I got the following email recently and it got me wondering…
We are on the way comrade
“Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more of expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalised, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.”
Karl Marx, Das Kapital, 1867
Is the above really a Karl Marx quote?
http://www.democracyforutah.com/node/2510 and http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/faux_marx.php don”t seem to think it is, and to be honest I agree – the idea that credit would be given out by banks at these levels probably didn’t make sense in 1867.
Snopes doesn’t have anything to say on the matter yet (which IS surprising).
Has anyone read much Marx (I mean to, but haven’t got round to it yet)? Does it sound like a true quote?
I wonder how many “quotes” on the internet are simply made-up on the spot (much like statistics – they say that 98.2% of statistics are made-up on the spot).
I thought it was 97.3%. And it certainly smells suspicious to me.
That Marx quote is a hoax. He never said any such thing, in Capital or anywhere else. For one, in the 19th century no one thought the working class would be buying “technology”.
it doesn’t matter who said it. it is already happening. be happy that you’re living interesting times and don’t be afraid. you’re going to die anyway like any other human being here on earth.
it is how, not who or when.