Just for fun how many of you have read any works by Marx?

[JanMichael]

Poll question: Just for fun how many of you have read any works by Marx?

Anything. Really. Even a paragraph counts here!

Edit: Not Groucho! Even though the FBI thought he he was a commie anyway...

EDIT: Or Marx and his contemporaries. Engels specifically!

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I never knew Groucho wrote anything.

[Gman]

4. Actually, Chico did most of the writing

and Zeppo contributed.

[JanMichael]

6. Laura would be proud!

Turn the intellectual lights off John Boy!

[punpirate]

7. Actually, he did...

... his autobiography, Why a Duck?.

But, not to steal a thread, I did read Karl Marx, too--Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto.

[RandomKoolzip]

2. Just the Manifesto.

Kinda dull, really.

[JanMichael]

3. As compared to?

What? Adam Smith? Who was not the neo-freetrade icon as assumed by most.

[RandomKoolzip]

8. As compared to James Frey.

[enlightenment]

14. Thank you.

Smith's moral philosophy is an eye-opener and should be read first.

[Initech]

5. I've read parts of the manifesto.

And I still dont get why conservatives equate liberalism with communism. I guess it's because of that stupid fat fuck Limpballs.

[Orangepeel]

9. I read Das Kapital in college (n/t)

[Fredda Weinberg]

11. Volume I was OK ... II & III were ridiculous

The labor theory of value is useless - and his comments about Jewish bankers were pretty inflammatory.

[Orangepeel]

17. I must have only read Vol I

given that I didn't know there were more volumns! I don't remember the book being thick enough to be all three together. Shows how much attention I was paying!

[Fredda Weinberg]

29. You missed nothing

The first volume was diatribe - the others were meant to be serious economic texts expounding on the labor theory of value.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. I am sure I read snippets of his work in school. Social Studies and such.

I ought to try reading some of his stuff now that I am more interested in politics.

[Odin2005]

12. Marx got many things right, many things wrong.

He was definitely right on how screwed up capitalism is because investors are basically parasites. His dislike of markets was throwing the baby out with the bath water, though. I also find the "marxist interpretation" of history (tribalism, slavery, feudalism, capitalism, socialism, communism) too Euro-centric for my taste. I would probably fall in the Market Socialist catagory, which is basically a Swedish-style economy except with co-ops instead of corporations.

[Swede]

13. Marxism does not work.

Nor does capitalism.

[Misskittycat]

15. I was a political science major, and had to know stuff like that. n/t

[JanMichael]

19. Funny. I have a Political Science BA and Marxism was not included in...

...the course requirements. None at all. Really zip.

Of course I did that work in the late 80's early 90's in SE Florida where Castro was the approaching invader.

[Misskittycat]

30. My area of focus was Sino-Soviet affairs. My school (GWU)

had a huge program on this (in the late 60's, early 70's) because of the concentration of experts in the Washington DC area. The program itself was dominated was expatriate, virulent anti-Communists, but the school itself was a bastion of anti-Vietnam war activity, so it kind of balanced itself out.

[Yupster]

28. Me too

History major in the 70's. Marx was Gospel then.

[LostInAnomie]

16. I've read a few books...

... and a bunch of assorted works that didn't make it into book form.

I've always thought that if Marx would have made his books a little more accessible the world's view of Marxism would be completely different than it is today.

[prolesunited]

18. Are you helping Agent Mike compile his list?

I think we should all go to the library tomorrow and check out a copy.

[JanMichael]

20. No! Go to your local bookseller and pay CASH!

For god's (whatever) sake the copies are like $4. Or less.

No need to use credit cards or other nasty gummint tracing form of commerce!

Edted: If I'm not on lists now then there is no crackdown on internet commies!

[prolesunited]

21. You missed the whole point

Wouldn't it be funny if there was this huge spike in people across the country getting copies of his books? The whole point is for it to be traced. Just a weird thought.

[JanMichael]

23. Oh! Gotcha! I'm dense tonight.

That indeed would be a blast. Scare the bejesus out of the trackers and their bosses. A spike in Marx and Lenin books! ARGH! Run run the commies are coming!

Plus with a spike they can only arrest SO many people before all hell breaks loose.

[bemildred]

22. I read the Communist Manifesto, which does not fit your categories. nt

[JanMichael]

24. It fits all of them. Engels was ignored ONLY because Marx scares the...

...cappies. Plus they probably have no idea who Engels is anyway.

[bemildred]

25. Few seem to have any real idea who Marx was, let alone Engels. nt

[cally]

26. I took Econ 1 from a Marxist

All the professors had to teach Econ 1 and they didn't let the token Marxist off the hook. It was a great class. We covered the basic Econ 1 stuff but then learned how to critique the theory. I read Marx and many other more modern Marxists. I also read Marx in history and Poli Sci classes. It would be hard to go through Berkeley without at reading quite a bit of Marx.

[Shine]

27. I had to. I was a Politics Major in college. Came with the territory.

:hi:
I read ALL that shit back then.....


:eyes:

[Yollam]

31. Just excerpts and summaries.

What I did read was pretty interesting, though.

One of these days...

[Jamison]

32. As a pro-communist

I have read just about all of Marx & Engels writings. I've also read some of Lenin's writings. Some of it was boring and dry, but most I found to be inspiring.

[cantstandbush]

33. I was really surprised at how much of his thinking I agreed with.

Was brainwashed all through school. Taught to think that communism was some kind of uncivilized system supported by three-headed monsters. Actually the purest form is more in line with the doctrine of Christianity and teachings of Christ than capitalism. But of course, finding out about other economic systems requires READING...something Americans, especially American children, don't do much of except when it comes to Harry Potter.

[jzodda]

34. Manifesto in college

In my Russian history course

[H2O Man]

35. Other .....

Several, but certainly not all. I think that Engels' "Orgins of the Family...." is more interesting than, say, Marx's "Capital." I'm perhaps more interested in Lewis Henry Morgan's "Ancient Society," which was a major influence on Engels. And I'm always interested in other people's suggestions.

[benburch]

36. How can you understand the modern world...

Unless you understand Marx and Engles?

And Adam Smith.

And Hobbes.

And Rousseau.

And . . .