> Calling people Marxist for quoting Adam Smith would be an amusing troll if you didn't sound like you actually believe it.
It's not as big of a stretch as it might sound as first; there a number of ways in which Smith was more like Marx than like a modern capitalist (and plenty of ways in which he was far from either, particularly his identification of the feudal landed aristocracy -- explicitly and particularly as opposed to the mercantile/capitalist class -- as the class whose interests were most naturally aligned with the common interest. (Though one who shared Smith's concerns about the mercantile class might see Marx's investment in the proletariat as the only solution given the demonstrated failure of the landed aristocracy, as such, as a viable class in the face of capitalism, so even that view could be seen as less incompatible with Marxism than with modern capitalism.)
To be clear, its ridiculous to call some one a Marxist just because they quote Smith, but not as ridiculous as it might seem from the naive association of Smith with capitalism and Marx with its opposition.
For clarity: all of the comments citing Adam Smith actually showed up later, after I had made a comment about Marx. So the Marx comment was not in response to Adam Smith quotes.
It's not as big of a stretch as it might sound as first; there a number of ways in which Smith was more like Marx than like a modern capitalist (and plenty of ways in which he was far from either, particularly his identification of the feudal landed aristocracy -- explicitly and particularly as opposed to the mercantile/capitalist class -- as the class whose interests were most naturally aligned with the common interest. (Though one who shared Smith's concerns about the mercantile class might see Marx's investment in the proletariat as the only solution given the demonstrated failure of the landed aristocracy, as such, as a viable class in the face of capitalism, so even that view could be seen as less incompatible with Marxism than with modern capitalism.)
To be clear, its ridiculous to call some one a Marxist just because they quote Smith, but not as ridiculous as it might seem from the naive association of Smith with capitalism and Marx with its opposition.