Category Archives: FYS

This course is for my first year seminar on utopias and dystopias.

Marx in Soho

Posted on by

“Marx in Soho” sought to bring Karl Marx to life in the 21st century. The performance showed how eclectic and misunderstood Karl Marx and his ideas were. He was an advocate for social and economic revolution, and a man who devoted his life to the betterment of his society, not a monster like so many believed, and still believe him to have been. While highlighting the economic and fundamental flaws of capitalism that still exist today, the play gave the audience a glimpse of what Marx’s life may have been like.

Howard Zinn was trying to change the perception of Karl Marx through this performance, and clarify who the man really was, while establishing the difference between him and the Marxist revolutionaries after him. A line summarized Zinn’s premises well: “I [Karl Marx] am not a Marxist!” Marx then went on a tangent about how flawed and naïve people’s interpretations of his writings were, and how he was trying to create a system based on freedom, not an oppressive society governed by few. He wanted equality of class and abolishment of private property. Marx acknowledges that his ideas were not perfect, and that he could be wrong, but through antithesis and synthesis he came to his conclusions. So what—what is the message? People ought to change their thinking and not come to rash conclusions before analyzing the past and present systems, like Marx did, and one must be willing to be wrong.

Of course, the previous interpretation could be wrong, but why does Bob Weick devote his career to playing this role? He wants to make change. In speaking with Bob, he said for people to do what they can to change the capitalist system that is destroying our world environmentally and economically through the poor wages and benefits given to workers, mass production of goods, and capitalist greed. Whether one agrees with Bob or not, he, like Marx, presented his findings analytically, gave evidence, and acknowledged that he may have been wrong. Marx’s ideas are not dead, and never will be. The poverty that existed in Soho, taking of innocent lives worldwide, and capitalist mindset still exist today, and Marx was a misunderstood man trying to combat the world’s problems.

Posted in FYS

Marx in Soho

Posted on by

Marx came stomping in through stage left as “Money” by Pink Floyd played, demanding why we must always declare him dead. The answer is simple: by declaring him dead, we declare his ideas dead along with him. Yet “Marx in Soho” clearly shows how Marx’s ideology is very much still alive by relating his work back to the present day. By stating the flaws of today, he clarified just how in need of revolution society is. His many examples of contemporary problems revealed the necessity for something such as communism. Relating his ideas to problems not previously discussed in his work made the concept of communism all the more astounding and necessary. But then he would take moments to discuss his family, reminding his audience of his humanity. He made a joke about how Jesus was not coming back, and instead he did. Yet this is exactly what this performance was. Marx came back to clear his name, and to bring clarity to the people who had the potential to make a change. The way he weaved his personal story in with his explanation of communism was meant to constantly remind the viewers of his humanity; Marx may have been ahead of everyone else in his ideas but he was still a flawed human being. The actor, Bob Weick, made himself vulnerable, which in turn made his argument even more tangible. His critique on today’s capitalist society was spot on, and how he demonstrated that Walmart and its treatment of its workers was not dissimilar to the factories in London during his time really put into perspective how little the world has changed. The performance in and of itself was profound, and because the message was so precise, Marx’s ideas are going to be given much more consideration.