• GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    15 days ago

    Sorry to spam you with nitpicks, but I do feel obliged to say that while Einstein was certainly a socialist and spoke very well of Lenin and even Stalin, I don’t think we have evidence of him having a specific and cultivated political ideology that fit a label like “Marxism.” I think he was more of a generic humanist who appreciated what his Marxist contemporaries were doing.

    Incidentally, how did Marx borrow from Proudhon? I fully only know of Proudhon through Discourse about concerning material he wrote and that quote about, ironically, wishing for a future where he would be executed as a conservative.

    • PolandIsAStateOfMind
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      15 days ago

      how did Marx borrow from Proudhon?

      He read Proudhon and using his work as the base of critique he worked his own theory up. Poverty of Philosophy was a major milestone in Marx theory and one of the predecessors of Capital.

    • Cowbee [he/him]
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      15 days ago

      I don’t think we have evidence of him having a specific and cultivated political ideology that fit a label like “Marxism.”

      This could be a stretch in your opinion, but the way Einstein describes wishing for central planning in Why Socialism? it’s evident to me that he is working off of Marxist ideas, even if we don’t consider him to be a “true believer” or anything.

      Incidentally, how did Marx borrow from Proudhon?

      Less borrow, more influence and shape. Marx was as much influenced by good thought as thought he disagreed with, which he elaborates on in The Poverty of Philosophy, just like he was with Adam Smith.