Marxist Revolution Delayed Again
Due to a copyright squabble among our would-be overlords:
A radical publishing house, Lawrence & Wishart, which at one time was connected to Great Britain’s Communist Party, is demanding the removal from the Marxists Internet Archive of the Marx-Engels Collected Works — hardcover books that sell for up to $50 a pop… “What they are doing is actually restricting the masses’ ability to get these writings because they found a potential revenue flow by digitising the works themselves and selling some product to universities,” [said David Walters, a marxists.org volunteer]. “We think it’s the opposite of a Marxist approach.”
From the comments there, this tickled me:
It seems counterproductive, in that you may have to live with capitalism in day to day affairs, but you would think the one item that you would work towards absolutely free, society ownership of is the instruction manual for making your desired mode of existence come to fruition, when that mode of existence depends on an informed, versed-in-Marxist-theory populace.
I think what made me laugh is the word “populace.” In my experience, the most willing readers of Marx and Engels, practically the only readers, are credulous middle-class college students, especially those with obnoxious personalities.
Via Instapundit.
Marxist Revolution Delayed Again
Well that’s my morning ruined.
You wait for ages for a Marxist revolution then 3 all come at once.
I often wonder what statuses and positions these clowns imagine themselves in if their “desired mode of existence [were to] come to fruition”.
Perhaps this ‘instruction manual’ could be re-worked into the Ikea format. But the tool wouldn’t be an Allen key.
I often wonder what statuses and positions these clowns imagine themselves in if their “desired mode of existence [were to] come to fruition”.
I’m not sure it’s that rational. Or honest. It seems to me it’s much more about vanity and unrealism, pretentious display, and the kinds of personalities to which such things appeal. The driver, I think, is psychological, a fundamental unpleasantness. The rest is rationalisation, a pretext, a fig leaf for malice.
I mean, here’s a snapshot of that “versed-in-Marxist-theory populace.” And these bright young things. And this happy chap. And this beaming scholar of history. Oh, and don’t forget these unassuming ladies who want to “emancipate” your children, secretly of course, and at your expense. Yes, with people like this in charge, these brave titans of tomorrow, what could possibly go wrong?
I think what made me laugh is the word “populace.”
Also the word “informed”.
Talking of Marxist revolutions being delayed…
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/26/salon-writer-paul-rosenberg-on-why-deniers-are-winning/
As far as I can tell from reading his article, “deniers” are apparently winning the battle for public opinion, because most people can’t perform this impressive feat of mental gymnastics. Only special people (I assume Rosenberg means the sort of people who regularly read his articles), people who understand and appreciate Lewandowsky, can attain the required mental flexibility to utterly reject common sense. Or something like that.
We’ve seen that before with the far-left.
Ha ha ha ha ha, oh my Lord that is painfully funny – I’m getting some distinct eyebrow raises from fellow drinkers in the pub I’m in right now as I’m snorking away at classics such as this line:
That the works will be removed ahead of May Day “is just grotesque,” wrote Scott McLemee
The whole situation is funny in itself of course but that an adherent of an atheist-materialist philosophy should be offended that the withdrawl of copyright should coincide with some JuJu-like belief in the importance of an otherwise completely arbitrary day on the calendar is immensely funny (to me at least).
Another thing – I have just returned from a trip to St Petersburg, a city that I lived and worked in about 15 years ago. The difference between then and now is almost indescribable.
Without downplaying the fact that, for example, much of the Russian population still has to deal with considerable economic hardship, especially in towns way outside of the major Metropolitan centres such as Krasnoyarsk or Pskov, or any of the other considerable economical and political issues that nation has yet to resolve, I find it impossible to believe that the collapse of the Soviet Union and the introduction of free market economics has – eventually and albeit after huge trauma – ultimately been anything other than beneficial overall.
Grinding poverty is as I’ve acknowledged still a big issue in Russia (as are corruption and crime) but even so hundreds of thousands, millions even, have been lifted out of poverty and my impression is that at least many millions more have had their lives improved considerably, if not as far as the top tier (as it were), especially when compared to the USSR days.
15 years ago, the city was like Miss Haversham from Great Expectationsa jilted and bitter bride – its imperial-era buildings were crumbling like decades-old wedding cakes. The very day I arrived, an RPG was fired across one of the Venetian-style canals at a mobster boss in an SUV that was then saturated in machine gun fire to finish the target off; a branch of Marks and Spencer’s pulled out after less than a year under threat of having its staff killed after the company had resolutely refused to pay bribes; security guards dressed in black commando gear and body armour stood around with pump action shot guns were visible everywhere – the place was a mess, basically.
