Orwell wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
I like Marxism, but not to the extent that it has existed in Europe. Some good ideas in Marx's manifesto, but it needs a lot of modification I think. Perhaps I'm more open to Marxism since I hate Wal-Mart, and to an extent the mistreatment of workers on capitalistic grounds. However, capitalism actually works. Marxism hasn't yet. (Unless China is to be considered an example of it(?) )
China's not even close to Marxist. And Marxism is ridiculous in several different ways.
If you're opposed to Wal-Mart's labor practices, or more generally to mistreatment of workers under laissez-faire capitalism, social democracy is probably the best route to addressing that problem. Still capitalist, still market-driven, but with certain protections for people on the lower rungs.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought that Communism was the name for the positive replacement for capitalism whereas Marxism (or, at least "small-m marxism") was more the negative, analytical system whereby Marx critiqued capitalism.
From my perspective, as bad as Marx's positive reccomendations were, I still think certain "small m-marxist" ideas are useful when it comes to social analysis - namely, the notion that a society's economics effects its higher-level "superstructure" (legal and political system). I'm not a Communist or an advocate of coordinationism, but there is much to like in small-m marxism's analytical side.