"Young people, read Marx. Part3"

”Wakamonoyo Marx wo yomo III (Young people, read Marx Part3)" (written by Tatsuru Uchida and Yasuhiro Ishikawa/ 2018 kamogawa shuppan)

The book first points out that Lenin misread Marx and deviated from Marx's theories.
Lenin created the wrong perception that ''communism = dictatorship and violent revolution''.
(Although Lenin studied Marx more than Stalin).
In Harada's ''Paradise'', there is a scene in which a radical high school student shouts, ''Hold your weapons!'' These are Lenin's words.
Marx was a harsh critic of all genocide throughout his life.

This book also discusses the relationship between Marx and America. It explains the history from the interaction between Marx and Lincoln to the Red Scare.

The book harshly criticizes Stalin and also mentions the conflict and breakup between the Japanese Communist Party and the Soviet Union.

Stalin became dictator immediately after Lenin's death.
Stalin did not publicly deny Marx, but used Marx's words for his own ambitions, and this spread throughout the world.
"Marxism-Leninism" is a term coined by Stalin, and unfortunately it has also spread throughout the world.
People in the world today who hate Marx are actually the same people who hate Stalin.

Harada says. A person who says, ''Marx is about violent revolution, dictatorship, and no freedom'' is the same as saying, ''I have never read a single page of Marx''.

And that person is saying, ''I believe the words of Stalin, the dictator and murderer, without verifying them''.

The book concludes as follows.

Marx's motivation for establishing the most advanced intellectual theory ever was his feelings of ''common suffering'' and ''compassion'' toward the many people suffering before his eyes.

Marx thought as he saw so many people suffering. “I want to change this situation! What should I do to do that!? What methods are there?”

Therefore, no matter how admirable a political or economic theory may be, something without ''compassion'' and ''sympathy'' is lifeless and empty.

Marx and Engels criticized that ''philosophers only comment on the world, but do not try to act''.

Das Kapital describes in great detail the tragic scenes of workers suffering in inferior British factories. It's like the cruel depictions depicted in Eisenstein's movies.

The big difference between Marx and Engels and other thinkers is that they did not abandon the suffering people in front of them.

Image right: History of the relationship between Marx and America