Who's Afraid of Marx? 

"We are living in a material world, and I am a material girl" - Marx, probably

DeSantis a lawyer of Guantánamo wanting a law to teach "atrocities of communism" mandatory is the most US thing ever

As someone with adhd, the goal of being able to not just do one thing forever would be amazing.

The moment you said “it’s like you saying your boss needs you more than you” I began to think “Am I a communist?” because I’ve been saying that to all my coworkers for months. “They can’t fire us all” is what I tend to strengthen my argument but maybe I should lean more on the “Fuck it let’s be communist” 😂😂

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Marx is misunderstood; really getting his ideas requires reading books.

The most ironic thing about politicians spouting off about the dangers of communism is that within the first few pages of the communist manifesto, Marx and Engels talk about politicians who spout off about the dangers of communism. It truly is prophetic

I was watching this while thinking about the Reddit Blackout death cycle. It really puts into perspective how the value isn't the site itself, but created by passionate volunteers who make a community and site worth visiting. Trying to extract money from the people who create capital in a misguided effort to make it more profitable is the literal death knell of every social platform.

95% of those who criticize Marx have read about 0-5% of what he wrote. I have yet to come across a good faith, thorough, and accurate repudiation of Marx, likely because when you actually read and absorb what he says, you realize, “Oh, wait, he’s right about that, and that, and that, and that…”

"Marxism" and "Woke" are the two words in the US that have completely lost all meaning

Imagine being afraid of a guy who slept on his friends couch cause he was reading a bunch of Economic books and going "Yoooo that's messed up!"

The biggest misconception about Marx is that he was anticapitalist. He could be better describe as a post capitalist. He recognized the benefits capitalism over feudalism and that it catapulted the industrial revolution. He thought that after capitalism sufficient development it would not be necessary and the surplus of production could be socialized once the productive forces were developed enough.

Old man Karl has been dead for 142 years and he's still seen as a mortal enemy of the Capitalist class. I think he would be pleased. Marx critique of Capitalism is deep and inescapable and he will be relevant for as long as this system exist.

I got so blown away the first time I read “philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it”.

Marxism: you're worth more than what your boss is paying you Society: NO we're not Socialist: this is why we can't have nice things 🤦🏼‍♀️

I was working as a machine operator making cooling systems for like airplanes, trucks, etc and just one piece of the 75-100 I made in a workday ranged anywhere from $500 - $2k dollars in value. I made $17/hr. For a 12 hour workday even before taxes I couldn't afford to buy just one of those pieces. Can't even afford a 1/1 bedroom anywhere near where I work. This is a good system and I see no flaws with it. 🥴

In Vietnam, we learn about both Karl Marx and Adam Smith's economic philosophies to gain a better understanding from different perspectives. While it's important to acknowledge the negative consequences of communism, it often prevents people from recognizing the flaws in capitalism.

I saw a Wisecrack video about Marx not being a scary monster and I got worried that it would be a socdem/libsoc -esque repudiation of 90% of real-world Marxist revolutionary projects (somehow Cuba manages to avoid a lot of that energy), but I had enough faith in Michael to remain cautiously optimistic. I was not disappointed. This is getting saved to show to folks who flinch at words like “Marxist” and “communism” but are still willing to engage in good-faith dialogue. Excellent breakdown.

Marxism is probably the most amorphous term in our political landscape. It can be used as a means to vilify anything and everything.

Marx really helped me in fundamentally shifting my understanding of labor and recreation. Humans actually enjoy doing things, even under capitalism we do volunteer work, domestic work, and hobbies. In a world where all activities are done voluntarily and not under the threat of losing food and shelter the divides between work and play become more blurry. Labor often feels so draining because we are not doing it fully consensually, and this has been normalized for so much of our recent history.

One thing I recall hearing is that, a terrifying 'boogeyman' of capitalism that Marx feared was those with money, trying to use money to assign value to something, thus completely undermining the very value of 'work' and a prime example of that is something we are seeing them trying to do now! NFT's.

I read Kapital a few years ago after reading The Wealth of Nations. Huge parts of it felt like the same book. I realized how propagandized I'd been against his work afterward. It didn't line up with what I'd been taught at all. I wouldn't call myself a Marxist, but it definitely influenced the way I look at the world, government, institutions, etc

To understand marx you need first to understand capitalism. So far no one(in the USA) seems to do any of that.

I just finished reading “Why Marx was Right” by Terry Eagleton and it’s actually an amazing book for anyone who wants a fun quick read that’s well researched and does well at debunking some of the most common falsehoods, myths and misconceptions about Marxism and communism.

