Does Marxism Have Any Relevance in Politics Today?

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Does Marxism have any relevance in Politics today? In 1982 US president Roanld Reagan predicted that “Freedom and Democracy will leave Marxism and Leninism on the ash heap of history.” (The Heritage Founation, Twenty Years Later: Ronald Reagan’s Westminster Speech [Transcript], [Online], Available from: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2002/06/reagans-westminster-speech, [Accessed on 29:11:12]). It is true that the only state that defined itself as ‘Marxist’, the Soviet Union (USSR), collapsed a little under ten years after Reagan made this prediction, though most Marxists would argue that the USSR was never close to being a true Marxist state (however that’s an argument for another day). But was Marxism left on the ‘Ash heap of history’ by the USSR’s collapse? Of course it wasn’t! True, it suffered a decline in support in the 1990s due to its association with the USSR but Marx’s ideas and philosophy continue to influence politicians to this day, even, to a certain extent, those on the right of the political spectrum. One only needs to observe the fact that the Communist Manifesto is the second biggest selling book of all time, behind only the Bible, to realise that Marxism is far from irrelevant today and since 2008 after the aforementioned decline in the 1990s and with the global economic crisis, its sales have increased remarkably. The first thing to note when assessing the relevance of Marxism today is that much of what is happening now is exactly what Marx predicted would happen. In short, he was right. A fact that many capitalists do not care to admit and one of the reasons why they are so quick to dismiss his ideology, but the evidence is there for all to see. “The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections
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