Tag: 1876

Karl Marx: Newspaper Article: ‘The North American Civil War’! (5.4.2023)

Having assessed this difference over a number of days – I developed the dialectical understanding that whereas ‘The German Ideology’ was a free expression of the unhindered thought of Marx and Engels regarding their Scientific Socialist understanding (and an open attack upon the capitalist system) – his newspaper article (for which he was being ‘paid’) – had to conform to the general ideas that prevailed throughout the (Federalist) ‘Union’ of Northern States! Marx had to cleverly compromise by moulding his opinions into those acceptable to the thinking of those who were ‘paying’ him for his journalistic services! If he was writing for newspapers based in Charleston or Richmond (lying within the ‘Confederate’ Southern States) – then I think we would have seen Marx formulate a very different take on events (not only reflecting the views of his audience – but also a more specific statement of the dialectical reality of the time)! Whatever the case, The German Ideology was written by Marx and Engels in 1845 – some sixteen years BEFORE Marx penned his 1861 article – and yet it contains a much deeper and far more thorough understanding of the human condition and the concept and reality of ‘slavery’! This example demonstrates why the working-class must be literate – we must be able to read and write – and in so doing ‘educate’ our own way out of the quagmire of Bourgeois branwashing, disinformation and deliberate misrepresentation!

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Book Review: The ‘Time’ Machine or the ‘Space’ Machine? Christopher Priest Takes the Easy Road!

One is left with the distinct impression that Priest truly believes that if his version HG Wells classics were published in the 1880s – well-bred young men would be masturbating everytime there is mention of Amelia’s exposed ankles- to the back drop of a Martian invasion of Earth and nutty Professors who have convinced themselves that their ‘Time’ machine (which is only secondarily a ‘Space’ machine) is ‘not quite there’ whilst it l supposedly lays shimmering in and out of material existence whilst inhabiting a study in Richmond! Those motoring goggles may well come in handy yet – and not necessarily for motor driving! As Priest penned this tome in 1976 – he was probably influenced by the highly successful British science fiction series of ‘Dr Who’ (that also possessed an advanced machine – the ‘TARDIS’ – which funnily enough could also travel in both ‘time’ and ‘space’) and was reaching its creative peak with the actor – Tom Baker – at the helm! More to the point, the ‘love’ scenes, if we can call them that, seem as if the author quickly threw the two Wells novels together, and then realised his caper was up if he did not attempt to go back and at certain random points in the story literally ‘insert’ obviously ‘out of place’ amorous interactions to act as a type Pythonesque ‘camouflage’ – in the hope that the distraction will draw the attention of the audience away from the fact that the book contains ‘zero’ originality and no genuine labour on his part! If anyone does happen to invent a genuine time machine, perhaps the top of any list might be the necessity to go back to 1976 and hide all the pens in the Priest household – and thus save humanity from a genuine catastrophe!

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