have agreed with this, I’m sure.”

Lord Nigel Lawson “You would have thought that with this implosion of the banking system at the heart of capitalism in the United States as well as United Kingdom, and so on, there would be a huge rush to Marxism and extreme socialism. That hasn’t really happened. It is quite surprising and I’m very pleased.”

But if memories of this place do fade, could there ever be an alternative to capitalism, or should what happened here be a lesson for all time?

An alternative to Capitalism

Peter Hitchens “If someone wants to seek an alternative to capitalism, and they are saying like seeking that alternative that capitalism is a system rather than a fact of life, and they’re saying that, for instance, that human nature can be altered, fundamentally they’re revealing themselves as utopian. And the problem with utopia is that it can only ever be approached across a sea of blood and you never arrive.”

Professor Slavoj Zizek “This is my big mantra, when we leftists are accused of utopians. Maybe, but the only real utopia is to think that with some cosmetic changes things can go on indefinitely the way they are now.”

Karl Marx died in 1883. In a speech at his grave, his longtime friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels declared his name and work will endure through the ages. For most of the 20th century his name did endure, though, usually, for all the wrong reasons. But now it’s the 21st-century, what can this long-dead Prussian really say to us?

Fundamentally, I think Marx reminds us that if capitalism doesn’t work for everyone, it might not work at all.

When you look at what’s happening and pressure on wages, can you understand why people are sort of looking again at some of Marx’s analysis?

Sir Mervyn King “Yes, it… The big picture. The workers versus the capitalists. And there is no doubt that there have been significant changes in inequality and in the distribution of income, which make you pause about the benefits of the developments of output and prosperity that we’ve seen. And I don’t think you can afford to believe that the benefits of a market economy in bringing prosperity will be there unless there is a collective commitment to keep the system going, and that does require people to believe that everyone will benefit in the end.”

Joseph Stiglitz “I think some of the ugliness of capitalism that he saw in the 19th century seems to be appearing in the 20th and 21st, and in a way we have to keep our perspective on this. The health conditions are much better, living standards are starting from a higher level, but it is still the case that things aren’t the way it ought to be. And they are not moving in the way they should be.”

But let’s face it, Marx wasn’t just talking about tweaking the system. He had a much grander claims than that. Did Marx change the world? Of course he did. And after that funeral people did weep hot tears at his grave, just as his 17-year-old self would have wanted.

Probably many more lived to curse his name. But there’s no getting around it, capitalism is still here. Marx was right to see capitalism as inherently unstable and often unfair. Keynes and Hayek saw that too, but Marx was the first and unlike them, he didn’t think we should find a way to live with it.

He said capitalism would bounce back from crises and reinvent itself, but in the end a compelling alternative would appear, and capitalism would collapse. For all that rings true now in Marx, and that he seems to have been dead wrong. Maybe he did underestimate capitalism. He certainly overestimated the opposition to it. I think the system needs to reinvent itself now, again. If it can pull that off, we’ll be talking even less about marks a century from now. But the last few years have left capitalism with plenty to prove.