Schumpeter on Marx (Chapter 1, Marx the Prophet)

I came to Schumpeter looking forward to forage in his theory of what is called disaster capitalism, of which I have heard and read about before but never from the primary source ( you may never know who is missing from the university curriculum). This a bullet point of Joseph A. Schumpeter take on Karl Marx, as in his piece "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy."

Passing the preface I was delighted to see that Schumpeter spend the first four chapters tearing Marx and Marxism down to shreds. Here are some of his gems:

       From "Marx the Prophet:"

• "In one important sense, Marxism is a religion. To the believer it present, first, a system of ultimate ends that embody the meaning of life and are absolute standards by which to judge events and actions, and secondly, a guide to those ends which imply a plan of salvation and the indication of the evil from which mankind, or a chose section  of mankind, is to be saved." (Schumpeter 5)

The former paragraph resonates much in me. I'm part of that section of mankind that was to be saved from the evils of capitalism by the plan put into place by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and that was called the creation of a New Man. The New Man doctrine as seen by Castrism is social engineering at its worst.

• "There is no paradox in saying that Marxism is essentially a product of the bourgeois mind. This was done, on the one hand, by formulating with unsurpassed force that feeling of being thwarted and ill treated which is the auto-therapeutic attitude of the unsuccessful many, and on the other hand, by proclaiming that socialistic deliverance from those ills was a certainty amenable to rational proof." (Ibid 6)

There is a scene in Mikhail Kalatozov's "I'm Cuba" in which Alberto, the revolutionary protagonist played by Sergio Corriery, is running conspiratorial errands around the city in his fashionable roadster convertible. Picture out a bunch of restless middle class and high class university students with a head full of dreams and good intentions executing the century long destruction of the country, their revolutionary concepts based on Marxian doctrine.

Another scene depicts a peasant who sets the sugar cane field of his labors on fire after being propagandized by Alberto. Making you wonder why if, after all, Cuban agriculture is in such a bad shape that "Cuban purchases from U.S. firms amounted to $4.319 million in 2001, $138.635 million in 2002, and $256.9 million in 2003. Cuba became the 35th most important food and agricultural export market for the United States in 2003, up from last (226th) in 2000. Actual purchases and pending contracts in the first-half of 2004 are at a pace to move Cuba into the top 20 most important markets of U.S. food and agricultural exports. Furthermore, because current U.S. legislation requires that all Cuban purchases from the United States must be conducted on a cash basis, the lack of credit risk associated with these sales makes Cuba one of the most attractive export markets for U.S. firms." (Alvarez, Jose. Cuban Agriculture Before 1959: The Political and Economic Situation.)

Kalatozov's film has been amply criticized by both Cuban revolutionaries and Cuban gusanos on the ground of being superficial, a "tourist film of sorts. What Kalatozov has paradoxically accomplished  is to portray the artificial and bourgeois essence of the Cuban revolution. There was no way for him to make another kind of a movie.

•  He (Marx) had probably a clear perception of what the masses are and he looked far above their heads toward social goals altogether beyond what they though or wanted." (Schumpeter 7 

I remember watching Dr. Fidel on national TV giving away Chinese electric fans of various sizes and types as awards to outstanding national workers. The absurdity and sarcasm of the situation stroke me as yet another example of the disregard of the Communist government for the working class. I mean, why not pay them better salaries (not the average 5 dollars a month) so that they can buy electric fans and air conditioners?

• "As every true prophet styles himself to be the humbly mouth piece of his deity, Marx pretended no more than speak the logic of the dialectic process of history" (Ibid 7) 

This feature of wolf disguised under a lamb skin is played time and again in the history of dictatorship. The Revolution of "the humble, by the humble and for the humble" is nothing more but the Revolution of the 1%, by the 15% and for the 1%.