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“Relevance of Marxism in Post-truth era”

UJJWAL MISHRA
FIRST SEMESTER
POLITICAL SCIENCE 1

INTRODUCTION

MARXISM
Marx’s impact can only be compared with that of religious figures like Jesus or Muhammad. For
much of the second half of the twentieth century, nearly four of every ten people on earth lived
under governments that considered themselves Marxist and claimed – however implausibly – to
use Marxist principles to decide how the nation should be run. In these countries Marx was a
kind of secular Jesus; his writings were the ultimate source of truth and authority; his image was
everywhere reverently displayed. The lives of hundreds of millions of people have been deeply
affected by Marx’s legacy.1 Marxism is an economic and social system based upon the political
and economic theories of Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895).
Marxism can be summed up as “a theory in which class struggle is a central element in the
analysis of social change in Western societies. Marxism is the system of socialism of which the
dominant feature is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.
Marxism is a critique of capitalism. Capitalism is a social and economic system that has been
developing and maturing for approximately 400 years.2 Today, capitalism’s presence around the
globe is more or less complete, its dominance almost undisputed. So why do we need to read
Marx’s book anymore? Because most people have at least an inkling that all is not right with the
world. Marxism is a work of politics, history, economics, sociology, philosophy and even at
times literature. In the preface to Capitalism Marx writes: “Here individuals are dealt with only

1
Peter Singer (1996). “Marx – very short introduction”. The oxford handbook of Marxism.
Oxford university press.
2
Michael Wayne, Marx’s Das Kapital 8 ( For Beginners LLC., United States of America, First
Edition, 2012).
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fact as they are personifications of economic categories, embodiments of particular class-

relations and class interests.”3

Post Truth
We live, supposedly, in an age of ‘fake news’ and ‘post-truth politics’ After Trump’s election,
and the UK Brexit vote, the whole world seems very different. In particular, objective truths are
less likely to shape public opinion than appeal to emotion and personal belief.
Since the 2008 crash, people feel increasing dissatisfaction with capitalism, and lied to by
the political class (including the media). The narrative of the political class, therefore, and
the objective truths they present, are being rejected in favor of populist ideas that appeal to
the emotions. It is the consciousness of this false narrative of capitalism that Marx
regarded as a crucial prerequisite for the emancipation of humanity.4 We’ve been caught
with our pants down. It’s so bad that the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year is “post-
truth”, which they define as “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective
facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal
belief.” Politics, the stranger always in the room, looks more nonsensical than ever.
But is this new? Karl Marx says no. I’m not trying to defend the all of Marx’s theories.
There’s plenty to talk about how they played out in practice. But this part is worth
thinking about. For Marx, most of politics is fake and made of ideas, but those ideas are
illusions that don’t match the way people really live. They’re more about the way
everyone makes sense of the way things are, or the way powerful people teach them to
think. The real stuff is the economy, the technology that makes it work, and the social
setup that says who owns and who works. The fake political ideas are what Marxists call
ideology. Donald Trump gives some really good examples of how ideology misleads. He
says that he will bring honesty and reform to government, by draining the swamp of

3
Elwell, Frank, 2013, "Karl Marx and the Rise of Capitalism,"October3,2017,
http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Essays/Marx3.htm
4
Dr. Simon Mouatt , Marx’s Revolution in a Post non-Truth Political Economy(2017)
(Southampton Solent University).
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corruption. In reality, Trump’s been sued nearly 3,000 times for fraud and breaking
contracts.5
Ideology gives everyone some idea about how things are, but it misleads and gives a false
understanding about the way that people live and work, and the way that society is. I think
Marx was on to something. There are too many examples of the truth being different than
the cheap talk of rich men or our comforting beliefs that make our world seem kinder. As
unpleasant as it is, we should look past our ideology, and see the way that power is really
distributed.
Want to find where the power is? Start by following the money.

Despite our sense that post-truth has been politically relevant in recent years more than
ever before, it is important to note that the term originated in a 1992 essay published
in The Nation by American playwright Steve Tesich (Oxford Dictionaries, 2017).6

POST TURTH IN INDIA

India world’s largest democracy has been living under post truth for years. In current
scenario the dominance of Hinduism and Hindutva narrative of the party at center can be
considered as the biggest example of the port truth. The Hindutva regime is doing no good
to us, but creating a situation of unrest throughout our country instead. The core idea
behind the phenomena is that to gain votes one need not factual arguments based on
evidence and truth. Rather the narrative which can fanticize the mass, maybe untrue can
make you win. The political debate which should revolve around the logics are now
remained as thing of making people fool more wisely. In short if you are expert in making
others fool, your probability to win the elections increases. The current government has
also made it obvious that they can never fail in their policy makings and decisions taken.
Let it be MOB LYNCHING by so called GAU RAKSHAKS or threatening the youth by
ROMEO SQUAD. While discussing about ending the dissent from society how one can
forget about the violent dominance by the RSS MILITIA at present or in past time. The

