The Marxist States of America

The Marxist States of America

Just how Marxist are we as a Country?

            After we read the first two chapters of the Communist Manifesto as a class, I read and commented on a post that argued that a communist revolution would never be possible in America. I whole-heartedly agreed with this statement. See, in the United States, a group of people – rebels if you will – would never be able to drum up enough support or resources to overthrow the current government and implement a communist/Marxist system. To the uninformed ear this sounds beyond absurd. However, does America need a Marxist, proletariat-led revolution to establish a government that incorporates the ten principles Marx gives at the end of the second chapter? Upon closer examination, we may already be there.

           

Are we as Capitalist as Americans
think we are?

            I am not going to argue the moral or political positions of each of the ten issues. I am not going to take a side or say whether or how our government should respond to these policies. My goal of this post is to simply overview each of Marx’s ten goals for a communist state and the policies the United States already practices that are congruent with Marx’s ideals. Here they are in order:

• 1.    
Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. In our country when you purchase a house you purchase and take responsibility for the land the home sits on. When this happens you now have to pay a property tax to the state government. According to the Ney York Times, Michigan’s property tax rate was 1.91 as of April 2007. For as long as you “own” this property you pay the government and if you do not pay your taxes the government can take the land away from you, making you merely a life-long lessee or renter of this land from the government.
• 2.     A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. Our income taxes in America are assessed on the basis of tax brackets, and the tax rate is progressive. In other words, as you make more money you pay a higher percent each year to the government. As of this year the lowest bracket (Income of $0-$17,400) paid 10% yearly and the highest bracket (Income over $388,350) paid 35%. If the Bush tax cuts expire all but the second lowest bracket will experience an income tax increase. The highest increase will be on the lowest income bracket raising their rate from 10% to 15%, which will then be the same as the second lowest income bracket. All of this information can be found at mondaq.com
• 3.     Abolition of all rights of inheritance. As of right now if you die and leave less than $5,120,000 to your family that value is not taxed, but anything over that amount is. Starting January 1, 2013 the taxable threshold drops to $1,000,000 and the rate at which everything left over this value is taxed at increases by 20%. All of this information can be found at The North Bay Business Journal
• 4.     Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. If the government believes you are not following the law (being a rebel) and have gained property or used property for this they can seize that property from you, sometimes without notice. Ansara Law
• 5.     Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. The Federal Reserve System, which was created by the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, is the “national bank” Marx is talking about and the Federal Reserve manipulates our interest rates and has a legal monopoly on counterfeiting.
• 6.     Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. The federal government owns monopolies in communication (The United States Postal Service) and railroad transportation (Amtrak which is the operating name for The National Railroad Passenger Corporation). The federal government also controls radio and TV communication through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and many states establish toll roads in which you must pay the state to use.
• 7.     Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. The United States does not have collective farms, these failed miserably in the defunct Soviet Union. The federal government is however involved in the agricultural industry as much or more so than they are involved in any other industry. They often set price controls for crops and price support subsidies along with setting acreage allotments and land-use controls. Many government departments control business through regulation such as The Department of Agriculture, The Department of Commerce and Labor, The Bureau of Land Management, The Bureau of Mines, and the IRS.
• 8.     Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. The Social Security system works so that, as you pay taxes now a portion go to the Social Security fund. The fund pool pays regular checks to those of old age and those who are disabled. If you ever become disabled or once you turn 67 you can begin to receive Social Security checks. This gives everyone an equal liability to work because at any moment one could become disabled and hopefully everyone reaches the age of 67 and is able to retire. You also can not receive the old-age benefits unless you work for ten years making an average of $4,520 a year, making everyone not planning on being disabled liable to work for at least ten years.
• 9.     Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.  This is seen in the rise in the amount of giant Corporate Farms, such as Cargill and the much-maligned company Monsanto. 
• 10.  Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c. The majority of our nation’s youth go through our public school system, which is paid for by the government through taxes. We also have Child Labor Laws and the Department of Education.

The Federa Reserve, our "National Bank" is
a key component of Marx's
fifth principle.

I was incredibly surprised, after doing my research, to see just how much of Marx’s plan is already being acted upon in our country. Like I said earlier, I am not going to argue the political or moral ramifications of these policies and I am not going to agree or disagree with any of these issues either. Most Americans could not even imagine life without many of the things listed above, and not every example listed for each point fully encompasses what Marx envisioned. However you want to look at it, the blog post I read yesterday was right: A Marxist revolution would never happen in America. It would never happen because it would hardly change anything. Over time, with gradual policy changes, whether they were a product of the times or the products of hidden agendas, America has adopted policies that enact virtually all of Marx’s basic principles of a communist state.