Myths of Marxism

Sam Tollitt discusses the definition of neoliberalism and explains what relationship this ideology and programme has with the wider capitalist system.

Ravi Mistry explores the origins of racism within class society and explains the way forward in the fight against oppression and discrimination.

In this latest video from the Marxist Student Federation’s Myths of Marxism series, Lilly from the Sheffield Marxists explains the causes behind sexism and women’s oppression and discusses how the fight for the liberation and emancipation of women is linked to the fight for socialism.

Marxists are commonly accused of wishing to crush individuality, wanting to enforce homogeneity and put everyone into the same grey, uniform box. In this video from our “Myths of Marxism” series, Kevin Chang dispells this misconception, arguing that it is in fact the profit system that restricts each and every individual from fulfilling their full potential.

So-called “pragmatists” often say that it is unrealistic to struggle for socialism. Even if we had a successful revolution in Britain, for example, it is clear that an island of socialism could not survive in a sea of capitalism. But is it realistic to expect revolution to spread internationally?

The crimes of Stalin and Mao are frequently held up to demonstrate the apparent failure of socialism and communism; to invalidate the ideas of Marxism. But what failed in the Soviet Union and China, as Maciej of the Swansea Marxists explains in this latest video from the Myths of Marxism series, was not socialism or communism, but a bureaucratically controlled society – a caricature of Marxism.

In the latest video from the Marxist Student Federation’s Myths of Marxism series, Stephen Agnew of the Sheffield Marxists examines whether capitalism – based on the market, competition, private ownership and production for profit – really is the most efficient economic system possible for society.

Countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway are frequently held up by figures on the Left, such as Bernie Sanders, as an example of Scandinavian-style “socialism” and an alternative to “neoliberal” capitalism. Lotta Angantyr, from the Revolution newspaper in Sweden, sets the record straight.

In the first video from a series by the Marxist Student Federation examining the myths about Marxism, Fiona Lali of the SOAS Marxists looks at the question of “human nature”, which is commonly used as an argument for the impossibility of socialism.