I have read the letter and context of the letter. Lassalle had suggested to Marx that he have his daughter become an escort, essentially a prostitute, to help Marx pay off his debts. I read this from the point of view of an enraged father in a private correspondence to his best friend
Was his choice of words wrong? Yes
Did Lassalle deserve to be cussed out over suggesting Marx pimp out his daughter? Also yes
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I’m only posting in good faith, so far as I can tell. In a similar way to how I understand many of the users here to see anarchists as potential marxists, I’m curious to understand the ways I might reach Marxists.
I think your point on ad hominem fails though. It’s appropriate to the case of Einstein but not to Marx, for exactly anarchist reasons. It’s this reframing that I’m curious to enact.
For an anarchist, ad hominem is not a fallacy, because we believe in prefiguration. If you don’t live anarchistically in the now, your politics are garbage. Anarchism is about what you do, not about what you say. And Marx’s broader lived politics reflect his bigotry, paternalism, and authoritarianism, whether we’re talking about this quote, or the ways he went out of his way to create conditions that would oust Bakunin from the international, or in the way he stole much of his analysis of capital from Proudhon and denied it, etc. etc. etc.
You can do science and socialism without being a marxist, and it is not uncommon marxist’s engagement with science is mere scientism, or merely ideological.
You people are too old for this shit.
It’s just me talking, you can address me directly.
Marx himself was nicknamed the Moor, so it’s okay for him to use the n-word.
