AskProfWolff: Can we have a marxist analysis of the American Civil War?
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"Can we have a Marxist Analysis of the Civil War?"-Marx himself analyzed the Civil War when it was happening lol
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our American history
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Hell yeah! Im ordering the compilation of his writings about it that got formed into a book and we will be discussing them on the pod soon. Would love your view point in our comment section as he interact highly with it and will take it into account while doing the show
Class transformation isn’t about “how the South was militarily transformed to a capitalist system,” it’s about how the working class was transformed from slave to wage slave, without enough difference.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed history!
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Professor Wolff is my spirit animal 😍
You didn’t mention how the United States Constitution still allow slavery in the forms of prisons. It is still legal to have slaves in the United States under the law the constitution.
he's mentioned the prison slavery stuff in another vid.
StephenSchleis Capitalism is slavery
13th Amendment (which is a cloaked abomination).
Interesting point. Still sticking to Slavery. Unimaginable in 2018 in US. OMG..🙅🙅🙅🙅
Marxist countries still tried to enslave people. Granted I don't like capitalism either. Would like to see democratic work places.
Good Shit!
I've never heard an explanation of the Civil War like this before...
it would be interesting to hear more of your your thoughts on the topic because many believe this was the beginning of the rise of Federal Power at the expense of States' (and individual's) rights.
Capitalism is in essence a federal and ultimately imperial system. That is how the capitalist aristocracy control the markets they exploit.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed history!
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There is an exellent Marxist study on the subject by Charles Post, American Road to Capitalism. It analyses American civil war (both antebellum and postbellum) from economic and social point of view.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed leftist history!
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Hi Richard,
Would you be able to share a list of intersting books, including authors(and republishers and so on), you recommend? Mostly based on what you teach, of course. In my search for Das Kapital in either English or Dutch(my native language) many different authors came up with a variety of pages in the books and very subjective reviews.
Thanks in advance
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed leftist history!
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You should check out August Willich, my jaw dropped three months ago when I did and I think yours will too
I loved this video. Marxist historical analysis is something I’d love to see much more of from d@w. I haven’t payed much attention to the economic updates but I feel like a lot of hit has become doomsday-esque news reporting on the horrible things corporations do which has its place and time but I’d love to see real Marxist theory mixed into it as well.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed leftist history!
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I never realized he wrote this much about America! Its insane! There's a reason that we aren't taught any of this. All the bs sad narratives of brother against brother, que the violin music go up in smoke when you learn Karl marx wrote more about the Civil War then anything else, the stars and stripes were all over the first international, August Willich led an army of german speaking immigrants into the jaws of Dixie and half the union army was immigrants and colored troops. So screw you Ken burns and any other lost causer. The Civil War is the best thing this country every did and it should be absolutely celebrated as the second American revolution, like marx and willcih envisioned it!
It's all about material conditions. Blackshirts & Reds by Parenti would be a good place to look into history. As for modern discussion, it's this guy rn.
W E B DUbois BLack Reconstruction ,great book and the essay by Neil DAvidson,the civil war is not over in his book, We cannot escape history good stuff. Very important
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed history!
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Thank you for the good book suggestions, I will look into them for future episodes of my reading podcast
Inocent question: If back then, there was no minimum wage, no time labor limit, wouldn't it be cheaper to hire workers than to buy slaves, to feed them, to cloth them, to shelter them? And the riscks of them getting sick or run away? Not to mention reformists that wanted slaves to have better conditions. By hiring workers wouldn't those costs be reduced?
Evandro Lima After the 13th amendment, this is exactly what ex-slave owners found to be true. They also found ways to make money off these institutions that weren't previously available, like forcing their employees to buy from their own stores, and charging prices these people couldn't afford on the wage they were paid, so were forced to use credit that was financed through the employers, which the share croppers could not ever pay off.
Well, yeah, which is why capitalism is a superior system for profit making and industrialization. The South had a huge underclass of poor whites who largely didn't receive any of the economic proceeds of slavery, the slave owners had all the economic and political power. Slavery also necessitated expansion, as it was quickly becoming unviable in the South, which is why when the US government wanted to outlaw slavery in the new states it spelt big trouble for the Southern slave owners and the growing number of poor whites who would never have the opportunity to become a slave owner.
