So this one is…. Mixed? Yes Marx was German born. He lived in London as a stateless person for a good part of his life. His ideas have influenced countless individuals and are to various degrees behind or somehow incorporated into the fabric of many nations past and present as he is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the modern age wether one considers that influence good or bad.
Lenin was inspired by Marx to create “Marxist Leninism” which was largely the founding ideology of the Soviet Union. Marx had interaction with and followed with interest the Soviets before the revolution. Marxist Leninism was a modified Marxism. It was supplanted by Stalinism- a radically different set of ideas that can be said to be derived in part from or related to Marxist Leninism. Stalinism was largely the doctrine of the USSR as most people conceive it. So calling Stalinism Marxism is a bit like taking Harry Potter, making a movie from the book, then making a novel about the movie…
.. and then saying the novel about the film about the book was written by JK Rowling because she wrote the original novel. Not quite how it works. We can also split hairs that the Russian Federation is not the USSR. Many former USSR officials are in power, and it often bears some eerie similarities to the USSR, especially as of late, and there are still lots of people who think that the whole “going capitalist” was a bad idea… but wether one wants to call it a kleptocracy or an oligarchy or dictatorship or democracy- the Russian Federation is capitalist. At least presently and officially. So it certainly is hard to connect the dots between a German Socialist from over a century ago and removing his name from a building because of aggression by a Capitalist country in 2020…? That said- there were pre Marxian socialists but his work and name basically became the defacto standard fave of socialism. Socialism as a system doesn’t inherently breed communism, but communism did come from…
.. socialist roots and Soviet communism emerged directly through Marxism. Stalinism likely couldn’t have existed as it did without Marxist Leninism and the Russian Federation is currently largely ran by Soviet communists who seem to all observers to be making attempts to reclaim the height of the USSR as a power and state through aggression and territorial conquest. The guys pulling the strings on this conflict and most of the pseudo Soviet post collapse conflicts in the region tend to be Stalinists or at least communists. As communism differs from socialism on that communism has the expressed goal of universal spread of the ideology, communism is the enemy of free people.
So there IS a link we can draw between Marx and the Russian Federations war against Ukraine, or… all their other neighbors and anyone in weapons range… buuut…. I’m not saying that closes the matter out as valid because….
Even if there is a link it is highly questionable. Marx could be likened to a inspiration in this sense. Marx didn’t invent socialism- he and Engels documented their observations on it. Lenin was inspired by Marx and invented his own thing incorporating some of Marx’s ideas and possibly using the name for recognition and added credibility. So what responsibility does the inspiration for something bear? Say Dave likes Judy and Judy is talking one day and says that she likes “bad boys” and another day she is talking about that viral “hot” prisoner from a few years back and how she doesn’t care what he did, she’d be all over him. So Dave goes and shoots up a movie theater and says that he did it so Judy would like him. Is Judy responsible for that? Was Dave’s interpretation of her words reasonable? Most would say no.
So it is important to remember that Marx was a socialist. He was also a libertarian by and large. He didn’t believe in government ownership or centralization. There basically has never been any realized communism or even the fundamental theory of communism- which would reflect the stated beliefs of Marx. Now- I personally must make the disclaimer I am not a fan of Marx, I am not a fan of communism, and I am not into socialism beyond the sense that I support public services and infrastructure as well as a standard of basic living for all people which adjusts to the times they live in- but I support it through a responsible and regulated capitalism or “other” system.
Lenin was inspired by Marx to create “Marxist Leninism” which was largely the founding ideology of the Soviet Union. Marx had interaction with and followed with interest the Soviets before the revolution. Marxist Leninism was a modified Marxism. It was supplanted by Stalinism- a radically different set of ideas that can be said to be derived in part from or related to Marxist Leninism. Stalinism was largely the doctrine of the USSR as most people conceive it. So calling Stalinism Marxism is a bit like taking Harry Potter, making a movie from the book, then making a novel about the movie…
So there IS a link we can draw between Marx and the Russian Federations war against Ukraine, or… all their other neighbors and anyone in weapons range… buuut…. I’m not saying that closes the matter out as valid because….