THE SPECTRE OF MARXISM (VC1018)

[From the description in the library catalogue:]   "Film uses on-site photography, archive footage, graphics and special effects to provide a critical reappraisal of the Communist Manifesto and Marxist doctrine in theory and practice. It suggests that while the teachings of Marx have been successfully used to rally workers to revolt, his form of socialism has never been put into practice. (47 minutes) General note: Thames Television production; written and narrated by Stuart Hall; copyright [1953?]"

Note that the group putting this out were British Trotskyists. This is important in understanding why they recognized the existence of a class system in the Soviet Union, a system put in place by Stalin.

The copyright date of 1953 seems very improbable.  Still, the film was clearly made well before 1989-1991 and the collapse of the USSR and the Soviet bloc.  What I want you to notice is how prescient the producers were:  what they say will happen to the USSR did in fact happen and for the reasons they point out.

Important concepts:

• surplus value
• exploitation / expropriation
• social class
• form of life [defined in Marx "in the last instance" by the economic system]
• liberation [as the end of any class system]
• class consciousness [and its role in liberation]

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