Marx & Zimbabwe

Dissecting the dynamics of the world economy is a complex task. Karl Marx spent 20 years writing up the full first part of Das Kapital. Those 20 years of writing just gave us Volume 1 of Kapital. Marx studied mathematics, philosophy and other classical economists inluding-  D. Ricardo, J. Mill even Adam Smith. Marx strongly believed 'the anatomy of civil society is to be found in political economy'. It was Marx's plan to give us 6 full parts of Kapital. Apart from Kapital 1, the other published volumes of Kapital are syntheses of notes he left behind.

Marx gives us an alternative economic theory, however his death meant he could not personally defend the position of his theory. Kapital is a cumbersome read and as such it is no surprise very few get the essence of Karl's opus.Marx himself warned against false socialism which would seem more attractive than a benevolent democracy. The last century saw various systems masquerading as following the Marxist ideal.  Leninism, Stalinism, Sovietism and Nazism all pretended to follow Marx-however they completely missed the point. Marxism emphasised the authority and power of the worker.Marx did not sanction state dictatorship. Marx repeatedly emphasised that 'everything should be questioned', they was no freedom of speech in so called socialist economies. Pure Marxism is a continuous critical process-a growing dialectical argument. It is freedom of thought. The worker has the power to negotiate and realise the surplus created in production. In socialist economies the workers had no clear right to the fruit of their labour. This last contradiction guaranteed the fall of the Soviet Union.

Zimbabwe has had its fair share of Marxists. Growth With Equity, the economic policy document, had a pro-people agenda. At many points the document misses the Marxian ideal of worker participation.