One of
Marx's ideas that was most plainly wrong was that of the
immiseration of the proletariat. Clearly, worker standard of living did rise in the last 150 years, contrary to his prediction; although whether or not there is absolute immiseration in times of economic
depression and relative immiseration during times of prosperity is an idea worth exploration. One might also note that Marx lived during the dominance of
laissez-faire; clearly, he did not anticipate the
Bismarckian
welfare state, the massive government spending that characterizes
Keynesianism, and so forth.
"But what does this have to do with
RATM?" you ask. Well, the idea of the immiseration of the proletariat was central to
Communist propaganda, which goes to show how clueless Party ideologues really were.
Leninism is dead partially because no one can seriously bemoan the "
abject poverty" workers endure and because no one wants to hear it. It has been noted that the speeches of
Hyde Park orators usually ran thusly:
Friends, even now comrades are victimized by British imperialism in India. Friends, even now comrades are languishing in {insert oppressive Third World nation} jails. Friends, join the Communist Party.
And along those lines
RATM's lyrics run. The
rhetoric can even make
me blush, and that is quite an achievement.
Still, I must acknowledge that
Tom Morello is one of the better active guitarists. The bassist has his moments, too.
Of course, there is that whole
hypocrisy business. I find Morello's argument of "subverting corporate media to reach the masses" a bit hard to swallow. From my experience, the average RATM fan doesn't have a good understanding of politics.