Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Will's (Wizard) Wednesday Week Nine - Communism and Corey

      This week is gonna be a little different folks. In response to Mr. Hewett’s comment on calling our dear commish who is a very just, democratic man “Karl Mark:.”

…Where to begin?

      Karl MARX was born in Frier, Germany in 1818. The man’s social theories and constructs have been argued and condemned truly like no other in history. Before we get into his ideas, context must be laid as to what led him to believe what he did. Born between two revolution, he utilized the hatred for the excess of France to fuel support for his fundamental principles. It appears the impact of these revolutionary wars brought Marx towards the justification of established order in society.

      The main reason Marx is so important is because of the political philosophy that he developed, appropriately dubbed Marxism and commonly called Communism. Marx’s goal was to spiritually release mankind by freeing him of his social chains. Marx’s interests in economics started when he wrote two famous essays on the position of Eifel peasants and Moselle vinegrowers. He was also very interested by the labor movement, which the effects of were just becoming apparent. As talk about communist ideas first began to rise, Marx was reserved about his opinions. In spite of his reservations, Marx heavily researched the contemporary French literature on socialism and Communism, and in 1843 moved to Paris, the heart of the revolutionary movement. While in Paris, one of the most important events of his stay occurred, his meeting with Friedrich Engels. 

      “This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and collaboration of the founders of scientific socialism.” (Leonhard 5)

      Basically Marx and Engels became a think tank duo for socialism and began creating organizations for their ideas. Their goal was to create a society in which the members were free of exploitation, oppression, and class struggles. Ultimate equality of opportunity and outcome was the goal, as opposed to the American idea of equal opportunity but completely unequal outcome. This eventually led to the publishing of Karl Marx’ most famous book “The Communist Manifesto” in which he outlined all these beliefs along with his sociological constructs. Social Conflict theory is one of these constructs; it states that society is basically broken up into the haves and have-nots. The have-nots (workers) are basically oppressed by the haves (bosses) and invokes a sense of rebellion against the haves, interest aye my fellow have-nots of this league?

      Interestingly, despite all the communist governments that have risen and fallen over the years, none of which Marx was alive to see, none of them have followed Marx’s ideal theories. The notable communist leaders that rose and fell Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong, all actually did not listen to him in one way or another. Marx believed that a Communist takeover could only occur in peaceful transition because a classless society would need an economically sound base. There would need to be a peaceful transition, unfortunately none of the actual Communist leaders agreed. Stalin especially had it all wrong, he believed in oppressing the S**T out of his people making sure they didn’t act against his totalitarian dictatorship. In China, Mao Zedong attempted to transfer the ideas of Marx to Chinese conditions but he could not account for the requirement of a fiscally sound and economically advanced society, and he also failed.  

BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

      Well folks this was not only a history lesson for Corey, who clearly spent way too much time deciding that drafting Alfred Morris was a good idea and not enough time studying for his social science classes. But I feel that this should also be a lesson to the entire league; maybe it is time for a peaceful transition in our league? Maybe if some trades don’t go through by the end of the year?

      Maybe a non-competing commissioner, to avoid any and all trade and rule biases, should govern us?  Maybe a man who has very little football experience should be elected, as to spice things up? Maybe we should elect a man who literally couldn’t catch water if you poured it into his hands while he was wearing his Arizona Cardinals gloves?

Rob Housler for Commish 2014

Will Brown is the author of Wills Wizard Wednesday and is actually a capitalist and lost to a woman in fantasy football once.


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