Is Corbyn a Marxist
Is Corbyn a Marxist
This answers the question on where Corbyn stands on various issues very well. It was posted on Reddit.com by gamas a Labour Member
If we intend to have a proper discussion on this, it depends on what we mean by Marxism.
If by Marxist, we mean he supports Marxs ideas that:
(Of course, classical Marxism also advocates the idea that socialism is inevitable and that the proletariat will rise up in revolution. I have omitted this because a) We can all agree Corbyn isnt trying to be a revolutionary and b) Marx suggested this before universal suffrage became a thing, and he believed that as the upper classes controlled the government, there was no hope the governments would look after the working-class. Later in his life, he rescinded this view, noting how society had changed towards universal suffrage and came round to the belief that socialism could come about through democratic reform)
Now if you mean Leninism/Marxism-Leninism (i.e. the political ideology that the Soviet Union said is the only legitimate development of Marxism), then that depends on the particular aspect. If we take the social aspects of:
If we take the economic aspect of Marxism-Leninism that:
If we take the political aspect of Marxism-Leninism that
tl;dr Discussions on whether someone is or isnt a Marxist are complicated by the fact that Marxism is an incredibly broad church of beliefs ranging from the very fringes of the far left, to aspects of the One Nation Conservative vision. Ultimately, its meaningless to call someone a Marxist in the 21st century as all being Marxist means is that you think capitalism leads to a significant chunk of people being worse off and that something should be done about it.
EDIT: I think the revolutionary aspect of Marxs original philosophy is something that is overstressed not only by opponents wishing to denigrate socialism, but by left-wing nutjobs who wish to justify their desire for violence, in both cases missing the historical context in which Marx uttered those words. You have to remember, at the time Marx came up with the Communist Manifesto, the majority of Europe was either an absolute monarchy or, at best, ran democracies that heavily weighted in favour of votes by landed gentry (hell up until 1948, property owners effectively got two votes in the UK). At the time, it would have been inconceivable that a government would move towards helping those who are living on the bottom rung of society as they didnt depend on the working class to remain in power. Therefore, to Marx, revolution would have been the only option. 24 years after publishing the Communist Manifesto, Marx admitted that in developed countries "labour may attain its goal by peaceful means", suggesting he had stood down from the idea that revolution was necessary.
If we intend to have a proper discussion on this, it depends on what we mean by Marxism.
If by Marxist, we mean he supports Marxs ideas that:
- Capitalism leads to the alienation of groups of people
- That, under capitalism, segments of society exploit other segments of society
- That capitalism cannot maintain the living standards of the population
- That industry should move towards co-operative ownership
- That the country should focus more on what satisfy human needs rather than on private profits.
(Of course, classical Marxism also advocates the idea that socialism is inevitable and that the proletariat will rise up in revolution. I have omitted this because a) We can all agree Corbyn isnt trying to be a revolutionary and b) Marx suggested this before universal suffrage became a thing, and he believed that as the upper classes controlled the government, there was no hope the governments would look after the working-class. Later in his life, he rescinded this view, noting how society had changed towards universal suffrage and came round to the belief that socialism could come about through democratic reform)
Now if you mean Leninism/Marxism-Leninism (i.e. the political ideology that the Soviet Union said is the only legitimate development of Marxism), then that depends on the particular aspect. If we take the social aspects of:
- Support for a universal social welfare system.
- Improving public education and health systems
- Provision of child care
- Provision of benefits
- Ending the exploitation of women
- abolition of private property
- The use of propaganda to teach people to abide by the ideals of communism
If we take the economic aspect of Marxism-Leninism that:
- Market forces should be replaced with scientific planning
- That the value of a good or service should be determined by its use value
- That wages should be set according to the skill and intensity of the work
- That all industry should be under state ownership.
If we take the political aspect of Marxism-Leninism that
- The state should be controlled by a single-party of Marxism-Leninism principles
- The use of a vanguard party to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat
tl;dr Discussions on whether someone is or isnt a Marxist are complicated by the fact that Marxism is an incredibly broad church of beliefs ranging from the very fringes of the far left, to aspects of the One Nation Conservative vision. Ultimately, its meaningless to call someone a Marxist in the 21st century as all being Marxist means is that you think capitalism leads to a significant chunk of people being worse off and that something should be done about it.
EDIT: I think the revolutionary aspect of Marxs original philosophy is something that is overstressed not only by opponents wishing to denigrate socialism, but by left-wing nutjobs who wish to justify their desire for violence, in both cases missing the historical context in which Marx uttered those words. You have to remember, at the time Marx came up with the Communist Manifesto, the majority of Europe was either an absolute monarchy or, at best, ran democracies that heavily weighted in favour of votes by landed gentry (hell up until 1948, property owners effectively got two votes in the UK). At the time, it would have been inconceivable that a government would move towards helping those who are living on the bottom rung of society as they didnt depend on the working class to remain in power. Therefore, to Marx, revolution would have been the only option. 24 years after publishing the Communist Manifesto, Marx admitted that in developed countries "labour may attain its goal by peaceful means", suggesting he had stood down from the idea that revolution was necessary.
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