GM 23 October, Marx & Engels

It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being which determines their consciousness. Marx, (37)

You know, the more I read Marx, the more I’m learning to like him. Although he’s not telling us anything we don’t already know, they above quote is kind of like saying we are what we eat; or, maybe we are all led by our wallets and checkbooks in the final analysis. This leads me to another Marx/Engels quote that I like:
The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas: i.e., the class which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, consequently also controls the means of mental production. (39)

Again, this isn’t telling us anything we don’t already know. Marx is saying that he, who has the money, has the power, has the rule. A good example and interesting parallel of this in American history would be the American Civil War. In the south, the elite planters held a majority ownership of the south in vast plantations, producing all of the United States’ cotton at the time, in addition to peanuts and tobacco. These elite planters held dominion over the working class in the south which, of course, included a vast slave population. However, in the north power was held by elite industrialists, whom could produce the materials needed by the north to outlast the south in a protracted war, which, was exactly what took place.
The south was forced to capitulate to the north because it could not sustain a protracted war where industrialization was needed. The north had the means of a massive industrial production at its disposal. In addition, the north maintained a large naval force which was capable of maintaining a sustained blockage of southern ports. Therefore, the north ultimately controlled the “means of production” in the form of “Reconstruction” of the south and we all know how well that turned out.