The Hot Air Machine

  The following article is taken from the Mises Institute article “Marx as Utopian” , itself taken from Rothbard (2006), pp. 364-366. The republication of this article on this site is in accordance with the Mises Institute’s CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 copyright as I have given attribution, do not make any money from this site, and have not altered the original material.   DESPITE Marx’s claim to be a “scientific socialist”, scorning all other socialists whom he dismissed as moralistic and “utopian”, it should be clear that Marx himself was even more in the messianic utopian tradition than were the competing “utopians”. For Marx not only sought a future society that would put an end to history: he claimed to have found the path towards that utopia inevitably determined by the “laws of history”. But a utopian, and a fierce one, Marx certainly was. A hallmark of every utopia is a militant desire to put an end to history, to freeze mankind in a static state, to put an end to diversity...

            SOCIALISTS  have a very high view of themselves because they have a very low view of capitalism. Capitalism, for them, is an exploitative, aristocratic, and chaotic ideology that promotes might-makes-right morals and feudalistic tyranny. That socialism promotes the fulfillment and humanity of the worker, that capitalism commodifies and alienates people , these ideas are represented in the posters, logos, quotes, and articles of socialism (just browse the Jacobin or WSWS). Socialists are the moral Übermenschen of human civilization/philosophy, while anyone who does not endorse their noble, egalitarian, collectivist ways are evil greedy bourgeois ; yes, even if you are a poor proletarian yourself .           Yet, despite the very confident and endearing self-image they possess, socialists seem to have time and time again contradicted basic morality. Many socialist regimes launched pogroms and pu...

  IN response to the repeated failures of socialist countries - whether from economic or political crises - the favorite rescuing device of far-left apologists is to cry, “It wasn’t real socialism!” Since it, ostensibly, wasn’t true, orthodox socialism, then we don’t know what it’s like for true socialism to be implemented, meaning we can’t critique practical (in contrast to theoretical) socialism. This recourse is, of course, fallacious, and can be refuted in three easy ways: Noting how socialists, in other contexts, will refer to these countries as sources of socialist pride. Noting how historical socialists, contemporaneous with these regimes, affirmed their socialist nature. Responding in kind, “Well, they certainly weren’t capitalist!” The final point is my favorite, especially since I made it. Socialist apologists might assert that these nations had capitalist characteristics, or were forms of “state capitalism”. However, you either have - exclusively - capitalism or so...

          GREETINGS , my fellow readers! I would like to introduce to you today a very special project of mine, one which I have spent months preparing for. I attempted this at first a year ago, but my blog wasn’t in the right place for it to succeed. Furthermore, my knowledge and abilities hadn’t developed far enough to make it impactful. This being the case, I have opted to and prepared for the formal inauguration of Anti-Communism Month to reoccur now!           Anti-Communism Month is, again, a passion project of mine that has been on the books for a while. The theme of the event is evident, it is a recognition of the evils, failures, and critiques of socialist/far-left ideology. March is the month I have chosen for this to occur because in this month five blows were dealt to radical leftism: Karl Marx died on March 14. Joseph Stalin died on March 5. The Republic of Lithuania was established on March 11, the f...