Sunday, February 20, 2022

The unexpected immortality of Karl Marx — Branko Milanovic

Interesting historical backgrounder, even if one is not interested in Marx or Marxism. Marx remains a global influencer, and his work is presently experiencing a revival even in the capitalist West.

Global Inequality
The unexpected immortality of Karl Marx
Branko Milanovic | Visiting Presidential Professor at City University of New York Graduate Center and senior scholar at the Stone Center on Socio-economic Inequality, senior scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), and formerly lead economist in the World Bank's research department and senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
https://branko2f7.substack.com/p/the-unexpected-immortality-of-karl

4 comments:

Peter Pan said...

While poor Engels with his luxurious beard gets nary a mention.

Ahmed Fares said...

Something I read the other day:

As the old joke says: capitalism’s centuries are numbered. Everybody knows that Marx’s millenarian predictions went wrong: the New Man didn’t come, and we are still here in a world divided between the haves and have nots, as Hemingway titled his most social novel.

And no, there's no critical mass that you hit where change then happens. Because this is what actually happens:

You can always hire one half of the poor to kill the other half. —Gangs of New York (2002)

The quote above is at around the 48-second mark in this YouTube clip:

Class war in New York. Gangs of New York

Peter Pan said...

You can have change when 10% of the population are armed and fanatical.

Peter Pan said...

The working class is a counter-revolutionary force.