You Have to Read This Hilarious Quote About Karl Marx From 2005

I was randomly reading WikiQuote’s entry on Karl Marx (because I totally have a life) and in the section of quotes about Marx, came across this absolute gem.

“All of Marx’s major predictions have turned out to be wrong. He said that societies based on a market economy would suffer spiraling class polarization and the disappearance of the middle class. Every society lucky enough to enjoy the fruits of a market economy shows that Marx was wrong about that. He predicted the growing immiseration and impoverishment of the working class in capitalist societies. The opposite has happened.”

This is from a 2005 article by Roger Kimball called Leszek Kolakowski and the Anatomy of Totalitarianism.

It’s funny because you might say now that “All of Kimball’s major assertions have turned out to be wrong.”

Spiraling class polarization? Check.

Disappearance of the middle class? Check.

Growing immiseration and impoverishment of the working class? Check.

I am so tired of people who haven’t bothered to ever pick up anything Marx ever wrote acting smug and superior because capitalism hasn’t fallen yet.  These things take time, people.  Be patient.

I reached out to Roger Kimball for comment, but he has been buried beneath a mountain of salt since December 2007 and thus did not respond.

Karl Marx: 1

Roger Kimball: 0