Could Caesar be an extremely patient and forward-thinking Marxist?

Hello, dirty commie here, sorry I'm kinda late to the party.

I disagree with your theory for a couple of reasons.

1; The way you present Marx's theory of history is kind of a misconception. You hit the main points but by framing it as a linear sequence, especially with the notion that social history could be 'reset' and have to start over again, I think you missed the point of the theory. Marxists aren't deterministic in the sense that every society, given enough time, will go through the same specific sequence of social and economic orders. Societal progression is put in motion by opposing forces vying for power over a society, the birth of the newer 'revolutionary' forces are instigated by advances in production and material conditions. These forces manifest differently in different societies, especially isolated from each other (as many of the factions are in NV). Any Marxist would tell you that in the real world, the NCR would emerge as the dominant force above everybody else- rivaled by Mr. House and the territories if anything. Their superior productive potential and therefor societal organization would easily overpower whatever you'd call Casesar's train wreck of a society. In the end, as long as a society like the NCR still existed and was able to grow, capitalism would prevail. The story from that point on would be of capitalist economies re-industrializing and expanding under new material conditions (which would be very interesting in it's own way, IMO).

2; Caesar is adamantly opposed to the notion of primitive accumulation. If you consider the salvage and weapons left from the old world as a sort of finite natural resource (in the sense that existing societies didn't produce it), the primary goal of Caesar in propelling society into the future would be to start and monopolize the process of accumulation. The Legion would treat actual natural resources and pre-war resources the same way, as a stepping stone into the capitalist mode of production with plenty of inherent technological potential on top.

3; As the top commenter here mentioned, Caesar practices Hegelian Dialectics and seems to know his shit. This is a much more appropriate philosophical outlook for the type of society he's trying to create and the way he goes about doing it. Read up on the great man theory and contrast that to Caesar's character and political views, it makes perfect sense. This is all the more reason, in my opinion, to treat the legion as an enemy, solidify an independent Vegas under Marxist principals, and from there take the fight to the NCR and it's social order as the successor to both ideologies.

Except for that last bit, I'll also say that I'm not trying to validate the theory itself one way or the other, just trying to show that Caesar likely isn't a follower of it (or at least has a poor understanding of it, which would make sense I suppose.)

/r/falloutlore Thread