[Pen-l] Marx was right

["Charles Brown" <charlesb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Marx was right


 PWW Editorial Board 
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 10/17/08   

  
It was only yesterday that âfree marketâ ideologues were dancing on
Karl Marxâs grave with scornful shouts that âgreed is goodâ and
âTINAâ â âthere is no alternativeâ to capitalism. These fat
men guffawed contemptuously at Marxâs warning that capitalism is built
on wage exploitation, that workers never earn enough to buy back what
they produce, creating âoverproductionâ and periodic crises â some
deep and long â that can only be solved by socialism. 

These ideologues cling to delusions that capitalism is the âbest of
all possible worlds,â blindness expressed as recently as two weeks ago
by John McCain when he asserted that the âfundamentals of the economy
are strong.â 

But just the other day, economist David Macke surveyed the financial
collapse spreading like a thermonuclear chain reaction. Asked what was
needed to stop the destruction he replied, âAt the end of the day, if
you socialize enough of the financial system, it has to work.â
Suddenly âsocialismâ is needed to stave off catastrophe! And who is
Macke? An economist for JPMorgan Chase, one of the worldâs biggest
transnational banks. 

But Mackeâs âsocialismâ bears no resemblance to Marxâs version,
in which working people own the means of production, including banks,
and operate them in working peopleâs interests. Macke would
âsocializeâ bad debt, forcing working people to bear the burden
of rescuing Wall Street. Profits would continue to flow into the coffers
of the rich. Left behind would be millions who have lost their homes,
their jobs and health care as well as their 401(k) retirement accounts.


We should demand that any bailout work for us. 

A coalition led by leaders of major unions has laid out just that
approach in âA Call for Common Sense.â Use the federal
governmentâs bank equity, paid for with our tax dollars, to force
Morgan Chase, CitiGroup, etc., to agree to a moratorium on foreclosures
and evictions. Require the banks to invest in a âgreenâ jobs program
to jumpstart the economy and retool our nationâs factories, farms and
infrastructure to sharply reduce greenhouse gases. Make the banks invest
in rebuilding the Gulf Coast, especially New Orleans. Such a program is
not socialism, but it is a step toward socialismâs democratic
principle, âFrom each according to his ability, to each according to
his work.â 


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