Pocket Guide to Postmodernism

Chapter 5. The Crisis of Socialism Recall the two basic claims of classical Marxism, one economic and one moral: 1. Capitalism operates on exploitation of labor and must eventually collapse. Socialism, operating on communal labor and property, is the just system.

2. Morally, capitalism is based on self-interest, which necessitates competition over cooperation, leading to alienation and conflict. Socialism, operating on self-sacrifice, altruism, and thus cooperation, leads only to justice and peace.

While capitalism survives for a time, Marxists thought it would necessarily be unsustainable due to rising class conflict. Diminishing resources and class disparity would render enough pressure to initiate a revolution to socialism.

Marxists waited a long time. Not only were predictions failing, but capitalist countries seemed to be doing quite well. Net immigration to capitalist countries was also a problem; the “land of opportunity” slogan seemed so appealing. Marxist theory suggested that not only would zerosum economics squeeze out the middle-class, plunging most of them back into the working class, it should also slowly eliminate the competitive wealthy until only a handful control the whole of society. Instead, the opposite happened. Middle classes across the world increased in proportion, shrinking the working classes. Wealth for all classes, including the working class, increased. A trend of upward class mobility—“impossible” said the Marxists—was a real thing. It was plain that the proletariat was not going to