The ignorance of the educated never ceases to amaze. Despite the proof, both historical and current – in Venezuela and North Korea – of the flawed and failed nature of Marxism, there are still those who contemplate the relevance of Marxism in the modern world (David Monyae, Mercury, November 27).
In romancing the relevance of Marxism, it is always fascinating how the proponents tip-toe around Marx’s core policies of overthrowing the existing order and replacing it with the dictatorship of the proletariat. While enjoying all the trappings of bourgeois life, these same people fail to acknowledge that Marx had what historian Paul Johnson calls “an essentially irrational hatred of the principle of private ownership and wealth.”
That is why Marx championed class warfare, the confiscation of all private property and state ownership of all resources and manufacturing. The political outcome of Marxism is the tyranny of a one-party state.
In claiming that Marx’s analysis “ran along scientific lines,” David Monyae is badly mistaken. Marx never visited a single factory to see first-hand what went on. He relied on secondary sources for his information which he then tailored selectively to fit his theory. He never worked a day in his life and relied on loans from Frederich Engels and family inheritances. As such, he was a hypocrite and a fraud.
In a nutshell, the most fundamental flaw of his bizarre philosophy was his denial of the right to individual enterprise and initiative which is the cornerstone of liberty.
Sent into The Mercury and published, 1 December 2019.
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