[juggernaut]

The Communist Manifesto, I personally think is an exceptional book along with George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984. Back to the question I think he was a brilliant man.

[Regina]

I think he was a comunist........ although I don't see how the two are related.

[sandorski]

He was a great thinker, but many of his ideas failed to deliver. Some of them have benefited us all though. He's a good example of an Ideologue who despite failing to provide a Complete Solution to things, did manage to provide some solutions to certain issues.

[BartSimpson]

juggernaut wrote:

The Communist Manifesto, I personally think is an exceptional book along with George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984.

Does it bother you that both of Orwell's books directly denounced Communism and socialism?

juggernaut wrote:

Back to the question I think he was a brilliant man.

I agree. His ideas work well in small communities where everyone knows each other and, in practice, most rural and small communities across Canada and the USA practice voluntary and limited forms of Communism.

Though they just call it "being neighborly".

Where Marxism runs afoul of human nature is when it is implemented at national levels.

"From each according to their ability to each according to their needs" is fine when people all know each other and are accountable to each other.

Try telling a farmer in Manitoba to work his butt off to feed office drones in Toronto while his own family starves or can't get toilet paper, medicine, and etc. and the system falls apart - as it did in the USSR and in China.

But, like many ideas cooked up by brilliant intellectuals, it was a great idea on paper and a rotten idea in practice.

[Clogeroo]

Quote:

Though they just call it "being neighborly".

Are you a communist sympathiser Bart?

[Schleihauf]

I like some ideals in communism but I hate Marxism. I like being me instead of citizen #1234.

[sandorski]

Schleihauf wrote:

I like some ideals in communism but I hate Marxism. I like being me instead of citizen #1234.

You gotta admit though, that if you must be a number, that number would be kinda cool and convenient.

[BartSimpson]

Clogeroo wrote:

Quote:

Though they just call it "being neighborly".

Are you a communist sympathiser Bart?

LOL!

What I mean is that if a farmer has his pastures burn his neighbors will have a tendency to close ranks and help him out by bringing bales of hay for his herds & etc.

They have it and they give it to someone who needs it.

Freely.

Which is precisely what Marx proposed and I don't dispute this aspect of it with him.

But what his ideas are prone to is being used to justify the use of government force to act like thieves to steal from and enslave people.

[Mr_Canada old]

He was a communist. How could you deny that... He literally wrote the book on it...

Was he a genius? Yes.

[Clogeroo]

Quote:

LOL!

What I mean is that if a farmer has his pastures burn his neighbors will have a tendency to close ranks and help him out by bringing bales of hay for his herds & etc.

They have it and they give it to someone who needs it.

Freely.

But how do you profit from this transaction?

[Knoss]

Quote:

I agree. His ideas work well in small communities where everyone knows each other and, in practice, most rural and small communities across Canada and the USA practice voluntary and limited forms of Communism.

Though they just call it "being neighborly".

Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point?

Quote:

What I mean is that if a farmer has his pastures burn his neighbors will have a tendency to close ranks and help him out by bringing bales of hay for his herds & etc.

They have it and they give it to someone who needs it.

Pasture fires are stoped to protect other land, and as to hay it is purchased from neigbors with insurance money.

[ridenrain]

BartSimpson wrote:

juggernaut wrote:

The Communist Manifesto, I personally think is an exceptional book along with George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984.

Does it bother you that both of Orwell's books directly denounced Communism and socialism?

That's the part I don't get. The 2 men viewed things opposite to the other.
I don't know if I'd call him a genius because he has quite a bit of blood on his hands and his name and product have killed millions.

[Schleihauf]

If you believe in population control then yes Marx was a genious.

[xerxes]

I understand where Marx was coming from but the means he devised of achieving his aims are anathema to human nature.

And Juggernaut, Bartman mentioned it already, but Orwell wrote 1984 and Animal Farm after fighting with Communists in Catalonia where he was nearly killed. He also saw what Communism wrought in practice and hence you have the anti-Communist 1984 and Animal farm.