Many blogs posted this Karl Marx quote lately and some people get it via forwarded emails and text messages:
Owners of capital will stimulate working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks which will have to be nationalized and State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.
Karl Marx, Das Kapital, 1867
Sounds really good, doesn’t it? It’s like he’s about to say “and then Barack Obama will come as save the day with his renewable energy masterplan!”
However, when searching through the Das Kapital book this quote is nowhere to be found. Where did it come from? Nostradamus maybe? (It was Trzisno resenje to spot the oddity first.)
update a reader solves the mystery in the comments below:
LOL says: The whole and real quote is “The owners of capital will stimulate the need of the working class to take expensive, collateral loans to buy their condos, houses and technological products; and, at the end, these unpaid debts will result in the nationalization of the banks upon their bankrupcy, and so the state will be on the pathway to communism” and belongs to Pat Caufield of the Department of Education in a satyrical United States who started a re-education programme for kids to prepare the transition to communismhttp://www.newsmutiny.com/pages/Communist_Reeducation.html
As a curiosity, this mystery did not stop Politika and Vecernje Novosti from publishing entire articles based on the alleged quotation without checking to see its credibility. Also, the Serbian version of the quote is even more popular on the internet than the English one! Which one was written first?
If you’ve read the entire Marx, than please help solve the mystery of the ghost Karl Marx quote!
(Or digg the article to help solve it)
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photo by Binary Ape
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A word of Internet wisdom: Whoever the alleged author, every piece of Internet wisdom is worth running through a search engine before passing on.
I did a check on it, and it returned only a couple of sites with the quote. It possibly is Marx, but from some other work, Manifesto or something.
I suspected the same thing, searched for the quote and eventually found this blog. Well researched.
Internet wisdom is dangerous…
…and yes it did sound way too current issues to be Marx.
Yes, there are a lot of people coming to the blog lately searching for the true author of the quote. Hopefully someone will solve the mystery, otherwise I would have to dig through Manifesto myself
The whole and real quote is “The owners of capital will stimulate the need of the working class to take expensive, collateral loans to buy their condos, houses and technological products; and, at the end, these unpaid debts will result in the nationalization of the banks upon their bankrupcy, and so the state will be on the pathway to communism” and belongs to Pat Caufield of the Department of Education in a satyrical United States who started a re-education programme for kids to prepare the transition to communism
http://www.newsmutiny.com/pages/Communist_Reeducation.html
Thanks for solving the mystery, LOL (if that’s your real name). We haven’t had a mystery like this since trying to figure out why the Japanese were dressing up as Serbs and Croats a while ago.
satyrical?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/satyr
The real issue is not who the author is, but that it is so true…
To nobody : the quote loses all its force if it is not predictive but a retrospect on recent events. In that case there is no reason for the last step of the reasoning to have any value. So maybe it does not matter who the author is, but when it was first spoken or written. And 1867 made it very impressive if that would have been true.
I’ve researched the origin of this alleged Karl Marx quote quite a bit. While a very similar quote does indeed appear on NewsMutiny in a satirical article, and while it is certainly plausible that the quote was invented by the author of that article, I see no reason to be sure that is the case. For example, the author could also have received a version of the email going around and simply incorporated it into his article. However, it still seems very likely that the quote is not genuine, as you can read about here:
Did Karl Marx Predict the Financial Collapse of 2008?
Sorry, that link with the more detailed research was supposed to be:
http://clockbackward.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/did-karl-marx-predict-financial-collapse/
Wow, seriously?? Did anyone take the time to look at “LOL’s” link??? He claims that the quote belongs to Pat Caufield of the Department of Education, but the same link he posted actually says: “Citing Karl Marx….” and then the quote.
LOL did not solve any mystery. He did not even bother to read the article properly. Please erase the statement that he solved the mystery and his comment from the blog.
I received this email saying it was from Das Kapital. It did not sound right for me. So I did my own search on it.
