Comment by moocowduckquack | Hacker News Reader

Comment by moocowduckquack | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

moocowduckquack

Personally I don't agree with Marx a lot (I'm more of a Groucho Marxist and am therefore not allowed to join any club that would have me as a member), but I do have Marxist family members and know a fair amount of what it is and what it is not. India is definitely not an example of a Marxist state.

edit - Folk keep framing stuff in the economic dogma-battles of the superpowers in the 19th and 20th century, but to me the problem is 14th century economics combined with 21st century logistics. Retaining a caste system in a world of global networks can give you a fucking big pyramid and systemise abuse on an unprecedented scale with the money that flows in from those outside the structure.

Groucho Marxism is the best kind of ideology. I didn't mean to imply that India is in any way a marxist state. I was referring to the unreflected usage of words like exploitation in this thread (not in the article) - a usage that I could easily see being picked up after taking a class or two. Pre-packaged vocabulary has a certain smell, just like bad code.

Not only that, if I recall correctly there's actually a few Maoist groups in India that are trying to start a revolution as well... They certainly don't see India as anything but capitalist.

Indeed, the communist party in India is about as militant as they come. You're probably referring to the naxalites[0], they're not shy about targeted violence[1], especially since they're active in a lot of poor, "backward" [2] areas that go ignored by the central government until there is an industrial resource to exploit.

[0] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite

[1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite%E2%80%93Maoist_insur...

[2] http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-27/news...

Edited to include a reference to "backward" - a term used in official language.

Yes, this is exactly what I was thinking of, thank you.

Actually Marx chose to resign from the Friars Club, citing its low standards in allowing "people like me as a member", rather than not being allowed to join.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com