Some tedious things Marxists say that demonstrably are not true, and which hurt, not help them organize movements to create change.
Marxism is scientific
“Engels asserted that socialism had broken free from a primitive state and become a science.” Well, no, actually it didn’t then, and hasn’t now. Science among other things, uses the scientific method to test hypotheses. Marxist theory does none of this. Pretending it does is a weary, tedious conceit.
The way to revolution is by building a worker’s movement now for the future
This sounds really good when howled from a rally podium by an angry socialist fulminating against the capitalists. Yet it never happens.
I’ve got copies of the Weather Underground magazine Osawatomie from 1975. They were talking then about organzing to build a worker’s movement decades in the future. That was 41 years ago. Communists and socialists in the 1930s said the same.
Maybe saying you want to build something nebulous in the future is just a crap tactic and, um, also a way to not do much of anything now. Get a new strategy. This one hasn’t ever worked.
Leaders of the revolution must come from the most exploited members of the working class
Except, they don’t. And never have. Leaders of revolutions come the comfortable middle class and above. Examples of this are Karl Marx, Lenin, Che, Mao, Fidel Castro, as well as many others. Yet instead of respecting this obvious fact of history, Marxists too often say the leaders must come from where they’ve never come before. This is a waste of time and is a fine example of how facts must be forced to fit ideology.
Capitalism is in crisis
“Socialists have predicted 23 of the last 3 capitalist crises.” And we’ve been through some doozies the past few years. Yet capitalism hasn’t crumbled and the working class has not united to overthrow it.
The Marxist left has been running on fumes for quite some time. New ideas are needed.