They wanted to keep slavery around because it was still profitable for the slave owners, and the conditions of the south were suited to agricultural slavery. A switch over to wage labor would have also caused a great deal of economic and social turmoil, which obviously ended up happening. Prior to the Civil War, the only thing those poor whites had going for them in relation to the economic conditions was that they weren't slaves. If you suddenly free the slaves, the poor whites will quickly realize that there are hardly any differences between their situation and the situation of the newly freed Black people. That's actually how the first Klan started - it was an attempt to maintain white supremacy and terrorize Black people.
There is a book called The United States and the Civil War by Karl Marx.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed history!
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I'm about to read this book and cover it in the podcast in the future too. Im super excited to read it! My cohost already has
Great vid, would be good to get some tips so my vids get to this level. Let me know what I can do better in my comments
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed history!
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You watch my shit, ill watch yours😉
Just subbed
I recall a book written about communists in the republican party during Licoln’s time. Its called Red Republicans and Lincoln’s Marxists.
There were utopian socialists like Horace Greeley who supported the Republicans before and didn’t the Civil War but they were not the core of the party by any means. It was a wide tented coalition. It’s foundation was set by the former Conscience Whigs who were the heirs to the tradition of the Federalists back during the First Party System who would then go on to absorb other disparate groups including the exodus of anti-slavery Democrats who under the leadership of Martin van Buren had formed the Free Soil Party, members of the nativist northern Native American Party who had come to be known as the Know-Nothing’s, members of the somewhat self-explanatory Anti-Masonic Party and indeed members of the bourgeoning socialist movement.
The cracks started to show once the party’s initial uniting principe in commitment to the battle toward ending slavery was fulfilled. Greeley and his followers would eventually break off to form the Liberal Republican Party in order to run against Ulysses S. Grant and the Radical Republicans during the election of 1972. Despite support from the Liberal Republicans and the official backing of the Democratic Party Grant won in a landslide and the socialists saw themselves largely cast out into the wind. They would wind up starting to support Democrats by the end of the 19th Century starting with William Jennings Bryan however. While not a socialist himself his Populist platform was the closest thing that a mainstream politician had ever come to it as even Greeley didn’t really run on socialism himself. Eugene V. Debts the first unabashed socialist to run on an explicitly socialist platform in the election of 1912 actually started his political career as a Democrat and supporter of Bryan.
The question I’ve always had with regards to this topic is how this particular circle is squared. How an in fundamental essence socialist party once gaining dominion over the federal government for several years following the Civil War of all things could usher in the freaking Gilded Age? Starting with Grant himself who continued economy bolstering infrastructure projects like the Transcontinental Railroad, lowered the national debt, abolished the Federal Income Tax, established a Gold Standard and held to a non-interventionist position during the Panic of 1873. The subsequent Republicans leaders of the era would go on to follow suit. It would be the Populists who formed the People’s Party before rallying around Bryan in the Democratic Party that like the party today opposed the business oriented climate of the day that they felt came at the expense of the common man. They predated Theodore Roosevelt’s reform efforts and were decidedly more radical. While we’re at it TR really is best seen as an American counterpart to European leaders like Britain’s Benjamin Disraeli and Germany’s Otto von Bismarck who were fundamentally conservative but came to the conclusion that moderate reform was necessary to keep the working class from feeling debased and becoming prone to violent radicalization.
My main point here is that I believe it’s a major exaggeration to argue that the Republicans were ever a decidedly left-wing party in its totality and outright revisionism to claim that it was ever truly socialist fundamentally.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed leftist history!
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Yes! Willich was a republican for a time and he was a communist! You are 1000% correct. Karl Marx put the stars and stripes all over the first international
Prof Wolff I watched your videos on a regular basis, I think you should do a video debunking the Modern Monetary Theory(MMT) and it's weaknesses and Socialism/Marxism is superior to it in terms of managing the economy.
According the MMT a sovereign state e.g. USA which capable of printing its own currency is capable of perpetual debt(in fact preferred) and nothing to be worry about. If this the case then there is nothing to worry about the current very debt the US is in. Debunk this rational...
