A 21st Century Joke
8th July 2026
I have a question for Bernie, AOC, the DSA, and all the Ivy League professors who are convinced 21st century America is the optimum time and place for “real” socialism to be tried.
When Marx wrote his rant, industry was in the Age of Machinery. Should the workers take over the Means of Production at that time, they would have little or no trouble keeping the factory running. Any shop foreman had all the technical knowledge needed. We were still in the Age of Machinery in 1918 when Lenin took over the Means of Production. Even in the Age of Machinery, however, socialism can’t innovate. But, change did not come fast in the Age of Machinery. The U.S.S.R. strategy of relying on copying Western innovations was a tolerable strategy. The U.S.S.R. was always behind the West, but the gap was not too big.
After WWII, America began to leave the Age of Machinery and transition into the Age of Computers. The pace of innovation increased, and the gap between the West and the U.S.S.R. increased. Reagan pushed for a huge technological advance in Defense. The U.S.S.R. strained to respond, and collapsed.
Since the collapse of the world’s most advanced socialist country, the pace of change has steadily accelerated. The Age of Machinery exists only in museums. The shop foreman with good mechanical talent still exists, but he is ill equipped to run the factory full of robots. In 21st century America, the most important Means of Production are not factories. Microsoft is a collection of highly trained, and highly rewarded, coders. Apple has its factories overseas. Apple in America is a collection of highly trained, and highly rewarded, engineers forever devoted to designing something better than they designed the year before.
A socialist takeover of Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, or any other of America’s top companies, ends in instant disaster. The common worker couldn’t take over squat. The highly paid elite engineer or programmer is essential and not replaceable. These folks are all very big winners under Capitalism. They will not start saying Comrade to everyone and continue working under socialism.
Marx was convinced factory workers were woefully underpaid. Therefore, a worker revolt would result in higher wages. Essential workers in 21st century America are not underpaid. A worker revolt, today, would do nothing more than piss off the workers.