5
http://www.uatrav.com/opinion/article_3ae1b548-bb42-11e6-856c-2324ceb7e0e6.html (visited on October 3,
2017).
6
http://www.e-ir.info/2017/02/27/performance-and-politics-fifty-years-after-society-of-the-spectacle/ (visited on
3, October 2017).
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BABRI MASJID demolition in year 1992 by RSS MILITIA and other Hindu religion
based organization is still be the biggest thunderclap to the face of the nation which is
based on the idea of secularism. Just before few months on June 29, 2017 our Prime
Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the mass from Sabarmati Ashram said that
Gandhiji would have find this unacceptable that humans are killed on the name of
protecting the cow. Truly said Modiji, GANDHIJI would not have found this acceptable.
But what about our prime minister and this government find it? Till date there has been no
publicly condemnation by the government or by the RSS/BJP MILITIA. Neither the BJP
government at the center nor the BJP state government initiated any action against this so
called GAU RAKSHAKS.
The government has presented a new rationale: A cashless economy. In a country less than
75-80 per cent literate, with another 25-30 per cent barely literate, with poor connectivity
and unclear laws about privacy, the idea of a cashless economy verges on being an
outrageous fantasy. Like Modi, Rogoff also favours cashless exchanges, but for him, it is
viable only in a rich economy, where most economic exchanges are in the formal sector. It
can spell disaster in an overwhelmingly informal economy. But this government will
never accept their demonetization drive wrong because the government has made it
obvious that failing is not an option. To fail will not just be the failure of a policy, but also
a personal humiliation of the leader and the failure of a regime.7 The 31 December 2016
address to the nation by Modi was a classic case of demagoguery. The 45-minute speech,
delivered first in Hindi and then in English, was filled with half-truths that were clearly
aimed at assuaging the huge hardships that had been caused to virtually each and every
citizen of the country by his arbitrary and sudden decision to cancel the legal tender status
of high-denomination currency notes on 8 November. The series of announcements that
the Prime Minister made towards the end of his speech, almost akin to a “mini budget,” is
clear evidence of his unstated intentions.8
“Instead of government by argumentation, we have government by RHETORIC an
SPECTACLE.” 9

7
https://goo.gl/5bKkAz
8
http://www.epw.in/journal/2017/1/editorials/post-truth-india.html
9
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/post-truth-demonetisation-donald-trump-cash-crunch-
narendra-modi-4456232/
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SOLUTION TO POST TRUTH

We can now understand the severity of problem and worse conditions created by the
spread of post truth or something which is not truth. There comes how to fight this out?

Engage System Two: System One is our instinctive reaction to a situation or new
information, while System Two is our considered response. System One is effortless, and
often quite satisfying to leave in the driving seat. When we’re browsing in this mode, it’s
really easy just to click and share anything outrageous or heart-warming which
reaffirms our worldview. That’s why this sort of material – which is often bullshit –
performs so well on the internet. If we want to stop ourselves sharing this kind of
material, just making ourselves stop and think, even for five or ten seconds – in other
words, engaging System Two – makes us much less likely to share nonsense. 10

Encourage quality journalism One of the most effective counters for bad news is good news.
And since markets are clearly failing to provide quality information, it makes sense for the
government to invest in creating that infrastructure. This means new policies for promoting
quality journalism, such as publicly funding foundations which finance independent reporting,
funding standards bodies that promote best practices, and creating independent bodies that grade
news outlets on their quality and responsibility.11

COCLUSION (WHY MARXISM?)

Capitalism may sustained well under democratic regime in almost every part of globe, but crisis
created by this capitalistic form of economy cant be denied. Under which rich becomes richer
and poor becomes poorer. But then the question remains what is the alternative. Marx an Engels
wrote second bestselling book of all time, The Communist manifesto based upon the idea of
socialism. The core idea behind this ideology was to create a situation where there is no
exploitation of working class remains. Welfare of every common men is basic goal. Therefore,
we, as Marxists, must argue for a socialist direction for the mass trade union movements. We
must use the institutions of bourgeois democracy as well as trade unions, demonstrations, rallies,

10
https://goo.gl/jj6o2Z
11
http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_how_to_avoid_a_post_truth_world
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etc. as a platform to speak our views and to convince people of the need for a socialist
transformation of society, which will not fail us in fighting for decent living standards and
protection of our rights. To conclude with regards to trade unionism: the relevance of Marxism
here is to act as a force for socialist ideas amongst the mass of people, to direct them to a new,
internationalist proletarian cause—to break the link with bourgeois politics and economic.12

12
http://marxiststudent.com/what-is-the-relevance-of-marxism-today/