At the Amazon’s site http://www.amazon.com/Das-Kapital-Gateway-Skeptical-Reader/dp/089526711X#reader you will have a chance to search for it inside the electronic file of the book. I did not find such quote.
Rayyiss is right, LOL mentioned the quote was from Pat Caufield of the Department of Education, but if you click on the link he/she provides, the link says the quote is from Marx.
The site http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/faux_marx.php
has good comments about it.
Just do what OWEN says: “A word of Internet wisdom: Whoever the alleged author, every piece of Internet wisdom is worth running through a search engine before passing on.”
Let us not pass on wrong information.
Canadian here, living in a “Social Democracy” We still have Capitalism, just not unrestrained vulture style American version, and we have a “Multi-Cultural” melange of French, English, Polish,Chinese, Indian, you – name – it, and we love it. I can watch Chinese, Italian, Indian or French TV programs at the moment on my TV! Challenge us though, and we all pull together in an amazing display of patriotism! We don’t hate Negroes or whites, they are just a small part of the colors and races we see every day on the TV and the streets, a mixture too evenly mixed to single out one to disparage against! Our Ultra-conservative government is held in check by a coalition of left of center interests and a large French contingent, the ultimate in moderation for the total governing body and the People win here, not the large business lobbies or militarists. We have the best Universal health care system in the world, we pay for it gladly and willingly and govern it carefully, and it works magnificently! Do not come to Canada unless you want to preserve your individual culture and join collectively in health care, Employment insurance and civic expenses by paying a hell of a lot of taxes, and getting even more in return. Next, we are going for Universal Dental care, we already have “No-Fault car insurance” and look forward to the day when the greedy, exploitive corporations we now harbor like a cancer, die out and nationalization for the general good reigns! Multi-Nationals beware! we will socialize your asses if we can hook them!
To Uncle B,
My mother lived in the US most of her adult life and returned to Canada to retire with her American Husband. After a couple of near death experiences which primarily were due to an inefficient and insanely inept, ” … best Universal health care system in the world.” she returned to the US in order to save her own life. Her husband stayed in Canada as he’s a reasonably healthy person yet he returns to the US for health care too. She can’t/couldn’t risk it so she moved back to the US. I’m glad to have her back and even more happy she’s alive. It’s a great system all right …if you’re healthy.
I won’t even get started on the taxation up there …
Response to Danny – That’s right, Canadian life is hard, and some folks don’t survive – in fact, our own medical professionals send some folks to the states for specialized care, like some kinds of cancers we can’t economically accommodate on small scale. Nothing is perfect and we are taxed beyond belief, the Ontario govenment just made a 8% sales tax on everything grab, and we are whimpering pretty loud! Property taxes went up, even in these hard times, and the government boys and their cushy pensions look like fat cats in times of massive lay-offs, but our kids still get to see a doctor, and go to hospital as needed, and for the next generation Canadian that counts big! We don’t kick our old folks into the streets either, they are fed, clothed and housed in decent fashion, with complete medical care til they croak! same for our veterans, and we are proud, broke sometimes but proud of our “collective” strengths!
Uncle B’s right.
Moreover, our taxes are pretty high but it goes into important places, like free healthcare and education. It makes it extremely affordable for us to have higher education and we don’t leave with over 100k of debts.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#30270792
Прикольно написанно, я бы так не смог.
To Uncle B, you sound really happy with your situation. I feel sad for you that you have given up so much of your individuality so you may be taken care of. All of us have our price , dont we.?
Gave up no such thing! I am a happy white Anglo-Saxon Anglican with a church just around the corner – in a sea of other colors, cultures surrounding and even joining me, often in my church where they are very welcome! and I am free to join in their cultures too, and we do! most the time! We all have being Social Democratic Canadians as a glue that helps us love one another! We all pay taxes, very high taxes for the common good! Define individuality in your terms for me please! I don’t feel I have given up anything? may be I an simply unaware of this? The way I see it I have gained only!
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