Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Washington Post Columnist Advocates Socialism For United States

To some he's a columnist for the Washington Post for others he's the Editor-at-Large for Bob Kuttner's American Prospect but to others he's a committed socialist.Witness this gem from Harold Meyerson to a bunch of socialists:
You know,1998 was the 150th anniversary of the Communist Manifesto.I had not read it since college.I went back and read it and I was stunned.Obviously,the inherent revolutionary role of the proletariat that Marx predicted was something that the proletariat itself never quite warmed to,or even understood.But,his description of the economy was mind-boggling.He started talking about doctors and lawyers working for wages.He started talking about nations on penalty of extinction being forced to adopt the current capitalist mode of production.And I said,oh my God,he's not writing about 1848:he's writing about,in that case,1998.He's writing about 2005.
Michael Harrington managed to work Marx into lots of talks,so I'm going to take my stab at it,too.What Marx did is he looked at an acorn and described an oak,before anyone had ever seen an oak.We live in the age of the oak.The acorn has grown up.And our task as socialists,as well as our task as progressives,is not only to immerse ourselves in struggles but also to understand this world and to understand what folks have to do so they can live decent,fulfilling lives.
When you think Karl Marx and his doctrines which have lead to one hundred million dead people and mass poverty are relevant to 2005,you passed the test for being a leader in America's largest socialist organization.The Democratic Socialists of America just named Harold Meyerson a Vice Chair of its organization.