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Socialism, democracy and the division of labour
Stereotyped ideas about the 20th century’s actually existing socialism do a disservice to the working class and fail to grasp the complexities facing every revolutionary generation, argues ZOLTAN ZIGEDY
FLAGS OUT: The hammer and sickle flag of the Soviet Union is hung over the entrance to Claridge’s, London. Russian leaders Marshal Nikolai Bulganin, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and Nikita Krushchev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, were residing at the hotel at the start of their 10-day visit to Britain, April 1956

PROFESSOR Richard Wolff is a prominent, influential intellectual, with a big following on the left. He is an erudite, clear and passionate speaker and writer. He is well-regarded for his exposition of Marx’s ideas — a “go to” when the media tolerates a conversation critical of capitalism, one even advocating “socialism.”

For all of that, he does not represent Marx’s thought well, nor does he offer a viable, serious alternative to capitalism.

It is not a question of Wolff’s scholarship or his commitment to justice. It is, instead, a deep-seated, unwavering hostility to the real existing socialism of the 20th century and the century’s leading Marxist exponents, the communists.

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