Introduce Marxism with a Short Skit In World History or Economics Class

I have used this short skit successfully in World History (in the study of the industrial revolution), and American Government and Economics. Feel free to copy and use it, and please let me know how the lesson went. The teacher may wish to prepare a short presentation comparing laissez-faire capitalism to Marxism and examine the vocabulary words (below) before doing the skit. The teacher may do the skit alone or have students perform it. Enjoy!

- Mike

Mike Spinrad, San Marin High School, Novato, California

Karl Marx Encounters Capitalist

Scene:  London 1850

Marx:  My backside hurts from boils, probably because I’ve already sat and read in the public library for six hours today. Who’s coming to greet me?

William Pound: It’s me, William Pound.

Marx: Ah yes. Pound, I called you to discuss your ridiculous beliefs about factory owners. Why don’t you understand that every time a factory produces something, workers are exploited?

William Pound: The workers trade their labor for pay. It’s a free exchange where both owner and worker agree, without coercion, to engage in a contract. What could be wrong with that?

Marx: The workers are paid poorly and working conditions are bad. The workers are nothing more than slaves, wage slaves.

William Pound: Working conditions have been improving for years, thanks to recent laws passed by Parliament and the power of unions. Additionally, not all factory owners treat their employees poorly.  Don’t you think a worker has mastery over his own fate and can move, working wherever he pleases?

Marx: I am a determinist. I do not believe in free will. It’s an economic system, not individuals that determine history. As it has been said, the system makes people act the way they do.

William Pound: What nonsense are you saying? An economic system produced the ambition of Napoleon and genius of the Duke of Wellington? People, not systems make choices in their lives and create history.

Marx: You sound like my Jewish grandfather. He thought that people have choices too. I’m glad I was baptized as a young child and that you’re not Jewish.

William Pound: Karl, you’re a vicious anti-Semite as well as the originator of catchy but superficial ideas. Naturally, no one wants to be against workers earning a good living. Few common people care about liberty, however, until it’s gone. Just how do you propose the change to socialism will occur?

Marx: I believe that the capitalist system will destroy itself by producing enough disgruntled workers. These workers will take over and replace capitalism with a socialist paradise. We won’t need liberty in this socialist paradise.

________________________________________________________

Name ______________________

Define the following words and answer the questions:

Liberty

Determinist

Exploited

Anti-Semite

Coercion

_____________________________________________________________

What is more important to you, liberty or equality of outcome? Why?

Do you believe in determinism or free will?  Why?