I love the simple and straightforward way this was explained! It completely shuts down all those silly arguments about how "cultural marxism" is coming for the children lmfao. My university classes in which Marx was taught were some of the best I've had. When it 'clicks' for people, they see the world completely different, and it's amazing to watch happen.

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” ― George Orwell

I agree with Marx that the ideal we should strive for is to give people more freedom to just be... people. How close we can get to that ideal, and how we get there, is what I'm unsure of.

Worth pointing out that so many works remained incomplete in Marx’s life because of how active he was as a journalist and political organiser. Opponents will say he never worked a day in his life, but work was a huge part of why his literature was largely published and completed posthumously

It is so challenging to learn anything about Marxism. Not what others say about Marxism. -- I highly suggest people read Marx, Engels, and at least Lenin directly.

Always frustrated at getting called a sheep by people who have completely bought in to the capitalist grift

I'm happy I managed to scroll down the comments for a while without finding people having a complete meltdown over an honest portrayal of Marx's ideas. Great job, as usually!

Some theory reading suggestions to get started: 1. The Principles of Communism - Friederich Engels 2. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific - Friederich Engels 3. Wage Labour and Capital - Karl Marx 4. Value, Price and Profit - Karl Marx 5. Critique of the Gotha Program - Karl Marx Bonus material: 6. State and Revolution - Vladimir Lenin 7. Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism - Vladimir Lenin

The moment you mentioned turning flax into Linen into coats, I started to get Kapital PTSD.

I feel like most of the people today who use "Marxism" as a scare word have never bothered to even open one of Marx's books

LOL! While watching this video, at little over the halfway point, I was shown an advertisement for a book by the economist Thomas Sowell - one of the most strident opponents of Marxism, and someone who demonizes nearly all aspects of modern culture as stemming from Marxism. You got to love the RU-vid algorithm.

I like how you worked the most notorious meme from Das Kapital into the video without triggering the mandatory eye glaze phenomenon when reading about quantities of bolts of fabric and the transformative properties of labor.

Marx's biggest haters are those who haven't read a single line

Somewhere Marx defines his method, dialetics, as inherently critical and revolutionary. I love to think of a theory that dictates its own limits and transcendence, a continuous movement that captures the real world in its reflection and is never complete but always completing. ps. would love a video on dialetics, recommend immensely the Brazilian author Alvaro Vieira Pinto!

Marx wouldn't want for the Wisecrack Team to own the Channel, he would want the team to own RU-vid.

Great video, love the break downs of the various philosophy topics you all cover

Forget the profit. Most businesses take years to break even. It costs money and takes risk to start a business.

Could Marx help us understand the world we are living in? Yes.

Marx recognized that capitalist labor was making people less free. His goal was greater equality, not less. Keep in mind he's writing in the middle of England's Industrial Revolution, just after England abolished slavery. As such, the awareness of exploited labor was pretty poignant (hence: the Revolutions of 1848) . Everyone agreed wage labor looked pretty similar to slavery (their own comparison, not mine) but they thought the creation of labor-saving machines and new technology would make people MORE equal, spoiler...it did the opposite.

One thing I must hard disagree on Marx is the end of specialization. I don't want someone who spends most of their time at a rabbit shelter to operate on me nor do I want someone to be on an airplane with a jack-of-all trades.

Great video as always!! Given the recent events I’d love to see you make a video about the titanic submersible accident and the public’s response to it. Like how the lens of class frames our moral response to such a tragedy

In the mid 2010’s The School of Life introduced a lot of people to Marxism. Unintentionally inspiring a lot of people to actually read Marxist theory like Das Kapital, putting a good number of people on a path to become class conscious today especially after events that came after 2016. Now today in 2023 people have this (far superior) Wisecrack video to introduce them to Marxism. Here’s hope this will lead many young people to be inspired to actually read Marx’s work.

"Bougie bitches gonna bouge."-Marx To clarify, this is from his sophomore album, known most commonly as Das No Cap. But a true fan like me knows that it was originally titled The Grundrisse, a Critique of Dat Ass. It was his last good album. After DNC, he started getting really commercial. Dude sold out hard.

Great video! Could you consider making a video on the criticism Marx suffered (from both Marxists and non-Marxists) about his industrialism and alleged lack of perspective on environmentalism? This notion has been revisited nowadays with the (relatively) recent publishing of some of his texts, with authors like Kohei Saito showing that Marx actually did have consideration for (some proto) environmentalism and that part of the issue was that Engels did not understand/share his viewpoints, and he was the one responsible for editing and publishing Das Kapital. Anyway, just a suggestion.

