I sat down with Professor Andrew Hartman, a Marxist historian at Illinois State University and author of “Karl Marx in America,” for a good-faith, no-holds-barred debate over capitalism, private property, and Marx’s role in America history.
We get into:
What Marx actually meant by abolishing private property
Why every communist regime turned militantly against religion
The role of entrepreneurship in the American economy
Whether wanting a better life for your kids makes you greedy
How the Frankfurt School shaped identity politics
The Great Depression and the New Deal
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Outline:
[0:00] Why hasn’t Marx caught on in America?
[3:21] From Howard Zinn to Karl Marx
[8:19] What is Marxism?
[19:23] Land, property, and capital
[32:55] Marx’s four intellectual traditions
[39:14] “Religion is the opiate of the masses”
[48:28] Marx wasn’t a Luddite
[56:01] Exploitation and the labor theory of value
[1:07:03] What does society owe us?
[1:19:20] Shared prosperity vs economic freedom
[1:30:53] Do workers only gain power collectively?
[1:38:41] Does entrepreneurship require capital?
[1:56:14] Positive vs negative freedom
[2:01:19] Humans are incredibly malleable
[2:08:53] The socialist calculation debate
[2:16:13] Is entrepreneurship worth celebrating?
[2:26:17] Was Marx a parasite?
[2:28:47] Did unions and the New Deal build the middle class?
[2:35:24] Why are history departments so left-wing?
[2:44:55] Is identity politics Marxist?
[2:54:17] Millennial socialism and the downwardly mobile elite
[3:02:11] How can workplace democracy work?
[3:08:45] What really caused the Great Depression?
[3:19:49] Power, private equity, and the tax code
[3:31:22] What does a better America look like?
[3:35:10] Would socialism protect free speech?
[3:39:33] Treat young men as individuals
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