This has been my favorite Wolff video yet. Slavery is bad; the capitalists of the North helped abolish slavery; slave owners were not compensated for that which could never be theirs (ie another human). But most importantly, that capitalism is an economic system distinctly different than that of slavery.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed leftist history!
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In Washington DC slave owners were compensated. Only the slaves were never compensated in any meaningful form ie capital. Social safety nets are not reparations but yet a clever sales tactic by people who quickly want to forget this consequential and critical time in history.
I don't think the difference between slavery and capitalism is necessarily that different, at least not the US style slavery. Instead of looking at the slaves as the equivalent of employees, you can think of them as the equivalent of machinery as ultimately they fulfill the same role (albeit a far more immoral role considering they are human beings). The slave owner, just like the factory owner, purchases this "machine" to produce goods. Like a machine, without the input of waged labourers or the plantation owners own work in overseeing the slaves and maintaining them so that they continue to work they would not be productive.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed leftist history!
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Agreed, wage slavery is still slavery. Coming from a humble retail worker
Speaking strictly on the labor\slave examination, which is better?
As I see it today, regardless of the tutti frutti wax poetic mired in dog shit, we are slaves. For many reasons:
Major reasoning is the constitution as in every Constitutional Republic means literally nothing good for the working class as it is not a contract signed by anyone, never has been. Just like Spooner, Mises, etc., point out that there is no need for govt accountability therefore there is no Authority to make anyone do anything and govt must rely on fear and lies as their means to manafacture authority. What were the tools used for retaining slaves? Fear.
Now to the present day, it seems ultra clear that the plutocrats have used Fascism to create a world wide company store so to speak.
You are paid then pay it mostly all back through your daily expenses. In actuality you have nearly nothing if you are in debt. Furthermore beyond all the reasons, the systemic violence of this system is really antiquated, and just continues on and on....
Seems to me that the system is only better by a tiny bit if at all.
Marx analysed the politics behind the conflict, and Engels predicted the strategic outcome, the latter's projections coming close to what the North implemented with Sherman's invasion of Georgia.
There’s a problem. It was more so who would have more power from Western territory. Don’t leave out the fact that the north and Abraham Lincoln didn’t want slaves out west because they wanted it dominantly white. lots of white southerners work the fields to also keep in mind only 6% owned slaves. 1865 at Hampton crossroads. When slavery was mentioned, Abraham Lincoln himself said they will root hog or die. During his plan to deport them history is more gray than you think.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed leftist history!
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And, in case you missed the insinuation here, since slavery was dissolved by state force, so should capitalism. Tada!! (No surprises here.) Except for one detail, of course, which is that slaves were self-owning moral agents, therefore it was unjust to treat them as property. Therefore, abolishing slavery by force was not expropriation of the slave-owners, but rather restoration of the property rights of slaves, who could finally now own their bodies and go out and make money and get employed and save money and employ others and be good capitalists, just like their former "owners". However, to expropriate capitalists will be theft. Do you see why? Because the stuff you would be taking has been acquired by homesteading or (more likely) has been bought in a voluntary transaction where nobody's rights were violated. (Unlike the slave trade.) It's legitimate property. The factories and the monies are not slaves to set them free, kapish? So, don't get confused, dear commies. Keep your heads clear. Not every violence is of the same moral quality.
Looks like ric flair
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our American history
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Wooooo!!
the same type of people, the same energy, are still piss about losing their system, and sort of like the FDR video. capitalism concedes things to keep it's hold on the people,
? Wtf? There were slaves in the North as well as the state.
I have a slightly off topic question: an issue with slavery was that free white working class men would have found it very hard to get labourer-type jobs.. I mean who would pay someone to do work when you can have a slave do it for free? In a sense isn't our current period of AI automation analogous to the period of slavery ? In place of slaves, modern companies now use AI software to complete tasks, and so would be loathe to hire a person to do that work when the AI will do it for free.. so my question is: can we draw lessons from the period of slavery in order to help solve the problem of increased joblessness we are now experiencing due to AI automation?
Well yeah good idea. I guess we can draw lessons from this to help solve the problem of increased joblessness due automation..
First thing I notice is that, in this case, it took the state or head of state to make changes in the system, meaning the slavers couldn't (legally) operate. So a lawful approach without violence. Claiming and using the state rather than fighting it.