The editor’s graphics this episode were particularly funny. Also, lots of Trotsky… that’s cool.

I'm really digging all the comments already calling the video wrong when it hasn't even been uploaded long enough to be watched.

Remember, when in the Disney cartoon series "Recess" basecall cards became a currency and T.J. became a Tycoon by letting others do his work, but gave them less cards than he got in return? Yeah, if you can understand that episode, you understand the Capital.

this is, no joke, one of the best introductory videos to Marxism (and even communism as it explicitly not being "state owns everything") I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few by people with multiple political motives

Really solid intro video, you should do more stuff like this… if you’re able to of course lol

I have to commend you Wisecrack, Its a noble thing to use your platform to inform people about this subject. The youtube algorithm is merciless and a big channel like yours clearing propaganda is worthy of praise. Keep it up comrades

Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

That was really well done. Thank you.

this was an awesome video essay. i needed this.

I'm happy with the direction this channel is taking.

“The hellish vapours rise and fill the brain Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed See this sword? The prince of darkness sold it to me For me he beats the time and gives the signs. Ever more boldly, I play the dance of death.” -Marx Guy also knew how to write poetry.

Thanks wisecrack for that valueable content. One question, could you include a literature reference list in the description ?

The premise that capitalism is a zero sum game is wrong.

“Editors note: wait a minute…” absolutely killed me

There’s a spectre haunting Europe…who you gonna call?

I think Marx is worth studying, and even if I disagree with some of his conclusions I respect the insight he had into how he analysed the economic structures of his time. Much of what he said back then still does apply to today. My issue isn't necessarily with Marx, it's with the people who came after. And although modern day communists and socialists will swear up and down that they are NOT like the Soviets, or the Khmer Rouge or Maoist China.... they tend to use the same language, flags and symbols, which sort of generates suspicion. You'd think if their real goal was to convince people to become communist or socialist, they'd do away with the symbols that were often used by some very bad societies, but curiously, they don't. They also refuse to update their jargon and their language - instead insisting that everyone else learn new definitions. I often get the feeling that the communists and the hard-core socialists almost don't want to win. They're so invested in being the "misunderstood, downtrodden outsiders struggling against the ignorant masses and their evil masters" that genuine understanding and better PR would actually damage their moral. If they made their concepts more accessible and easily understood, they'd probably be mortified because then they couldn't pretend they were intellectually superior to "the sheep". It's hard to take a communist seriously when they say "We're NOTHING like the USSR" when they're waving around a sickle and hammer flag and shouting "COMRADE". If you don't want people to think that.... maybe stop doing those things? But if the actual goal is to wrap yourselves in the aesthetics of the movement and gain "outsider cred", then by all means, keep on using terms and symbols that many don't understand, or detest. Because I have the sneaking suspicion that for many communists, being effective isn't really the goal. Feeling good about being a "revolutionary" is the actual goal.

