There is nothing illogical in the desire of the “have-nots” to appropriate the wealth of the “haves”; in fact, it is part and parcel of the law of animal life. The bear robs the hive and the wolf the fold, and when “nature red in tooth and claw” is stretched into its human dimension, there is nothing irrational in Marx’s theory that, granted the power, one social class should devour another. But what is irrational is, to assume that by robbing the hive the bear will assume the industry of the bee, or by robbing the fold the wolf will become as pacific as the sheep. It is astonishing that a man of Marx’s high intelligence could have believed in ritualistic cannibalism on the social plane; that by wresting the forces of production from the bourgeoisie and centralizing them in the hands of the proletariat, the proletariat would automatically aacquire the skills of the ruling class. And it is equally astonishing that a man of Lenin’s mental calibre could have attempted to put this magic into practice.
There is nothing illogical in the desire of the “have-nots” to appropriate the wealth of the “haves”; in fact, it is part and parcel of the law of animal life. The bear robs the hive and the wolf the fold, and when “nature red in tooth and claw” is stretched into its human dimension, there is nothing irrational in Marx’s theory that, granted the power, one social class should devour another. But what is irrational is, to assume that by robbing the hive the bear will assume the industry of the bee, or by robbing the fold the wolf will become as pacific as the sheep. It is astonishing that a man of Marx’s high intelligence could have believed in ritualistic cannibalism on the social plane; that by wresting the forces of production from the bourgeoisie and centralizing them in the hands of the proletariat, the proletariat would automatically aacquire the skills of the ruling class. And it is equally astonishing that a man of Lenin’s mental calibre could have attempted to put this magic into practice.