Fast forward 15 years to last Friday night and I was walking through a clean, beautiful historic city that was vibrant, the streets full of young kids roller-blading up and down Nevsky Propsekt (like Oxford Street in London). Everything was relaxed and above all, safe. Again, I know it’s a show-city and therefore better off than other places (including the city’s own outer suburbs), but even so, bloody hell – the difference is incredible, almost intoxicating, compared to what it was like before.
If only the Occupiers and Sarah Knopp* would take notice of such things …
(*I have to confess that if I was 20 years younger I would probably really fancy Ms Knopp – which is slightly alarming! But anyway, I digress!)
The TypePad spam filter is getting uppity again. If anyone has trouble with comments not appearing, email me and I’ll make an offering to the gods.
OT
More competition for The Onion
Via Tim Blair, this is good.
Nikw211, I went to the Soviet Union in the early 80s. Everything I needed to know I learned from the following observation: I saw people standing in line to buy apples; the apples were so horrifically bad, my grandfather the hog farmer wouldn’t have fed them to his hogs. Ladies and Gentlemen! Your Marxist Utopia!
Via Tim Blair, this is good.
Sweet buttered buggery. So Mona, our “open leftist,” wants a “cosmopolitan and anti-capitalistic apartment” for which she doesn’t expect to pay rent because “money is the lever of the powerful” with which she “cannot identify.” This rent-free apartment must be “100% shared by women who are active against terror, war, racial madness, fascism, chauvinism and US cultural imperialism.” No-one will be allowed to have “animal-based products” anywhere in the apartment and flat mates may be asked to leave their home “temporarily,” based entirely on Mona’s mood at any given time. Oh, and use of a washing machine, again presumably free, would be “super.”
“In general I am easy to get along with.”
It’s often struck me how Marxoid ideology seems to attract an unusually high percentage of narcissists, sociopaths and obnoxious personalities. But then, the originators and propagators of Marxoid ideology, its key figures, were hardly people you’d want having any kind of power over you, or want chatting online to your children. A coincidence, I’m sure.
[ Edited. ]
Yeah, her demands sound more like those of Diana Ross checking into a Park Hyatt than a class-warrior. At least Ms Ross had the good grace to pay through the nose to have her every whim catered for!
Did Mona not ask for a pony? Surely she wants a pony.
Mona is an example of this.
http://www.imao.us/index.php/2014/04/the-first-rule-of-liberalism/
Aren’t the works of Marx and Engels in the public domain anyway?
Aren’t the works of Marx and Engels in the public domain anyway?
London, in a manner of speaking, is in the public domain.
The Totally Up To Date, Footnoted, and Annotated, Map Of London, With A Photograph Of Every Single Block including Both Sides Of The Street, with Index, Summary, and Menus Of Every Restaurant would very much be the copyrighted property of whomever put it together.
Lawrence & Wishart are merely reminding that they wish to continue to get paid for their editing efforts.
Surely, being good Marxists, L&W would assign all copyright or editorial or content control they have over the works, to the State? (or the People, the Proletariat, whatever)
I’m disappointed in you, David, that I found this at AoSHQ first and not here: Performance Artist Fires Ink-Filled Eggs Out Of Her Vagina
In other news, the Latinos showed up at Dartmouth and are taking the word “fiesta” back.
Given that I love my adorable little Ford Fiesta, molon labe, bitchez. Or, Vengan a recogerlo, putas. No se puede.
her demands sound more like those of Diana Ross checking into a Park Hyatt than a class-warrior.
She does, however, offer “therapeutic” discussions. In lieu of rent. So there’s that.
I’m disappointed in you, David, that I found this at AoSHQ first and not here: Performance Artist Fires Ink-Filled Eggs Out Of Her Vagina.
Ahem.
She does, however, offer “therapeutic” discussions. In lieu of rent. So there’s that.
I’m wondering if this isn’t a piss-take. A mate of mine, on completing university, put an advert in a London newspapers under a title to the effect of “Idle chap seeks unchallenging position in City firm” just to see if somebody was stupid enough to take him on. He wasn’t successful.
I’m wondering if this isn’t a piss-take.
Possibly, it’s hard to tell. But then, Laurie Penny still strikes some as an elaborate ruse by Conservative Party HQ.
First ones up against the wall after the Revolution…
>>First ones up against the wall after the Revolution…<< Not likely, and not really worth the bullets. Folks like this really aren't smart enough to actually be dangerous to the hard sorts who take power after revolutions. In fact, as we see often enough, people who think like this are more likely to become enthusiastic supporters of almost any type of tyranny.
Ahem.
My faith is restored but only partially: ’twas in the comments, not headlining, and not properly labeled.