Society rides
The tides
Of collectivism
And individualism.
Whilst in Highgate
Spencer and Marx
Continue their decay.
(Note: Karl Marx’s grave in Highgate Cemetery is almost directly opposite to that of the champion of liberal individualism, Herbert Spencer. See https://highgatecemetery.org/visit/cemetery/east#featurephoto71).
Hobbes
Lobs
Bricks at Locke,
While Lenin’s work
Is excoriated by Burke.
Friedman stands aloof
Believing he holds the absolute truth,
While Engels continues his long wait
For the end of the Capitalist state.
—
1. I studied history and politics at University College of Swansea and read all of the below works during the course of my studies. The books still reside on the bookshelves which live in my spare room, which I glorify with the name of study!
2. Thomas Hobbes was a philosopher who, in 1651 published “Leviathan”, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3207. Essentially Hobbes argues in favour of a government with absolute power as a means of preventing a return to “the state of nature” which is, for Hobbes a “state of war of every man against every man”. People should not challenge governmental authority as this will lead to chaos (in other words any authority is better than no authority). However, if a government does fall then the populace should give its loyalty to the new authority. Hobbes view of human nature is bleak and in part at least flows from his experience of the bloody anarchy which flowed from the English Civil War which saw the execution of King Charles I.
3. John Locke was a Whig philosopher who in his “Second Treatise of Government” defended the right of the people (if all else failed) to overthrow a tyrannical government. The “Second Treatise” was, in part at least a defence of the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688. The “Second Treatise” can be found here, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7370.
4. Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia. One of his best known works is “The State and Revolution” in which he sets out his view on how the Capitalist state will be replaced by a socialist/communist society, https://www.amazon.com/State-Revolution-V-I-Lenin/dp/0717801969.
5. Edmund Burk is often regarded (in a philosophical sense) as being the founder of modern Conservatism. In his “Reflections on the Revolution in France” Burke roundly condemns the French Revolution and argues that such uprisings inevitably lead to anarchy and Terror. Consequently Burke stands diametrically opposed to Lenin. You can find “Reflections” here, http://www.constitution.org/eb/rev_fran.htm.
6. Milton Friedman was a major contributor to the free-market school of economics. In his “Free to Choose” co-authored with his wife Rose, he argues in favour of personal and economic freedom. “Free to Choose” is, in all probability the most accessible of Friedman’s works and is based on a television series of the same name, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_to_Choose.
7. Engels was Marx’s friend and produced several works of his own, including “Socialism Utopian and Scientific”, in which he criticises what he regards as “utopian” socialism, which he contrasts with what he argues is the “scientific” socialism of Marx. As with Marx, Engels believed that Capitalism would inevitably collapse and be replaced by communism for (according to Engels), the laws of science proved the inevitability of communism’s triumph, https://www.amazon.com/dp/0717801918.
There was a young man named Sleary
Who advocated Marx’s theory.
When his ideas failed to come to fruition
He said “the people require more tuition,
For there is nothing wrong with the theory!”.
In a Guardian comment piece entitled “The truth about Capitalism is out as Marx’s magic cap starts to slip”, Giles Fraser, an inner city priest in London launches a frontal attack on capitalism and, in essence argues that Karl Marx’s analysis of Capitalism is correct, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2017/oct/05/the-truth-about-capitalism-is-out-as-marxs-magic-cap-starts-to-slip.
The article contains many weaknesses:
1. Fraser fails to mention the many crimes committed by Communist states (E.G. Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China). Of course it will be objected by some that true Communism/Marxism has never been tried and that the states styling themselves Marxist where nothing of the kind.
My response is, how many people need to die before Marxism is laid to rest along with Marx in Highgate cemetery?
2. Fraser details the problems associated with Capitalism but there is no such analysis of the profound difficulties flowing from attempts to implement Marx’s ideas.
3. Apart from a few extreme anarcho-capitalists, very few supporters of market economics advocate completely unrestrained capitalism. In the early 19th-century the Conservative social reformer, Lord Shaftsbury was instrumental in bringing in “The Climbing Boys Act” which banned the use of children as chimney sweeps.
Long before the first Socialist government was elected in the UK measures to curb the worst excesses of unrestrained Capitalism where on the statute books.
Again anti-discrimination legislation is not merely a preserve of the left.
The Americans with Disabilities Act was introduced by the Republican Party under Ronald Reagan while the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act (now the Equalities Act) was brought in by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher).
Both pieces of legislation place limits on what employers can do by prohibiting discrimination against disabled people (I.E. by placing restraints on Capitalism red in tooth and claw).
Fraser fails to acknowledge this.
4. For all its faults a mixed economy (containing a good dose of Capitalism) is more efficient than any alternative yet discovered.
Again Fraser fails to acknowledge this.
In conclusion, there are many faults with Capitalism. The mixed economy (containing a good dose of market economics) does, however ensure political and economic freedom and its excesses are capable of being reformed.
K Morris - Poet 