@@booniesblues7310 Sitting at your desk in someone else’s house and writing isn’t exactly a job. You can get money from it, but only the wealthy can sit around and not work for life. Writing is a rich man’s privilege.
To be fair, Communism as it's written isn't bad. Even Lenin and Trotsky had good intentions, it's just power hungry bastards like Stalin, Kim Jung-un, Mao Ze Dong(no idea how to spell his name), usually call their countries communist states cause it sounds better.
@@classicrockkid345 The idea that private property should be taken by the state and redistributed among the people is an idea that cannot function without a dictatorship. Communism is inherently bad. Mao Zedong, Ze and Dong are one word
@@oscartheamazing6745 not really considering everyone would be considered equal in Communism. Plus the redistribution of land would work better then how America gave land.
@@DocJamesH Of what, the Marx Brothers? Comedy team from the vaudeville days who successfully made the transition to film around the time sound was added to movies. Made of a group of actual brothers going by the names Groucho, Harpo, and Chico. Also Zeppo for a little while, but he left after a while. Karl Marx in this is imitating Groucho, while Engels is imitating Chico. Any interest in seeing the Marx Brothers' work, Duck Soup is usually held up as their best, though I'm also partial to A Night at the Opera. Can't go wrong with any of them, though
Having Friedrich Engels be Chico Marx was such an obscure reference. Even if kids at the time got the Karl/Groucho Marx joke, I doubt any of them got that Engels was Chico.
Golly, this is such a deep dive into Marx Brothers parody with a parody of “I’m Against It”. I just wish they had made someone be Harpo, like Lenin or Trotsky!
This wasn't anti-marxism or pro-marxism, it was educational. They presented the facts and you can draw your own conclusions on whether you approve of Marxism.
There's a lot of key context missing here. You need to watch Europa the last battle, to truly understand what communism is, and the effects it's had on the host nations that adopted it's ideologies, whether willingly, or not willingly by the people themselves in these nations. It is a 7.7/10 documentary on IMDb, and is the most vital watch of this decade. Time is running out. Facts, works cited, documents, and books are referenced throughout this 10 part documentary! It was the most eye opening documentary I had ever seen. Everyone should not turn away from this comment. It is such a good documentary!
I love it because Marx owed so much money due to his parties and drinking. He had other people take care of his 7 children. His best friend to had to take paternal claim of his illegitimate child.
Errors in this video: 1. Marxism isn’t a system of government. It’s a systems theory about how modes of production change and replace one another as history progresses. 2. Marxism isn’t a normative statement that “equality is good”. He wasn’t famous because he believed people should be equal. Marxism is famous because, by using the perspective of classes competing over scarce resources (ruling class vs working class), you are able to understand why modes of production continually replace one another as technology develops. For instance, industrialization led to the rise in power of capitalists, making the power of the feudal ruling class obsolete, leading to multiple revolutions as power changed hands and a new system arose.
Good comment, but I would quibble on the concept of "scarcity". But yeah, what you explained is the basic idea of historical materialism, it's not about a concept as idealistic as "creating equality", but how contradictions in every system create the conditions necessary for the next.
Yeah Fr I only seen one side of the clips and was kinda thinking man this cartoon looks biased but I’m glad they poke fun at both sides instead of favoring one
The song is a parody of a Marx Brothers song called "I'm against it". It's my favorite song of theirs. In the movie Groucho becomes head of a college and someone tells him that the students have suggestions on how to run it. Then he launches into the song.
