Marxism goes to college

“Marxian Science and the Colleges” is a pamphlet published by the U.S. Socialist Labor Party (SLP) . It contains short articles by SLP leaders Daniel De Leon and Arnold Petersen, first published in SLP's central organ Daily People over a century ago. The small and today almost defunct SLP is the oldest socialist group in the world, originally founded in 1876.

I can't say “Marxian Science” is very interesting. Essentially, it contains a number of attacks on pro-capitalist professors of economy at various institutions of higher learning. The two SLP leaders also take on a certain Charles Chase, an SLP member who had questioned the sectarian dogmas of the party. A background factor, mentioned by Petersen in a preface, is that De Leon's son was attending university and sliding from his erstwhile socialist convictions.

De Leon and Petersen defend the Marxist theory of value (including the concept of surplus value) against pro-capitalist claims that profit is a legitimate “wage” for the business-owner. From a Marxist viewpoint, labor is exploited since it produces surplus value appropriated by the individual capitalists, value which should rightfully belong to the workers (in practice, to the working class seen as a collective). De Leon and Petersen also argue that capitalism can't be planned or reformed, that unemployment is a perennial condition of the free market, that trusts are inevitable, etc. (The articles were written during the “trust-busting” of the Progressive Era.) The SLP forcefully argues that Marxism as a theory and socialism as a goal would be impossible if Marx' theory of value could be proven incorrect. Thus, the mere observation that trusts and their owners make more money than the workers isn't enough to “scientifically” establish the case for socialism. This, of course, is Marxism 101, where socialism is seen as a historical necessity driven forth by the material conditions of production, rather than simply a moral ideal or some kind of populist scheme.

While this may be interesting, many of the articles included in this slender volume are not. They are rather short, very boring and frequently off topic. The entire collection gives an antiquated impression. After De Leon's death in 1914, Petersen created a posthumous personality cult of the “immortal” leader, making the SLP piously reprint his every word. I will therefore give “Marxian Science and the Colleges” two stars only.