There is power in Marxism that you cannot find in other systems of ideas. Marxism is a totality; if you’re a committed Marxist, you can’t pick and choose where to apply it. You cannot have a bit of Marxism for breakfast and a bit of liberalism for lunch. Choosing to be a Marxist means examining every facet of the social world through a rigid system that rejects esotericism, magic, or religious thinking.
But when you step outside your Marxist bubble, you realize: people are fucking idiots. Not "idiots" meaning "stupid," but ἰδιώτης (idiotes), an Ancient Greek term for a private person indifferent to politics or public life. Most people refuse to see the connection between politics and their daily existence. They prioritize a "good" private life: a stable job, a wife who cooks and cleans, 1.8 children, maybe a dog, a home, and holidays twice a year (sorry, Americans, this is Europe). Young Marx (or Engels, I can't remember) once called this an "animal’s life": unreflective, driven by instincts the bourgeoisie instilled in workers. Tragically, this remains true 150 years later. The separation of private and public life poisons any cohesive society.
As capitalism’s crises deepen, bourgeois propaganda (mass media, PR) aggressively pushes unscientific, esoteric, and religious ideas. I told my family I’m a materialis - not chasing money, just rejecting spirits - and they got sad for me. Like I’m some empty husk because I don’t "feel" ghosts. It’s even more exhausting to explain that most "personal" thoughts aren’t original. Humans rarely have new ideas; we recycle old ones. Yet people resent being asked to examine their beliefs. They deny that their desires are manufactured by mass media, or that history predates them. Many cling to a nonexistent sentimental past or an idealized future. I’ve developed profound hatred for the state, family, private property, and religion. My mother understands my critiques of the state, religion, and property, but family is sacred to her. Explaining its evolution as a social structure is pointless. This mental block leads to a common schema: individual → family → nation. You see this everywhere. ("States are cities; cities are families.") Most people can’t grasp their own historicity.
This is why meaningful mass political action is nearly impossible today. As a Marxist, you must constantly fight: first, to stay sharp and avoid sinking into the swamp of bourgeois society; second, to drive change against b
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