Just a thing or two about Engels: "Engels served in the Prussian army for about a year, studied artillery there, new combat tactics improved by Napoleon, thought and wrote a lot about catapults, buckshot, bayonet attack, various models of rifles and incendiary shells. His colleagues called him the "philosopher-bombardier". In the spring of 1849, an uprising broke out in the Rhineland. Upon learning about this, Engels immediately set off there, got to Solingen and began there to frantically agitate the workers to take up arms and power. The very next day he had a detachment of four hundred agitated proletarians, leading whom he advanced to Elberfeld. There, first of all, the proletarians, singing German spring songs, opened the prison and dispersed the magistrate, cursing the past. Now the rebellious workers respectfully called Engels "general". But the newly elected leadership of the city consisted mainly of moderate Democrats and cautious socialists, and not of such loose communists as Engels. Therefore, it was decided to entrust him with protecting the city from counter-revolutionary forces, mining bridges, barricading roads, digging trenches and all that, and keeping this charismatic fellow away from real power. And so, on Sunday morning, he rushes around the outskirts of the city, explaining to the rebels that the whole fortification is to hell here, that the city will not withstand the assault of government troops, that here it is necessary to dig up, and here, on the contrary, let the sappers bury barrels of gunpowder. He enthusiastically gestures, showing the people's sappers what to do, and suddenly hears a familiar voice behind him: "My son Friedrich! Is it you and what are you doing here?". The fact is that at that time they did not communicate with their father at all. Engels doesn't even know if his father is in town or not. A disappointed father cursed his son a couple of years ago for the fact that his son was carried away by dangerous leftist ideas, got involved with Marx, joined the extremists, engaged in preparing a people's revolution instead of inheriting his father's business, improving it, increasing profits and all that. When the uprising began, Engels Sr., a man respected by everyone here, decided that so far there was no danger for him in all this, continued his business, did not change his habits, and so he goes to the Lutheran church on Sunday and sees from afar how some crazy charismatic, whom the fucking rabble calls "the people's general", commands everyone here, mines everything here and shows everyone the necessary height of the barricade on the bridge. Looking closer, he is amazed: "But this is my 28-year-old son, Friedrich!". Well, Engels tells him, standing on the barricade and counting the rifles: "Dad, you go from here in a good way, okay? We have a revolution here, in case you didn't understand! Here all the trenches are incorrectly dug, and we are fighting against the imperial government from day to day, not up to you now. Family is not important and is generally conditioned by the form of ownership. And we have fewer rifles than I was promised!". And the father answers him in the sense that: "My boy, you're sick! You played too much and messed with the wrong ones. I know everyone on your Committee, and I'll talk to you tomorrow so that you're not here, because I don't want you to be shot in the head right in front of my eyes, for me it will be a blow!" That's when they parted. Dad went to church, and the son continued to steer the fortification and count weapons. The next day, the city Committee informed Engels in mild, polite, but insistent terms that his continued presence in the city was undesirable because he was overreacting in every sense, provoking and confusing many here with his God-fighting communism. Well, the people's general thought, if there is no place in this city for two such different Engels (elite and counter-elite), we will spread our revolution further. With the people loyal to him, he leaves the city and joins the detachment of the communist Willich. In June, fighting with the government army begins. In addition to planning military operations and all sorts of sorties, Engels likes to go on reconnaissance himself, and if the rebels have to retreat, he always joins the shooters who remain on the battlefield to the last to cover the withdrawal of the main forces with fire. This causes delight among ordinary soldiers of the revolution. After a month and a half of shooting, the uprising was finally suppressed. His and Willich's squad was the last one who did not lay down their arms and eventually left for Swiss territory. Immediately after the failure of the revolution, already in Lausanne, Engels receives from his father a certain amount and a polite reminder that it is never too late to settle down and come to his senses. Instead, Friedrich is writing a great work answering why the revolution failed, what should be taken into account and how to act next time. Both in France and in Germany, an arrest warrant is ready for him. He gets to Genoa and, hiding from the police, boards a British schooner there in order to reach London in five weeks, where Marx is already waiting for him. In this sea month, he writes a treatise on navigation, sketching everything that is not clear from the words. Well, in London he already reconciles with his father, gets a job in the Manchester office of the family firm, helps Marx with money, writes articles on military affairs for the American encyclopedia, everyone knows that. And Willich also ended up in London, but there was nothing for him to live there, because he defiantly refused his nobility as a sign of support for the people's revolution. Then he learned to carpenter, became friends with Engels, challenged Marx to a duel, moved to the United States, where he rose to major general during the Civil War. Engels wrote that Willich "professes something like communist Islam." But this is a completely different story." This man is my hero
I'm glad I grew up with this show. Granted at the time I didn't know what was being presented, but now it's refreshing to see something being presented without pushing an agenda while also having some humor - both of which are hard to find these days.
it paints marx in a somewhat positive light so it'd be made easily enough, had it brought up marx insistence on bourgeoisie genocide etc then probably not.
