Chris Leslie tweeted yesterday that “Marxism should have no place in a modern Labour Party.” You’d expect me to disagree, and I do. But I want to point out that a Marxist point of view might be an asset for non-Marxists within the party. I say so for three reasons.
First, Marxism draws our attention to the fact that politics is shaped by an economic base – by the nature of capitalism....
Herein lies another use of Marxism. It reminds us that the state in capitalism must fulfil two functions: legitimation (keeping voters happy with capitalism); and accumulation (providing the conditions for growth)....
There is, though, a third reason why centrists should adopt a Marxian point of view. It’s that Marxists understand class....
Cutting to the chase, contemporary politicians in developed countries need to understand that the struggle of populists on both the left and right with the bipartisan establishment is a classic example of class struggle described by Marx and Engels.
Ordinary people — the "little people" as budget arsonist US Senator Alan K. Simpson called them, meaning the people that don't matter —are struggling with and against the ruling class (aka "the ownership class") based on asymmetrical distribution. Reciprocally, the struggle of the ruling class with ordinary people is over dominance and and power-sharing in setting the rules.
Ignoring Marxian analysis won't make it go away.
Centrists - become Marxists
Chris Dillow | Investors Chronicle
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