|
Description: Spanning 3 centuries, this works include such milestone documents as the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789), and The Communist Manifesto (1848). Also included are writings by the Russian revolutionaries Lenin and Trotsky, Marat and Danton of the French Revolution, Rousseau, Gandhi, Mao, other leading figures in revolutionary thought.
|
|
Review Summary: Absurd? I don't think so... |
Date: 2008-05-28 |
|
| |
Details: The reviewer "Scott" argues that the Communist Manifesto is "degrading", and I'd like to know exactly "for whom/what"? Sounds like Scott is either a boss who'd like to see the revival of the "Golden Age of Capitalism" (the Industrial Revolution, which included sub-living wages, child labor, forced overtime, 12-15 hour days, no worker's rights, etc.). Or, more likely, he has never read the Communist Manifesto, which contains within it nothing that is degrading for the working and poor classes, but is in fact a dignifying and uplifting rally-cry for the working class.
Only a person that has never read the Communist Manifesto, or a person belonging to the priveleged class, could argue, honestly, that the Manifesto was degrading. Scott, you should be ashamed.
(By the way, Marx was not the rabid anti-capitalist, pro-Statist, everyone thinks he was - he was in fact the rightful heir to the Paine, Smith, Mill, etc. He followed their arguments to their logical conclusions, and he could not reject history and what capitalism had become by his time. As had been said about communism time and time again, capitalism "is a great idea but doesn't work" - not in the long run, not for the working class. Rather, capitalism had went from liberating people in the 17th and 18th centuries to enslaving them in the 19th and 20th - and 21st - centuries. Marx, like the "founding fathers" of America, had realised that CERTAINLY man needs land/resources to be free, but unlike the founding fathers he was around to see that monopolies were an inevitability in capitalism, and that the population would grow too large for there to be enough land and resources to go around without SHARING. "Private property" had become, by this time, a means of forcing latecomers into service in exchange for table scraps. And of course, the capitalists had abandoned their belief in liberty and human welfare and had become dependent upon the State to protect their hordes of unused/horded wealth and property. Forget the fact that they didn't need all the land and resources they "owned legally", and forget the fact that there were people that DID need it bud didn't have it, and forget the fact that the choice between starvation and work is NOT "freedom" but coercion - forget all this. What became important for the capitalists long before socialism, anarchism, and communism became attractive alternatives to capitalism was not people, but profit. Marx simply was more of a libertarian than the capitalists of his day.) |
| |
|
Review Summary: Communist brainwashing propaganda |
Date: 2008-04-17 |
|
| |
|
Details: Communism is dead as a doornail. Those who think otherwise are simply brainwashed by propaganda and completely ignorant of world history. The Soviet Union collapsed after decades of backwardness and Marxism, not that its economic failure was ever in doubt. Their pseudo-"industrialization" caused huge famines that killed tens of millions, and did not reduce the technological lag that persisted for decades - they were in the stone ages technologically. They were only saved in World War II by American lend-lease shipments, and then donations of grain and wheat. The Soviet Union was a failure, and was lagging behind the West in industrial production, agriculture, military strength, applied science, everything. Their physical indices and statistics (along with the alleged achievements of the military and space program) were proven to be bungled lies and propaganda. Their Marxist economists were incompetent, and failed to solve any planning problems. China was even worse - Mao's "Great Leap Forward" resulted in the greatest man-made famine in human history, and killed at least 50 million. It is lost to history exactly how many millions were killed in the "Great Cultural Revolution", which ranks with the Holocaust or Soviet industrialization as one of the greatest crimes of the 20th century. Those who deny these historical facts are just as pathetic and arrogant as Holocaust deniers or flat-Earthers. Those who still doubt this need to WAKE UP, get some sunlight and stop reading pseudo-intellectual tracts like the ones in this "collection". |
| |
|
Review Summary: Absurd |
Date: 2007-11-26 |
|
| |
Details: The works contained within are testament to the genius of man, and also the stupidity.
I find it mildly offensive that such a degrading piece of work such as the Communist Manifesto be included in the same binding with the Declaration of Independence. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Fantastic and good for someone on the go |
Date: 2007-01-30 |
|
|
| |
|
Details: This is revolution a great book for someone that has somewhere to be. The writings are mostly just a few pages long so you can begin and finish a thought before you have to stop reading. The only setback is that Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" isn't in the book in it's entirety. Only the appendix for "Common Sense" is in it. It is really hard to label that a setback because this book has so much packed into it for such a reasonable price. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Very Insightful |
Date: 2006-11-04 |
|
| |
|
Details: This book is great for anyone interested in the development of new ideas. When all of these writings are taken as a whole you can really appreciate what each revolutionary was trying to convey. A great read and very well priced. |
| |
|
out of 7 Reviews
