Karl Marx’s Jew-Hating Conspiracy Theory

[endicom]

Marx didn’t supplant old ideas about money and commerce; he intensified them

Commentary
Jonah Goldberg
Mar. 14, 2018

From the time of antiquity until the Enlightenment, trade and the pursuit of wealth were considered sinful. “In the city that is most finely governed,” Aristotle wrote, “the citizens should not live a vulgar or a merchant’s way of life, for this sort of way of life is ignoble and contrary to virtue.”1 In Plato’s vision of an ideal society (the Republic) the ruling “guardians” would own no property to avoid tearing “the city in pieces by differing about ‘mine’ and ‘not mine.’” He added that “all that relates to retail trade, and merchandise, and the keeping of taverns, is denounced and numbered among dishonourable things.” Only noncitizens would be allowed to indulge in commerce. A citizen who defies the natural order and becomes a merchant should be thrown in jail for “shaming his family.”

At his website humanprogress.org, Marian L. Tupy quotes D.C. Earl of the University of Leeds, who wrote that in Ancient Rome, “all trade was stigmatized as undignified … the word mercator [merchant] appears as almost a term of abuse.” Cicero noted in the first century b.c.e. that retail commerce is sordidus (vile) because merchants “would not make any profit unless they lied constantly.”

More... https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/karl-marxs-jew-hating-conspiracy-theory/

[Sanguine]

@endicom, really interesting article.  I've wondered about the roots of European antisemitism, and this provides some interesting background.  And, helps to explain why America is such an aberration and a hated one at that.

[endicom]

@endicom, really interesting article.  I've wondered about the roots of European antisemitism, and this provides some interesting background.  And, helps to explain why America is such an aberration and a hated one at that.

Yeah, anyone is free to argue but he wrapped that up well.

[truth_seeker]

The Swedish word "Lagom" translates to "just the right amount," as in moderation, balance.

It may be related to the article, and surely accounts for our Scandinavian cousins acceptance of modern mixed economy socialism.

[Gefn]

Karl Marx was a Jew. His paternal grandfather was a Rabbi.

[Sanguine]

The Swedish word "Lagom" translates to "just the right amount," as in moderation, balance.

It may be related to the article, and surely accounts for our Scandinavian cousins acceptance of modern mixed economy socialism.

Yes, I was wondering about Northern Europeans and Scands while reading this.  They were big time capitalists - trading, looting, and otherwise actively acquiring gold and silver.  But, I guess the Church tamed them and drove that sort of initiative out of them.

From The Wanderer:

He who has tried it knows
   how cruel is
   sorrow as a companion
   to the one who has few
   beloved friends:
32a   the path of exile (wræclast) holds him,
   not at all twisted gold,
   a frozen spirit,
   not the bounty of the earth.
   He remembers hall-warriors
   and the giving of treasure
   How in youth his lord (gold-friend)
   accustomed him
36a   to the feasting.
   All the joy has died!