I'm a UX Researcher, UX & Game designer, & creative content writer. I'm a High Functioning Autistic Savant! I've been studying game & UX design for almost 20 years! I have a lot of knowledge & understanding about how a lot of things work because my whole job is to essentially use meta data to manipulate & control how you're feeling to give you the experience you want. I have been listening to what EVERYONE in EVERY field of art has been saying, complaining about, & hoping for. Not only that but listening to ALL OF YOU!!! Then I decided to build a company around what was needed! Based on what EVERYONE was LITERALLY asking & hoping for. It's not your average entertainment company! It's an entertainment production company designed as a UNION with a PUNK theme! But everyone is caught in this negative feedback loop that's forcing EVERYONE TO EXPERIENCE BURNOUT! I'm going to try to explain this simply. So, we all know that corporations use the money WE give them to bend the laws into their favour. When we protest these things they normally don't last long & are done in short bursts. They know that they'll win no matter what cause at the end of the day, your only option is to give the lesser of evils your money. There isn't a "Good Corporation" to be an option. They know this is a negative feedback loop to make people feel burned out & demotivation. Here are the steps in how they did this. Okay, so, get this: A.) They trigger burnout. It's a Demotivational feeling that you get when you're feeling overwhelmed as a survival mechanism to get you to not take on too much for you to handle & force you to recharge your batteries. B.) The compounding consistent psychology that's used on you every day is destroying your decision-making energies. Your brain uses mushrooms & sugar as fuel for your mental processing & growth. That's why kids love sugar SO MUCH & why you slowly lose your sweet-tooth over the years cause your brain fully matures just before 30 years old. C.) A part of you knows that your money is going to help the creators that produce your favourite entertainment. The other part knows that you're giving money to your oppressors. These are subconsciously battling cause you want to be a good person naturally & you're being forced to choose the lesser of evils. It's been proven that morally difficult choices drain us the most. D.) Everyone uses game theory subconsciously to try & better their outcomes. We have to survive cause of how much harder things are getting because of big corporations making things harder for us. This means our brains have to work harder to survive & stay alive. E.) Because money is required for survival, you feel bad subconsciously about getting something & then not using it. It takes a while for that to build enough to get to the surface. You feel like you've wasted your money cause you didn't use it optimally. F.) Because money is required for survival you feel like you HAVE to get it, keep it, & only use it properly which then makes you even more exhausted cause you have to work awful jobs to survive just to give your money back to the corporations making things awful to begin with. G.) Then we start to isolate ourselves in some way, shape, or form cause we feel like we aren't doing enough & don't deserve to do something that makes us happier, not realizing that you need that stuff for survival as well, cause big corporations have tricked you into thinking that happiness & joy should be your rewards that only come after something else is given or after you have sacrificed something important for it. H.) Because we starve ourselves of the things we enjoy cause we feel like we don't deserve it or are too busy for it, we get burnt out even more. This creates a negative feedback loop & environment that stops people from being able to fully function to their best. To stop us from getting "too motivated to take action". To drain us of our energy & have no interest in making a change cause we have to keep doing this our lose everything while we're already slowly losing everything. I.) This is what they want because then you'll not be interested in revolting or starting a REVOLUTION cause of how much work would be required when you're already too burnt out to read. J.) Then not only that, because money is so important to survival people will reject anything that could threaten their survival. Like starting a union or revolution cause things will be different afterward & your already stressed & drained brain doesn't want to "make a gamble on the future when you're already struggling". K.) People wouldn't even give a single dollar to something like that, even though it would help them in the long run. Even though they know they won't actually be affected negatively by $1 at that time, or $1 a month ($12 a year), or even share it with others cause of how afraid it will work & put their survival at risk cause they don't know how they would fit into a new world or system. L.) Big Corporations use the data YOU make for them every day against you to make sure YOU'RE always losing so they can desperately keep that power. M.) That power is YOUR money. If you had a different option or helped create a new & good entertainment corporation & entertainment industry, even if it was passive support, you would start to feel much better & less hopeless. You would start doing the things you loved doing. You would feel less stressed out about the future. We give them our money cause we don't have a choice. They use that money to abuse power & bend the laws into their favour to oppress us. When we protest they use their money to control the cops. Cops have to listen to the corporations & their rules. The ones that make those rules are the creators of the corporations. If we create the corporations, we make the rules, & get the same protection as them. We would be able to throw our money around like they do. Do you think that they're going to start an unpeaceful protest if there's a CEO in front of the protesters willing to sue them into the ground for each person they touched? We could sponsor protests & give money to local shops & farmers to host extremely long protests! We could win if everyone came together to create & supported a brand-new entertainment corporation willing to go out of their way to protect our rights. Even if they don't have content to give us immediately, wouldn't donating $1 a month be worth it to invest in our future & create the future that WE want! We can't do a bloody revolution in today's era of information & technology! That's unrealistic & we would lose too many lives. But staying connected to each other has never been easier! Everyone keeps calling Capitalism a game. Well, they're right! But what they don't understand is that we're a generation of GAMERS! We came together to save GameStop. We can come together to do this. I know it sounds like a LOT of work. But I have already been putting in that work! I have been collecting information & solutions to build a new foundation & framework based on modern mathematically proven to work plans & methods for 20 years! I have been building a company that'll produce content & helps others produce & protect their content for 10 years! I have been going at it alone for too long. I need help. I NEED SUPPORT. The revolution might not look how anyone expected it but it's here. This is what it looks like. It's our money & we decide our future with it. Every choice counts & matters. People like Dwayne McDuffie walked so people like me could run. I just need time to cook. I'm just some rebellious, nerdy, autistic, punk, gamer who is done with how everything works. Who is done suffering in this dungeon that awful people designed before I even had a right to vote. I'm ready to see the light. I know that there are other dungeon punks, just like me, who are ready to make some noise. But, I'm not reaching them. No one is taking me seriously. No one is listening to me cause I'm poor, disabled, not perfect, & not extremely well-established. Every time I hit a setback I either lose all of my work or go homeless. How can I actually accomplish this alone since I can't get people to help me & support me while I put in the work others aren't trying to do? I have built up a massive lineup of content that needs work but has storylines, characters of all representations, & more to replace niches that people are going to want to be filled. I have collected data & plans. But I can't get anyone to help me. How do I get people who are willing to give as little as $1 to this cause without tricking & manipulating them? Republicans are trying to remove child labor laws. They are trying to bring back segregation which will tear my family apart. tRump is planning on running for office again & has a legitimate chance of winning. What company is going to go out of its way to stop this from happening? You can find more information about all the content & company under the name Oblivion Oddities Project Studios.