Secondly I notice the state didn't remunerate the slavers when their "property" was freed. So I guess an argument can be made that owning the slaves was unjust, therefore compensating their removal isn't warranted. In our case with automation, perhaps a case can be made that a single employer owning AI which robs the public of its earning capacity and prosperity is also unjust. That the employer bought the technology is irrelevant, as there were many, many people (the public at large / employees) who invented and developed the technology. So (crucially) upon having the state "free" the AI tech, it can then be used and owned by the public. Practically speaking, any benefit from labor saved using this technology will go to the workers in that field who then choose how to use it democratically. To put it another way: the AI is then owned by the workers, who must maintain it, and also choose how best to use it (more free time, produce more, invest in even more AI, etc).
A significant difference between AI and slavery is that AI actually increases productivity. It's much less clear that slavery was economically viable--and there's plenty of reason to think that slavery, even if it had been viable in the past, was capable of remaining so under changing economic conditions. A North Carolinian, Hinton Rowan Helper, published a study of the economics of slavery in 1857 called The Impending Crisis of the South, where he advised the South to deep-six the slave system because it was holding the region back economically--not to mention culturally. They practically rode him out on a rail; his life was threatened, and he eventually became Lincoln's ambassador to Argentina. Unfortunate: the South should have listened.
Alright, I'm from a comp sci background. AI is a boogy man made up by rich people. Robots can do a single task very very well and often for a low cost. Each time you add a task to a robot, the robot gets more complicated and now areas start showing signs of weakness. Now contemplate how many tasks are involved in making something as simple as a peanut butter sandwich. There is opening the jar, putting the knife in the peanut butter, opening the bag of bread, redoing the bread and putting it on a surface, spreading the peanut butter on the bread, etc etc etc. Now imagine how many tasks are involved in writing at McDonald's. It becomes economically infeasible to build a robot cheap, productive, and sturdy enough to do all those tasks and a huge risk of massive liability, repairs, and downtime when it fails. The concern of AI taking jobs isn't a concern of the service worker. It's a concern for the Chinese factory worker where robots are already used to a great degree.
Good analysis Proffesor. It also goes to show that the Civil War didn't really have anything to do with the inhumane treatment of black people. This was really a power struggle between wealthy slave owners and wealthy industrialist. Besides, Northern factory owners weren't too kind with how they treated their workers anyway.
Join us! A podcast on the life of Communist Union General August Willich with the author of the only biography ever written about this incredible figure! A german revolutionary of 1848 who tried to seduce Karl Marxs wife to the point where a duel ensued, he immigrated to America and led entire regiments of germans into the jaws of Dixie while playing the revolutionary anthem of France! He kicked confederate ass all the way to Georgia, viewing the Civil war as strictly about slavery and as a challenge to capitalism! Please join us in celebration of this fantastic hero of our supressed leftist history!
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The union army was 50% immigrants and colored troops. To them, it absolutely was about slavery, whether as a moral question or the reality based fear that industrial slavery would make its way north for the Italians, Irish and German
2:30 Sorry Prof but you are wrong to say capitalism and slavery are significantly different. It is only a degree of difference.
Please forgive the length...I have some questions. And then I have a statement to make.
1) If the Civil War was about abolishing the economic system of slavery, why then did Lincoln support the proposed Constitutional Amendment in March of 1861 that would have made slavery a Constitutionally protected economic system?
2) If the Emancipation Proclamation was so vital, why didn't Lincoln even write it until nearly 2 years of the War had taken place?
3) If the Emancipation Proclamation was so key to ending the economic system of slaver, why then did it not free any slaves? This point cannot be argued. The document stated that slaves living and working in the states that were in open rebellion were to be freed. That document held no power in the CSA. It did NOT free a single slave in the USA either. Slave owners in Maryland, Kentucky, W. Virginia, and the rest of the US were exempt from this document.
4) If the Emancipation Proclamation is key to the destruction of slavery, why did it not include the slaves still living under US authority?
It is my contention that Lincoln cared less about ending slavery in America, than he cared about trying to unite the country as a single entity rather than a confederation of sovereign states. Lincoln wanted to control what he saw as the whole country, and not just the part that chose not to secede. The states came together under the understanding that each state was sovereign, and could therefore dissolve the relationship if it so desired. The US Constitution did not, and does not, prohibit secession. The Supreme Court, a body that has no real Constitutional power, has decreed secession illegal.
