A Marxist iQ for Mayday, 2015 by Norman Markowitz

by: Saturday 2 May 2015

 

A Marxist IQ for May Day, 2015

There are many  important anniversaries this year.  It is the 150th  year of the defeat of the Confederacy and the end of Slavery in the U.S. Civil War, the 125th  anniversary  of the first  May Day  demonstrations of and for the working class and socialism, the 70th anniversary of the defeat of fascism in WWII, the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which broke the back politically of the racist dictatorship which rose in the former slave states at the end of the 19th century, and the 40th anniversary of the final withdrawal of U.S. troops from a devastated Vietnam.  It is also the fiftieth anniversary of the slum-ghetto riot in the Watts district of Los Angeles, which touched off a wave of riots against the institutional racism and poverty that people of color faced in the Northern cities of the United States.  Let us use this Marxist  IQ to learn from history before our ruling class condemns us to repeat it.

  1. The first May Day took place internationally in 1890 in memory of the Haymarket martyrs, executed for their protest demonstrations in 1886 and calling for both the eight day, which they were demanding, and an end to police terror against workers.  A relevant slogan for May Day today, in keeping with the original demonstrations would be

A.Working people’s lives matter through the world

b. Defend TPP and Free Trade for workers’ rights

c. Defend Freedom from Afghanistan to Ukraine

d. People of all countries unite to abolish all income taxes

 

 

 

 

 

2.  If Marx and Engels were alive on this May Day they would in all probability conclude that

     a. The working class had become the middle class and   believes that they can become business owners         

     b. Marxism was no longer relevant since capitalism had changed and today was the only way to advance full employment and social welfare

     c. “Globalization” is the basis of a deepening global economic crisis, not a solution to that crisis, but one that functions as capitalism’s “gravedigger”

    d.   Capitalism and Socialism were increasingly indistinguishable and will merge with each other

3. Events in Eastern Europe on this May Day would remind Lenin of

A. the imperialist powers manipulating the Czarist autocracy to control Russian natural resources and military power

B. the use of nationalist groups as pawns to accomplish imperialist goals

C. the arrogance and the ignorance with which the imperialist powers launched WWI over conflicts they created but could not control

D. all of the above

4. Mao Tse-tung on this May Day, given his contributions to Marxism as theory and practice, would call upon the Communists of all countries to

A. settle their “secondary contradictions” and divisions and unite on a strategy to unite the masses and defeat the capitalist class enemy

B. emulate the strategy of the Chinese Communists and organize revolutionary guerilla armies through the world

C. launch a global “cultural revolution”

d. Call for the expulsion of the United States from the United Nations

 

 

 5 If Friedrich Engels, who lived to see the early May Day demonstrations, were alive on this May Day, he would probably repeat his famous prediction on the choices humanity faced in the future

A. the choice between idealism or materialism

B. the choice between nationalism or internationalism

C. the choice between liberalism or conservatism

D. the choice between socialism or barbarism

 

Answers to last month's Marxist IQ

1 c

2.b

3.b

4.c

5.d

 

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Comments

  • Looking at these answers, I know my brothers (we need some sisters to lead the way, and to increase all our Marxist I Qs) are probably correct and I incorrect with 5. d (somehow, now, my memory is sharpened and that old quote concerning socialism and barbarism, by the great Engels seems remarkably more lucid).
    I officially change my May Day no. 5. answer to d.

    thanks to brother Norman (thanks to our brother journalist, socialist and Communist contributor, William J. Pomeroy, for his help on revealing the real Moaism to all the communists, (maybe even Norman Markowitz and Thomas Riggins )

    e.e.

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 05/06/2015 10:26am (9 years ago)

  • 1. a

    2. c

    3. d

    4. a

    5. d

    Posted by Sean Mulligan, 05/05/2015 4:11am (10 years ago)

  • Thanks to e.e.w clay. Your are very right, e.e., the correct answer was d, all of the above(and of course much more that I could have added) You were also right about the capitalized A. I will try to be more careful with typos, always a weakness of mine
    As for Tom,thanks for your compliment, even though my conversion to "Maoism" is as strong as yours to Fast Eddie Bernstein and "K.O" Karl Kautsky, neither of whom I would class with Mao as a revolutionary leader
    Norman Markowitz

    Posted by norman markowitz, 05/04/2015 6:40pm (10 years ago)

  • 1., (erroneously marked "a") A

    2. c

    3. D

    4. A

    5. A


    In Answers to April's I Q, 2., b seems incorrect-it should be d, for all possible answers there point to contemporary imperialism, which the great Lenin would decry, granted that letter b refers to, most precisely, the very same peoples which the great Lenin identified as pawns of capitalism's imperialism in his day.

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 05/04/2015 1:15pm (10 years ago)

  • A good little intro and historical summary.
    1. a
    2. c
    3. d
    4. a Your conversion to Maoism is long overdue
    5. d

    Posted by Thomas Riggins, 05/03/2015 9:17am (10 years ago)

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