@@animateyourpain5449 find a way to make pro capitalist media... the people would be confused.. Make Scrooge the good guy? A movie about a trust fund shitbag who rakes in billions while the people who make his money starve? Make a show that paints that in a good light. You cant. Closest youll get is some prageru bullshit thats full of lies. The capitalists will sell you the message of anti capitalism though...to profit and keep the masses complacent
Frederich Engels is a parody of Chico Marx. He blows the party horn, which is what Harpo would have done if he'd been here. Karl Marx is Groucho Marx. During the musical number, Engels sings the part that Zeppo originally sang in the song they're parodying, "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It."
Modern American conservatives: “Children’s cartoons are so fucking political now, it makes me sick! Cartoons back in the day were unpolitical and fun.” Children’s cartoons back in the day:
Here's something more accurate: "can you stop promoting your beliefs which I disagree with vehemently in our shows?" "No! You should be flattered for me to overstep these boundaries and challenge your beliefs with my own which are completely antithetical to yours seemingly out of spite!" Cartoons back then were far less partisan in their politics and you know it. You might be called dumb for disagreeing, or ignorant, but never an immoral person. New media shits on old values, old media just gave different perspective.
@@maximus4765 Which shows are promoting beliefs? Cartoon shows are maturing and treating children like they aren’t stupid. Spongebob Squarepants was pretty overt in its anti capitalism message, no one cares because it was before the cultural war shit.
@@hildaenjoyer8862 you say that but I guess as stalin would say useful idiots on the indoctrinated lol. Still is stupidity when not questioned and accept it's BS
Yeah, this is political . But it isn't biased like a lot of shows nowadays. They made fun of everyone back then . Now they just make fun of Orange Man, Columbus and no one else for fear of cancellation.
This is what kids should learn in school or even at home, this animation is neutral and only made in the name of education and not in blaming who's fault was it and who's more evils than whos
“Is it a misfortune that magnificent California was seized from the lazy Mexicans who didn’t know what to do with it?” Not gonna say who said this, but he’s featured prominently in this short.
Because he kinda was,im not saying he was a good man But his Idea could have kinda worked but Stalin,Mao,Pol Pot and Ho chi thought more about the Military and not the people
@@Apes_TogetherStrong"BuT tHatS CoMmUNiSM, NoT cAriNg AbOuT tHe PeOpLe, AlL cOmmUniSt ArE DiCtaToRs aNd ThEy WaNt MiLiTaRy DoMiNance, ThAtS CoMmUnIsM, Go baCk To scHOOl cOmmIe." --yanks
They also made fun of Stalin several times . In Animaniacs too. Pretty sure this is more of what Marx was pitching, not actual Marxism. It's like what they did with "Peace,Land and Bread," which directly forshadowed "The Sound Of Stalin."
@@s.i.m.poster6823 It's a distortion of what Marx claimed to have wanted. What most people don't know is that Marx knew full well that this system wasn't going to bring about a utopia for average people or workers, it was just a means to amass power by creating and exploiting a grievance.
I mean he wrote copious amounts of literature, and Engels supported him for that exact reason, so he technically worked, he just wasn't officially employed.
the most curious thing about marxism is the only countries which went communist on their own were feudal and agrarian. where there was only a upper and lower class rather than a middle.
