Re-Reading Marx.....Am I a Marxist?

As part of the research for this project I have been re-reading Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. This is because my project, although figurative in its choice of form, is intensely sociological in terms of its content. My work questions the position of the body in contemporary society in relation to issues of consumption and identity; asking to what extent are our bodies affected by our patterns of consumption, and to what extent do we use our consumption of various products as a means to define our identity. These two central questions raise further issues of body politics -to what extent is our position and role in society defined by the type and shape of our body? The most obvious examples of these questions in action is the position of disabled people in our society, a subject that is personal for me because of the mobility problems I suffer as a result of injury to my right leg.

However, to return to the main question of this post, am I a Marxist? I have been re-reading The Communist Manifesto, as well as other pieces of Marxist theory online in order to try to gain a deeper and more accurate understanding of his economic theories. I first read The Communist Manifesto aged thirteen, and filled with teenage innocence and enthusiasm, I embraced it wholeheartedly and considered myself to be a dedicated commie for many years to come. This was back in the 1980's, when the Cold War was raging and Margaret Thatcher was on the rampage in this country. My study of Marx at that time, [like many others I suspect], began and ended with the Manifesto; as soon as I saw the thickness of Das Kapital, I lost a touch of my revolutionary fervour.....

So now that I find myself creating a project which is motivated largely by sociological and economic questions, I have found it essential to re-examine some of these ideas in more detail. Its simply not good enough to talk about "the effects upon the body of life within the capitalist economy", without having at least a rudimentary understanding of what that means, and more importantly, what is proposed as an alternative. So I find myself coming back to Marx, and reconsidering his eternal challenge: "Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains!". But at the same time I am old enough to remember the Soviet Union, and to know that life there was not the revolutionary workers paradise that Marx envisaged.

However, I loathe with all my heart what is happening in this country and the USA at this present time, whereby giant corporations are granted the rights of an individual despite having resources unavailable to the ordinary citizen, [which they use to avoid tax and exploit ordinary people], where our economic system is based on debt through fractional reserve banking, and taxpayers money is used to bail out corrupt bankers, [and there is little of that anyway since our governments refuse to enforce the tax laws when it comes to corporations], rather than to provide social security for those in need and a decent infrastructure for all. I guess ultimately I'm a good old-fashioned Keynesian socialist, who wants to see government spending directed at helping restart the economy in times of recession, and reduced when things are going well.

Anyway, as they used to say on Blue Peter, "here's one I did earlier", a picture of Karl Marx from a slow afternoon at the office, back in my graphic design days, titled Halftone Marx.