Lest any one think I am pro-slavery, or even racist, the evils of slavery are indefensible. No one person has the right to own another. No one group of people are better than another. We are all equal under the laws of God and men. The CSA was wrong to have and use people as slaves. That did not prevent them from exercising their right to secede from the US. It was equally wrong for Lincoln to presume that he had the right to prevent them; as if he was the supreme dictator of the land. Here is my analysis of the cause of the Civil War...2 children playing, one doesn't like the way things are going and so decide to go home. The bigger one says, "No. You can't. I won't allow it." So they begin fighting. It looks a lot like a bully dictating to the weaker, what they can and can't do.
The southern slavery system was a regressive form of feudalism and capitalism replaced feudalism everywhere it went.
So capitalism has been an important and progressive development in human socio-economic evolution
"If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there's no progress"
Wrong - three inches of progress
Just don't expect there ever to be no knife in your back; not in this world anyway
Make the best of it
Actually marx did see capitalism as an important step for human advancement, just not the final step.
Capitalism didn't replace feudalism. In Europe mercantilism replaced feudalism and capitalism replaced mercantilism
If Marxist "found it interesting" that no compensation was provided to former slave owners doesn't that imply he did not find slavery morally repugnant? Did he also find it interesting that the former slaves were not compensated for having their rights violated?
No, not at all, I'm not seeing where you're getting this implication from. Marx was obviously against slavery for both moral and economic reasons. It's interesting because the result of the war was the total disempowerment of the slave owning class. You would otherwise think that the Union would have compensated the slave owners for their loss of property - some of the Union states still had legal slavery during the war, obviously the northern states had no problem trading for resources produced by slaves. Also depending on how you read the Fifth Amendment, legally speaking the slave owners SHOULD have been compensated for the loss of their property. So the war freed up millions of slaves who could now become wage laborers in the capitalist economy, and the US government didn't have to take on the financial burden of compensating the former slave owners. In that sense the end of slavery was a huge boon for the northern capitalists.
By saying he "found it interesting", I don't believe that was meant Marx was criticising such actions. Indeed, Marx corresponded with Lincoln and expressed an undeniably favourable viewpoint of the actions taken by the Union government. To call it interesting was more of an aside since, for obvious reasons, it was in fact a very interesting turn of events.
Don't forget that Marx's view of capitalism was more grey than many people (on both sides) know or remember. He believed it was a necessary stage of human development (in a deterministic sense, at least) and that it was superior to the systems which came before, but that it shouldn't be considered the end point of civil or economic progress. The giving way of feudalism and mercantilism to capitalism was, to Marx, an improvement in some ways (industrialisation, partial decentralisation of wealth and power, mass distribution of goods and services, etc.) but a shortfall in others (alienation, persisting exploitation, periodic re-centralisation, etc.) He disliked capitalism for its intrinsic inability to fairly compensate workers for their labour, but also believed that compensation was not necessary if someone is bereaved of that which is not rightfully theirs in the first place, be it profit or human lives themselves. As such, it should not be interpreted as a criticism when he notes that slaveholders were not compensated, such a statement rather being somewhere between dispassionate analysis of sociopolitical change and overall approval of such breaking away from the letter of the law.
Also, let's not forget that Wolff is likely paraphrasing here and "interesting" may or may not be an accurate representation of what Marx actually said.
I would like a prof R. Wolff and Canadian prof Jordan Peterson sit down and talk.
Yeah, except JP knows fuck all about Marxism, economics or history so it'd be like any other "talk" between Wolff and ignorant right wingers. The conversation would devolve into "but gommunism killed 100 million people" within three minutes.
The Cheat Dr. Wolff is too calm to let it get to that point and Peterson tends to keep a pretty cool head when he speaks as well. Either way, I'd like to see someone knock Peterson down a step and I don't care if it's Dr. Wolff or Zizek
Caleb Maupin offered to debate Peterson I heard.
Harry Hhhhjtfhn .. yeah, Harry, those were my first thoughts too: they underestimate JP .. 🦀
E Debs
Too bad Maupin is a wrecker