Talk:Marxist Socialism

Article Checklist for "Marxist Socialism"

Workgroup category or categories	Economics Workgroup, Politics Workgroup, Sociology Workgroup [Categories OK]
Article status	Developing article: beyond a stub, but incomplete
Underlinked article?	No
Basic cleanup done?	Yes
Checklist last edited by	Guru2001 12:25, 27 March 2007 (CDT)

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This article is bad.

I hate to say it, but this article is really bad. Truly awful.

First, it's badly titled. The article is about a particular strain of thought in the economic analysis of capitalism (as is emphasised in the article), but the title implies a theory of the function of a socialist society, or an analysis of the implementation of socialism.

Second, it starts right into the attacks on the status quo, without even clearly explaining what status quo is being described - the status quo of existing political-economic systems, or the status quo of economic theory. Then it digresses into a ramble about revolutions and the impracticality of the systems proposed by the (non-Marxist) revolutionaries, then announces the publication of Capital. However, rather than describing how Capital contributed to economic thought, it immediately moves on to the improvements and extensions of Marx's theory, and starts describing the endlessly tedious factionalism of marxist scholars.

There is finally some description of Marx's economic theory, but first it's preceded by a short history which includes a gratuitous dig at claims that the results of Marxism in practice are consequences of Marxism in theory. However, the description discusses Smith and Ricardo's labor theories of value, and ends with a textbook-like admonition that understanding Ricardo is important to understanding Marx. Meanwhile, almost no explanation of what Marx actually thought is ever provided.

Anthony Argyriou 19:37, 27 March 2007 (CDT)