MARXISM AND FARCE.

May 27, 2008 at 10:52 AM · Economics, History

MARXISM AND FARCE (COMMENT). Annalisa here and Dick Weisfelder here expressed surprise that I acknowledged that in some sense I have Marxist tendencies. It is true that I am not a thoroughgoing Marxist or a scientific socialist (or a socialist). I came across a phrase from the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper in an article by Colin Kidd in the London Review of Books for May 22 which describes the extent to which I am a Marxist: I tend to think that historical events have deep economic causes. The complete quote indicates that Trevor-Roper stopped taking a Marxist approach to history: “I used to think that historical events always had deep economic causes: I now believe that pure farce covers a greater field of history, and that Gibbon is a more reliable guide to that subject than Marx.” I have not yet made Trevor-Roper’s leap.

5 comments

Nick May 28, 2008 at 7:17 am

You also have a disdain for those who are privileged, to an extent, at least in your views on the aristocracy.

Philip May 28, 2008 at 9:41 am

You’re right, Nick. I do. What is unusual about Marx and Marxism is that they seem to have no hatred for aristocrats, reserving their hatred for the bourgeoisie, who are not as well off.

Dick Weisfelder May 31, 2008 at 3:37 am

See Phil, once again you reflect “vulgar” utopian norms. Marxism is about dialectics. The bourgeoisie are progressive heros in the struggle against feudal aristocracy, but then become villians when they appropriate the value added by the capitalist means of production for private rather than social ends. Utopians like you think that categories are fixed - good and bad. Marxists know that heros are transformed into their opposities -villians- as modes of production evolve!

Philip May 31, 2008 at 4:36 pm

Dick, your comment is very helpful and explains a lot that I had not understood. I have never been able to think dialectically. I have thought and still think that the feudal aristocrats in different countries have held on pretty well up to the present day, but perhaps in dialectical terms their day has past.

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