The Idea of Communism PDF
Preview The Idea of Communism
time political activist and camr.aigner. He has over a dozen boolzs novels, and scrir.ts for both stage and screen. [I'he first novel ofi his Islam of.the P.omegrnnate Tree, was awarded the Arch- bishop San Clemente de! Instituto Rosalia de What Was Communism? A SERIES EDITED BY TARIQ ALI The theory of Communism as enunciated by Marx and En gels in The CommunistM anffesu> spoke the language of freedom, allied to reason. A freedom from exploitation in conditions that were being created by the dynamic expansion of capital ism so that 'all that is solid melts into air'. The system was creating its own grave-diggers. But capitalism swvived. It was the regimes claiming loyalty to the teachings of Marx that collapsed and reinvented themselves. What went wrong? This series of books explores the practice of twentieth century Communism. Was the collapse inevitable? What actually happened in different parts of the world? And is there anything from that experience that can or should be rehabilitated? Why have so many heaven-stormers become submissive and gone over to the camp of reaction? With capitalism mired in a deep crisis, these questions become relevant once again. Marx's philosophy began to be regarded as a finely spun web of abstract and lofty arguments, but one that had failed the test of experience. Perhaps, some argued, it would have been better if his followers had remained idle dreamers and refrained from political activity. The Communist system lasted 70 years and failed only once. Capitalism has existed for over half a millennium and failed regularly. Why is one collapse considered the final and the other episodic? These are some of the questions explored in a variety of ways by writers from all over the globe, many living in countries that once considered themselves Communist states. * * * * THRIQ HU LONDON NEW YORK CALCUTTA * Seagull Books 2009 © Tariq Ali 2009 ISBN-13 978 1 9064 9 726 2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Jacket and book designed by Sunandini Banerjee, Seagull Books Printed at Rockwel Offset, Calcutta For Aleem and Jordan Beaumont who mvtkt read this one dlf)1 Humans often admire the spider's stratagem. There are more than a few tales of how the ancient heroes learnt perseverance by watching an individual spi der at work. Where a lone spider can succeed, a lone human can follow. In more recent times, the comic book Spiderman is denied the pleasures enjoyed by some of his rivals. Batman is secure with Robin; Su perman's krypton-genes fail to immunize him against heterosexual lust for Lois Lane; even the Lone Ranger was provided with a tame Tonto to fall back on or 'get um up.' Spiderman is self-sufficient. He requires no support. Or so we are told. KU
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