Has capitalism changed enough sinse the industrial revounltion to warrant revision of marxism?

youtube.com/watch?v=X_Kfm_qWpN0

Neo-marxism of course.

Capitalism has changed in the sense that the main contradiction today is finance imperialism.

The proletariat in the first world, although exploited, can be pacified with silly gadgets and entertainment and thus is no longer a revolutionary subject. To that add critical theory and the like, which has demonstrated the reasons why the proletariat is unwilling or incapable of breaking its chains.

But things can still happen in the third world, which is exploited both by its national bourgeoisie and the first world, of course class consciousness there is nil, whatever revolution happens there won't be Marxist on form or content, but since a revolution could -theoretically- stop the flow of finance capital going in and out of these countries, it has a chance of "breaking" the entire system, much like the proletariat, at the time of Marx, could break the whole system by stopping production, thus making the third world a revolutionary subject.

Of course none of what I wrote should be taken to be deterministic, it is still possible (and likely tbh) that the third world never rebels, thus the world reaching the point of what Marx called (to paraphrase) "the mutual demise of both classes."

Well, it was published in the Monthly Review. After reading his essay, I stuck around and read a few more articles. Then a few more. Then I started digging into the archives. I didn't find anything that I disagreed with, other than that I didn't understand the whole "dialectics" thing mentioned from time to time and was entirely new to their economics. Before you knew it, I had went from socdem to DeLeonism once I looked through the varieties of Marxism and asked "which of these seems most applicable today?". Then I became an ansyn once my understanding of dialectics improved and I thought it was BS. Einstein was important simply because he made a case for a socialism to the left of Bernie, and a damn good one at that. IIRC, he supported a planned economy, in contradiction to Georgism.

I'm seeing a new class struggle coming up soon: between precariat and proletariat. Precariat will harbor resentment towards the proletariat for having better working conditions.

Go away

All theory evolves over time. Expanding on Marxism to deal with modern developments wouldn't make it "less" Marxist. The revisionists were so hated because they straight up felt their society was a special snowflake that Marxist assumptions didn't really apply to them.

For that matter, it is a fair complaint when people state that Orthodox Marxism is stuck in the past, but these people usually want all far left thought out of discourse and to remain passively complacent with the dominant ideology.

REVISIONISM REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Marxism is a scientific theory, as such it should be revised if new evidence does not fit the old theory. I think it has been revised by modern Marxists, however, the base of the theory is still quite sound. It's like evolution. Darwin was obviously wrong on details, but the overall theory is quite sound.

It can. War hasn't changed that much. Machines are cool, but they don't win wars. Men with guns do.

Marx's frustration was with the absentee factory owners.

I can't even imagine the shitfit he would throw over the financial industry and the dotcom bubble.

So where Marx would say seize the factories how does this apply to multinationals who's assets are largely digital or invested capital?

...

So where was your computer built?

Marx was never the end all be all of anti-capitalist theory. Marx doesn't necessarily need to be edited for the modern day, but continuously expanded upon. Putting it in terms of "was what Marx said not applicable to today" seems to me to make Marx so fundamental as to be dogmatic. Marx had ideas that are very useful for understanding capitalism, but I think it is a mistake and even undialectical™ to basically ask the question "is it bad if my observations or analysis transgress Marx? Should I undertake an analysis of the current class struggle, or would that be superfluous because Marx?"

Marxism wasn't perfect to begin with, and capitalism has developed a lot since Marx's time. Revision isn't really the right way to think of it, more that we should build on what already exists. New theory is important though- people need the appropriate tools for the job. This is most obvious in the jargon which feel extremely out of place in the [current year].

Factories are a small part of the economy now, especially in the west. Its a valid question. How does it translate to the modern economy?

Nah it operates with the same principles. Exploit a to produce b.

Ok but if you're working the tertiary industry there's not going to be much means of production to seize. Sales, telemarketing, finance, food shops. These things don't collectivise well. For the most part people are selling their expertise. Without the company structure (not talking hierarchy more contacts, location, reputation). How would collectivisation of modern industry actually look? In practical terms would it be any more than a more equitable distribution of profits?

High tech back then was dynamite, unwieldy maxim guns and some artillery here and there, a ragtag band of fuggin gommies can probably fight against that.

Nowadays, how can a bunch of autists armed with moist nuggets hope to compete against AI-operated high-flying drones equipped guided missiles, and states armed to the teeth with nuclear arsenals?

If you're talking about third world insurrections, then it's just a matter of the same forces intervening in favor of their interests in case the rebels win.

Nuclear war on your own turf when your troops are close to the enemy doesn't work, and drones aren't actually that much of a threat. You're overthinking it.

Again, you cannot enforce a system with a plane. You need people forcing others to do things, and the fact is that there is no army big enough to do that. Combat isn't just drones killing people and somehow forcing them to act in a way you want. You need grunts, and you always will. A drone can do what? Kill a group of people? Then? If you don't want t obey, you will just go back to doing the thing you were doing before, ad-infinitum. War has been made easier, but it hasn't changed. That's what the capitalist system wants to project, but it's an illusion.

yes it's called the Frankfurt school

You forgot your Maotism flag.

What did he mean by this?