Well, marx didn't really envision a working middle class. He states in the manifesto that all of history humanity had been divided by class, and now (mid 19th century) that there were only two classes. The emergence of a middle class was not expected for marx, and it happened due to some reforms within nations and companies that gave the workers rights. This was also at a time when countries were flagrantly nationalist and proud of it, so companies wouldn't just go to a new nation with cheaper labor to drive prices down and profits up (as they do now). The reason "communism" starts in so many agrarian or underdeveloped nations is because those places are the ones with stark class divides: land owners and laborers. Marx formed all his metaphors and examples around industrial labor, because he hated the captains of industry, but they were (even if unwillingly) the reason the middle class formed. Industrial society effectively solved the issue addresses by marx. However the opposite is true of farmers, who's lives are a bad harvest away from losing everything, or going into debt with the banks. If a factory fails, it's assets are sold to other factories, and it dissolves. If a farm fails, it's bought by the rich but the farmers stay. That's why communist strikes in industry are usually resolved by unions or reform, but agrarian societies end up rebelling.
@@Robb1977huh. This is really darn interesting to me, I never even made the connection! I gotta wonder though, with the stark divides being between land owners and laborers, if simple Georgism (something as basic as Land Value Tax) would resolve such an issue? I’m unaware of any place that’s gone straight to LVT as an answer, though I doubt without an immediate pushback against the already ruling landowners that anything could be done.
sadly the joke about Marx owing everyone money and living at Engels expense isnt really a joke. Dude was "for the workers" but never did a bit of "heavy lifting" himself.
Well what do you expect? He was a capitalistic writer who was HIRED by the Communist party to write their manifesto, and got paid to do so. He HIMSELF was out for profit, So Ironically, Karl Marx himself wasn't a "marxist" - No wonder it never works.
I feel like I had an out-of-body experience. Some fun, additional educational points: -Marx and Engels never saw a *hammer and sickle* like that. Though now practically synonymous with Communism, the hammer and sickle as a symbol was only invented in Russia after WW1. -*Whoever claimed Communism was about equality? Certainly not Marx!* Two perfectly equal individuals would be the same individual. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need," and all that; nothing about equality of outcomes. Part of this widespread misconception may originate with the conflation in Western countries of capitalistic welfare and social spending with socialism so that people assume the focus of Marx and Engels was reducing unfairness at the point of exchange.
@@YoniIsrael I massively over-thought this, because my brain want straight to the idea that early "Russians" were a blend of Slavic natives and Nordic colonists.
Well jee I wonder why Not that I’m a commie in particular (not that I’ve read much Marx at all either) but I doubt a cartoon could get the ideas across accurately
I mean they can say that it is educational but there were so many thing that they got wrong, literally the very first thing was wrong, marxism is not a way of organizing a state, i a way of studying and seeing things, it can be called historical materialism too, both have the objective of looking at history/arts/religion/etc from a materialist point of view, so they really got it wrong from the start
Because it's easier to paint him as a malicious psychopath than actually address his critiques of Capitalism. You'll notice none of the Marx haters explain *why* Marx didn't like Capitalism, just that Communism was bad. To directly address that question is to expose yourself to Marx's most powerful arguments. This is why he has posthumously been turned into a cheerleader for the Soviet Union rather than a critic of Capitalism. They don't want people to understand labor exploitation, the origin of profit, and the role of imperialism.
His ideas never worked. That's why. A half of whole Eastern Europe was communistic. And where are thy all now? They embraced capitalism again, as the only working economic ideology
I have no recollection of this episode at all, and I used to watch this show a ton. I imagine it must've been banned or something like that Tiny Toons episode where Buster, Plucky, and Hampton get drunk.
To everyone saying this should be shown to kids in school, I have some bad news for ya. I was a social studies teacher and I can tell you for a fact that not only will most kids find this boring and pay it no attention, but the kids who do won't understand a thing. Kids' comprehension skills are horrible nowadays. I swear I try to explain the same concept five different ways and they'll just look at me like I grew two heads. I quit teaching because not only are kids straight up abusive to their teachers, but it also feels like I'm accomplishing as much with my life as I would be if I were talking to a bunch of rocks. I tried showing a bunch of different educational videos to kids that the comments sections seemed to suggest kids would like, but it seems that they only like them because they aren't being required to watch it for school. The same thing they would learn about on their own they refuse to learn about in school. I don't know what makes them so stubborn about it, either. I guess it's because at home there's no accompanying worksheet or open-ended question to answer, but that's how you demonstrate you learned something. It's one thing to watch this video and enjoy it, but can you then explain in your own words what Marxism is? That's what I need to see as the teacher.
