> SA writes, as if this view was absurd: '"Marxism" was essentially seen as a philosophy about how forces and relations of production are in conflict; how capitalism is concentrating production, immiserating the proletariat, driving down the rate of profit, and preparing the path for socialism.'
>
> Which to me sounds like a reasonable shorthand for what Marx spent most of his time writing about (apart from the word 'philosophy', which study, he compared to wanking).
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> But apparently, no, Marx was not really writing about relations of production or the rate of profit, or immiseration, but really just preparing the ground for the fascinating study of .... epistemology and the nature of man!
>
You may well be right. I don't take any overly strong view on that. I was just noting the discrepancy between today's grad-school Marx and Marx as he was pictured by the official labor movement in classical days.
SA