Posted by beth on November 18, 2000 at 09:34:53:
In Reply to: Re: KARL MARX LESEN : The Communist Manifesto, 1848 posted by au on August 06, 2000 at 11:04:59:
: : (3.99 $ at www.amazon.com)
: : The new book I propose to read and discuss
: : together here on line is THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
: : written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848.
: : 150 years later, this wonderful text is more than
: : relevant. It gives a detailed description of
: : neoliberalism and the way modern - contemporary -
: : capitalism works.
: : The most astonishing aspects of his historical and
: : structural analysis - and in particular in The
: : Capital - is his detailed multi faceted
: : descriptions of how capitalism is constructed.
: : Where it comes from, where it goes to. This is not
: : to say, that by studying capitalism, its genealogy
: : and its ontology, one necessarily has to share
: : the same conclusions of a proletarian dictatorship
: : he did. Quite the opposite.
: : Today, his texts are the new bible of stock
: : brokers who can see themselves mirrored and well
: : depicted. Marx anticipated a world of high tech
: : communication networks, global turbo-capitalism
: : and speaks of a bankocraty (Das Kapital) that
: : reigns the world.
: : He is absolutely right. But he underestimated and
: : overestimated the teleological force of his
: : thoughts. Marx in his introduction to Das Kapital
: : speaks very clearly that the German society
: : suffers from too much and not enough
: : industrialization at the same time. Marx can very
: : easily be read as the ultimate capitalist.
: : Definitely as the ultimate critic, historian and
: : analyst of capitalism, imperialism, sexism, and
: : colonialism. His remarks on the state of the
: : family, the function of women and children have
: : come more than true. Todays capitalism exploits
: : mostly women and children. (I hope your sneakers
: : or all kind of other sports wear you are having on
: : hurt a little bit.... ).
: : Even in his 40 pages of the Manifesto it is all
: : there. It is brilliantly written and full of
: : insights that can serve today moren than ever as
: : a powerful tool to come to terms (ideological,
: : social, political, etc...) with contemporary
: : reality.
: : As in the past I will give portions of the text
: : and hope to generate a discussion and hopefully
: : actions.
: : Any conclusions of his analysis are up to you. You
: : can become a stock broker, an educator (I guess I
: : could be named an educator) a neo RAF bomb builder
: : or an info-terrorist on the internet. Resistance
: : or affirmation, protest, outrage or collaboration
: : -- this book helps you.
: : (taken from#rainer`s reading seminar# (bbs.thing.net)