i think its odd how they couldnt find someone that could do a german accent or has one for karl marx its very disturbing to hear him speak in an american accent
whats hilarious was marx failed to understand what capitalism even is. Owning your own business and making more than your workers does not make you a capitalist. It makes you an industrialist entrepreneur, something Marx actually did respect in the form of Engels. Capitalism is using your money/capital in an investment for someone else to use to grow their enterprise and in exchange they either grant you interest or growth of your investment or partial ownership or both. In a sense, Capitalism is the ability to earn money purely because you already have money, and not because you did any work. Engels grew his company through leadership and hard work, something anyone should be able to respect and in fact, thats how 99 of business have historically been run. And infact, an economy without capital investment is whats known as a market economy and is what existed prior to the concept of shares, stocks, and bonds. Again, capitalism is the ability to make your money earn more money for you by lending out. Thats what capitalism is, and its a far more abstract concept to market economies. Marx failed to grasp that as do most communists. Instead of being anticapitalist, they became anti market. Which is why their economic system has never survived into a prosperous state
Not a Russian accent, an Italian accent. The entire joke of this segment is that it's a reenactment of the opening to Horse Feathers, with Chico Marx as Friedrich Engels, and Groucho Marx as Karl Marx.
It's so weird they portrayed Engels like that. He was rather skinny and was on par with Marx academically, wirting many important marxist books himself. Oh well I shouldn't expect too much historical accuaracy from an American kid's cartoon.
they do....just look around. Although it's made for kids to understand, not adults. Kids are already being tought that a women can love another women and that there are over 90 sex's
@@bobblyslobbly1658 it's a stateless, classless society, but not everyone is necessarily "equal". I'd say the transition to communism def reduces inequality tho. It always seemed more about ending capitalist exploitation and imperialism. Even in the Soviet Union different jobs paid different, but everyone was at least guaranteed an actual living.
@@bobblyslobbly1658 Nah. People naturally have unequal abilities and needs. To meet different needs requires some inequality. The point is the maximisation of freedom, making it so people don't have to worry about meeting market demands to develop as individuals and communities.
He also believed that guns shouldn't be taken away and that the people should be well armed. Mind you this was the time where we began to create our modern weapons and he was probably for the people having them. Yeah that Apache and freebrams, he says you can have it.
But that idea is decontestualized, he wanted people to be armed so they can revolt against the state and expropriate the means of production, that's very different from the american idea of gun ownership
I love how Marx is shown to just take the money of the people he claims to fight for. Fun fact, guy never shared his wealth, not even once for as long as he lived.
Because he wasn't living under socialism?? He was a supporter of the distribution of wealth based on one's abilities according to one's needs, not charity. But sure whatever I guess he's a hypocrite because you said so.
Marx never had any wealth to share. He lived in poverty most of his life because writing about political theory doesn't really bring a pay check. He sacrificed so much for what he believed in. He was a political refugee that fled country to country to escape persecution. That man dedicated his whole life to his work. Regardless what you think about his ideas, you have to admit he had an admirable life
Marxism is not "people should give away their money". That's the capitalist misrepresentation of Marxism. Giving away your money under capitalism is not what communism is. Marx didn't have money to give. What he could give was his writing, and obviously people were happy to give him money in order for him to do so. Why does that not count as "earning" money? And why should he demand money in excess that he needed just so he could give it back to others? Makes no sense
Before any of u say this is a very educational and straight forward look at the history of communism I want u to imagine them doing a song regarding the founding of fascism in the same colorful and vibrantly funny way this song was presented and then come back to me
*pushes glasses up* well actually according to my degree at Wiki-peDia I... completely forgot about this episode. This was the end of the cartoon blitz for us Gen X'ers, such a clever cartoon, learned a lot early on from it.
Well my original comment blew up, guess it’s time for a sequel: "Being in his [Paul LaFargue] quality as a n***er, a degree nearer to the rest of the animal kingdom than the rest of us, he is undoubtedly the most appropriate representative of that district." This was said by a different guy featured in this short.