"I never said that" - Karl Marx

Marx was a scientist, economics, and philosopher. I feel that he's one of the most misunderstood people in history.

"Who's afraid of Marx?" Engels' wallet.

Try read “the Jewish question” by Marx. Everything will start to unravel.

Strange that all of these GOP politicians don’t believe in the 2nd amendment like Karl Marx did.

The more I learn about Marx, the more I want a world that might resemble his vague ideas about the world.

We value democracy so much. But more than half of our waking hours are spent in a regime where voting and democracy is just not a thing.

the US proletariat almost did band together to overthrow the bourgeoisie during the great depression

Sounds like every RU-vid channel should reform as a worker's co-operative loudly and in a way that inspires future creators and entrepreneurs to follow suit.

Thanks, Burns. Thanks, Tom. Thanks, Editor; you're the real star of the channel.

Fantastic video !!

The biggest problme with Marx is that the value of the product is given by the same people, not by the burgueses. By knowing that, the whole Marx theory falls apart.

Wisecrack getting more and more based with every upload

Thank you, Wisecrack! And I like that you included Malta in the stock footage

Marx and Lenin. Flax and Linen. There's a joke here somewhere but I'm not quite clever enough...

radicalize the youth wisecrack please someones gotta do it

Marx is the monster we need, comrades.

Definitely one of my favorite Wisecrack videos and one of the best basic discussions of Marx I've seen on youtube. I think one implication of these ideas (at least as I understand them) could have been made explicit in the video: using Marx as a tool for understanding the current situation, with the goal of making things better for everyone, will necessarily lead to a politics of revolution. That does not necessarily mean a Leninist or Maoist style revolution. But it certainly means radically altering society so that the powerful are stripped of power. And they won't be too likely to go along with the change happily. So they will do everything they can to co-opt and distract us (which I think is a major reason so much of modern pop culture, journalism, and politics work the way they do). But if that fails, crushing violence by the capitalist state will be directed against anyone who advocates for change -- as history from the German revolution to the Black Panthers shows so clearly. We need to be figuring out ways to deal with that.

Cold War and the Red Scare sure worked wonders in the US, and also here in Operation Condor lands. We don't want another one, please guys

I. Love. Work. It’s really all I want. No need for this “human time.” Sounds like a terrible waste of time, and it could increase the terrifying idea of “feeling feelings.” Egads. What a nightmare. Hard pass.

Love these in-depth raw philosophy, keep them coming!!!

Amazing video! Hasta la vitoria sempre!

Most people I seen critiquing Marx including myself, don’t know what he actually proposes

Thanks Wisecrack, this is a great video. I come from a family that is usually receptive to new ideas. It has been interesting compared to my partner's family, who are very successful business people. Her father recently explained to her brother that unions are a good thing, because they can help the individual increase their own capital. Initially her brother was anti-union because he interpreted it as being "communist". Hopefully more people can see this video and become aware of how Marx's ideas can benefit society and not just be used to create a totalitarian hell.

"my hermise got the whole mine running so efficiently, all the labor was done by one Australian man" One of my fave lines from that episode

7:48 For me, one of the best practical demonstrations of this is when I ask people if the government has the purpose to serve the ones who elect it. We all know that, in practice, this is definitively not a priority.

You guys should do something about the work of Frantz Fanon, I think it would be a good sequence to this video :)

Thank you for providing an actual explanation of the term "Marxism" to an audience that has been spoonfed anticommunist propaganda for decades. The reason Marxism is currently being vilified much more is that the bourgeoisie is afraid. And for good reason. We're still here. And we outnumber them a million to one.

Well, it's pretty important to see that Communist states are different from what Marx envisioned in the same way that an officially Christian nation is different from what Christ preached.

Really good video!

The moment I became a communist was the moment I learned what it actually was

I've occasionally used "everything is a co-op" to describe Marxism and how it's different from the totalitarian communism we've seen various countries implement.

When can we embrace Marxism and finally live in the startrek time line.

this is all well and good, and all i wanna know now is where that shirt came from. it's cool

I've heard a lot of bullies turn out to be kids that are very well off and have too much self esteem rather than poor self esteem and a broken home... That does still happen for sure though

the editor having a "wait a second" moment is both funny and kinda dark lol