: Oh yeah-
: Alta Vista lists the following number of sites for-
: Karl Marx - 44766
: Marxism - 48940
: Adam Smith- 31888
: Feudalism - 4439My search for "Capitalism" on Alta Vista resulted in 104,300 sites. What do our two searches prove? Not much, at least as far as the merits of capitalism versus communism.
While I find much admirable about Marxism, I need only look at the world around me to conclude that a Marxist society is highly unlikely. A quick review of communist countries past and present shows that they are failures, economically and/or socially. Whether or not they were truly Marxist, and whether or not they were sabotaged by either antagonistic capitalist countires, internal strongmen, or both, the fact remains that there is no communist country past or present which I would want to live in.
You might say that the United States, as the premiere capitalistic country, also fails both economically and socially, and I would not be inclined to disagree. However, we do enjoy more freedoms here than anywhere on Earth. We are the engine of radical and revolutionary movements such as women's rights, civil rights, environmentalism, animal rights, disability rights, children's rights, etc. Unfortunately, the Iranians are not far off the mark when they call us the Great Satan -- given our predatory treatment of other nations and our own poor & disenfranchised -- and I fear we're getting worse, not better, although you never know.
Back to Marxism. Yes, the world is full of serious and thoughtful people such as yourselves. You study Marxism, defend it eloquently, and advocate vigorously on its behalf. But I fear that history, fairly or unfairly, has irreversibly condemned Marxism as a bad time whose time has come and gone. And maybe it has. Maybe Marxism only succeeded (in taking over) in a few countries like Tsarist Russia or Royal China; can it succeed in "democratic" countries like the United States or Great Britain? Perhaps, but personally, I think we need to move on to political movements better suited for Year 2000, such as the Green movement.
Pessimist that I am, however, I would bet my money on the corporation-dominated future William Harrison envisioned in "Rollerball."
