> I thought it derived from a core idea in some interpretations of
> Marx's work: when workers have nothing but their chains to lose,
> they'll finally throw off the chains and finish digging capital's
> grave. Unlike us they can't see the light without living through the
> worst times possible. We, of course, are magically special and figured
> it all out without having to live under conditions in which we had
> nothing to lose but our chains.
Yes, many (perhaps most) of the left "the worse the better" folks did get this idea from their understanding of Marx. (Side question: is there anything in his actual writings that suggests that he ever took this position? I don't think so, but I don't have the entire corpus in my memory.) But it has also occurred to a lot of people who never studied Marx.
I agree with your sarcastic view of the "magically special" Marxists.
:-)
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A gentleman haranguing on the perfection of our law, and that it was equally open to the poor and the rich, was answered by another, 'So is the London Tavern.' -- "Tom Paine's Jests..." (1794); also attr. to John Horne Tooke (1736-1812) by Hazlitt