this post was submitted on 05 May 2025
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submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by Cowbee@lemmy.ml to c/memes@lemmy.ml
 

On May 5th, 1818, Karl Marx, hero of the international proletatiat, was born. His revolution of Socialist theory reverberates throughout the world carries on to this day, in increasing magnitude. Every passing day, he is vindicated. His analysis of Capitalism, development of the theory of Scientific Socialism, and advancements on dialectics to become Dialectical Materialism, have all played a key role in the past century, and have remained ever-more relevant throughout.

He didn't always rock his famous beard, when he was younger he was clean shaven!

Some significant works:

Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

The Civil War in France

Wage Labor & Capital

Wages, Price, and Profit

Critique of the Gotha Programme

Manifesto of the Communist Party (along with Engels)

The Poverty of Philosophy

And, of course, Capital Vol I-III

Interested in Marxism-Leninism, but don't know where to start? Check out my "Read Theory, Darn it!" introductory reading list!

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[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Eh, isn't that argument more about being greedy for ressources rather than capital in particular? I mean, why did empires conquer stuff?

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[–] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Good meme but terrible martial arts. Never try to catch a punch.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I didn't make the meme, so 🤷

Just wrote the description.

[–] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's from Invincible and the guy's a superhero, so maybe superheroes can catch punches.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'd hope so, if they existed, haha.

[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If they existed it would be The Boys style super"heros". So I don't know, I'd kinda prefer they didn't know how to catch a punch.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 days ago

Good point, yikes.

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[–] Tartas1995@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 days ago (37 children)

I think this meme is a little unfair. For the sake of this comment, I am assuming that op is 100% correct about his definitions and I want to stress that I don't claim that "capitalism" is human nature.

Op basically admits in his comments that the general public doesn't have a good understanding of communism or capitalism and consequently how do define them. E.g. He keeps having to explain the difference between capitalism and trade with currency, highlighting the lack of understanding of what capitalism is.

This should make you question what a person means when they say that capitalism is human nature. Do they mean capitalism or their understanding of it? The answer is obvious.

So what do they mean? Given that people don't just walk around saying "capitalism is human nature", it is probably fair to see it as what it attempts to be, a justification. A justification usually follows a critic. And what is that critic? I think it is fair to roughly assume that it is a justification for the usual critic of capitalism. The degradation of human life by encouraging a competitive environment which leads to exploitation and hierarchy. That exploitation is powered by the violence of controlling limited resources.

So the question becomes, could the person saying "capitalism is human nature" mean that humans are competitive hierarchical animals who will use any means to control, oppress and exploit it's environment, including economical violence. If yes, then the age of capitalism is irrelevant and ancient Rome is probably what the person would identify as what they believe to be human nature.

In short, I think the response in the meme doesn't accurately engages with the challenge of the claim and would probably fail to convince anyone and probably makes you seem intellectually dishonest from the perspective of the conversation partner.

I don't believe cowbee is intellectually dishonest, but that they fail to consider the issue from a different perspective, as we all do daily.

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[–] Zerush@lemmy.ml -4 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Wrong, capitalism exist since exist money and greedy people which govern countries, since Pharaons and Kings, since the concept of property.

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[–] nevaseerius@sh.itjust.works -1 points 2 days ago (7 children)

You guys would have a very bad time in the 1500s let's be real

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