May is the most creative month indeed. Want to know why? Very many great souls boast of May as the month of their birth. Their very arrival in to this very unequal, absolutely unjust world of ours is some proof that so long as their thoughts rule the roost, there is nothing to lose.
Yes, i am sure by now you must have absolutely guessed who this great man is whom I am referring to. Sure it has to be Karl Marx whose "Manifesto" ends with this famous phrase, "nothing to lose". It is unmistakably a clarion call to the 'workers of the world' to 'unite' to undo the oppressive chains. The real climax of the fervent appeal to change the much described/discussed world is this intense optimism, this assurance of 'nothing to lose'.
Undoubtedly, Karl Marx is a great economist, a superb sociologist, an excellent analyst of political economy, a sharp thinker with great philosophical acumen. What i, however, like about his oeuvre is the fact that it is enriched with optimism. It is a poetics of hope. Hence the title of this tribute to him on May 5, his birth anniversary.
Sure, Marx is a much misunderstood, much more misinterpreted theorist. Stalin onwards, Mao and beyond, many dastardly despots through their vicious stupidities have chosen to malign Marx. Well, Marx is much much much more than all the so-called Marxists put together, actually put aside! He is NOT what his so-called followers framed him in to.
His economic theory is rooted in philosophy. He never ever gives any one set formula of exploring the societal realities. In fact, he encourages the reader to constantly critique any given, including his own, formulations. The Hegelian dialectical approach he built on is deeply self-reflexive, and hence a harbinger of hope.
Honestly, sometimes i do feel very strongly that this ardent admirer of literature (he was exceptionally well-read in literature and was quite good as an author) has a lyrical optimism in-built in his very dream of an ideal society. His is a vision which believes in "nothing to lose" except all that is unjust, unfair, unequal.
His life was indeed tough. Often, literally he had nothing to lose! Yet such is the pulsating positivity of/in his analysis that it affected every mode of thinking unmistakably. Take feminism, take critiques of colonialism, take analyses of pop culture, discussions of environmental awareness, Marx, the trenchant critic of capitalism, has a very intellectually enriched hope to offer. Long live his faith 'nothing to lose' as new challenges open up in our AI emasculated wor(l)d's!
Pratima@ Why judge a master due to the disciples' misdeeds?
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