Men make their own brackets, but they do not make them as they please.
March 9, 2015 8:48 AM Subscribe
Marx Madness: The ultimate war of all against all. We start with 64 Marxists competing one-on-one in 32 match-ups. These elimination rounds continue every week throughout March until only one thinker is left.
The struggle of bracket against bracket is a political struggle.
posted by yoink at 9:05 AM on March 9, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by yoink at 9:05 AM on March 9, 2015 [10 favorites]
This will definitely have a strong "I know this person, but not this person" bias, but hey, at least it's a good excuse to read marxists.org.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:10 AM on March 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:10 AM on March 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
Obligatory link to Monty Python's Philosopher's World Cup
posted by chambers at 9:11 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by chambers at 9:11 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Before I enlarged the pic of the bracket, I mistook Walter Benjamin for Walter Brennan.
Rosa, ftw!
posted by CincyBlues at 9:15 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Rosa, ftw!
posted by CincyBlues at 9:15 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm totally voting for Bakhtin over Lenin in a HUGE first-round upset, and encourage you all to do likewise.
Spivak v. Zizek is a tougher call, but Spivak pulls it out at the buzzer.
posted by mediareport at 9:15 AM on March 9, 2015 [4 favorites]
Spivak v. Zizek is a tougher call, but Spivak pulls it out at the buzzer.
posted by mediareport at 9:15 AM on March 9, 2015 [4 favorites]
This is making me think of what this would be if you teamed them up by region, and what the teams would be named.
I've only been able to think of one, though - The Spectres - "haunting Europe for over 150 years"
posted by chambers at 9:21 AM on March 9, 2015 [4 favorites]
I've only been able to think of one, though - The Spectres - "haunting Europe for over 150 years"
posted by chambers at 9:21 AM on March 9, 2015 [4 favorites]
I want to see this Final Four
Surely you mean Gang of Four, comrade. Don't make us send you out for reeducation.
posted by mediareport at 9:22 AM on March 9, 2015 [10 favorites]
Surely you mean Gang of Four, comrade. Don't make us send you out for reeducation.
posted by mediareport at 9:22 AM on March 9, 2015 [10 favorites]
Surely you mean Gang of Four, comrade. Don't make us send you out for reeducation.
The players need to be careful too, as in a game like this, I have the suspicion that being sent to the 'penalty box' is a one-way trip, and while there would be some visible referees, one never knows exactly where or who the secret referees are, and someone needs to keep an eye on the instant replay machine and the people recording the stats, as Stalin might try to have them altered so that opposing players aren't even there anymore if they displease him.
posted by chambers at 9:41 AM on March 9, 2015 [4 favorites]
The players need to be careful too, as in a game like this, I have the suspicion that being sent to the 'penalty box' is a one-way trip, and while there would be some visible referees, one never knows exactly where or who the secret referees are, and someone needs to keep an eye on the instant replay machine and the people recording the stats, as Stalin might try to have them altered so that opposing players aren't even there anymore if they displease him.
posted by chambers at 9:41 AM on March 9, 2015 [4 favorites]
As a white first-world libertarian socialist I have no choice but to root for Subcomandante Marcos. It's in the papers you sign.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:44 AM on March 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:44 AM on March 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
Engles looks strong in the top right, and Trotsky vs Foster is a HELL of a round one game. Look out for Harraway, the cyborg sleeper in a tough bracket.
posted by Faux Real at 9:49 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Faux Real at 9:49 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
"Stalin wins! Stalin wins! Oh, that was certainly a stunning comeback in a see-saw battle that had the crowd on the edge of their seats the whole way through. Let's go to the replay of that crucial final play -- wait --- hold on -- sorry...I'm being informed that that replay is not available just at the moment....just bear with us a moment, folks, I'm afraid there's some cross-chatter in my headphones just now...uh-huh...uh-huh...O.K., so folks, back to our post-game analysis: yes, another one-sided victory for Joseph "Mo-Jo" Stalin, the People's Hero: the outcome never in doubt from start to finish. At this point spectators must be wondering why anyone ever steps into the ring against him. Ah, here is the clearly-in-no-way-altered replay: we see Stalin gallantly tying one arm behind his back early in the match...."
posted by yoink at 9:50 AM on March 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by yoink at 9:50 AM on March 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
I don't see Groucho.
posted by w0mbat at 10:02 AM on March 9, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by w0mbat at 10:02 AM on March 9, 2015 [8 favorites]
The struggle of bracket against bracket is a political struggle.
But don't worry, comrade. Through the action of dialectical materialism, in time the forces that gave rise to the bracket will simply atrophy and disappear.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:09 AM on March 9, 2015 [8 favorites]
But don't worry, comrade. Through the action of dialectical materialism, in time the forces that gave rise to the bracket will simply atrophy and disappear.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:09 AM on March 9, 2015 [8 favorites]
Eponysterical for the ages.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 10:11 AM on March 9, 2015
posted by overeducated_alligator at 10:11 AM on March 9, 2015
Before I enlarged the pic of the bracket, I mistook Walter Benjamin for Walter Brennan.
If you've seen Walter Brennan's performance in the Bertolt Brecht-scripted Hangmen Also Die, you'll even see a physical resemblance between the two.
posted by jonp72 at 10:22 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you've seen Walter Brennan's performance in the Bertolt Brecht-scripted Hangmen Also Die, you'll even see a physical resemblance between the two.
posted by jonp72 at 10:22 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Eponysterical for the ages.
I agree. It's a remarkable and funny coincidence that a guy who named himself after a famous communist would post in a thread about famous communists.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 10:27 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
I agree. It's a remarkable and funny coincidence that a guy who named himself after a famous communist would post in a thread about famous communists.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 10:27 AM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't see Groucho.
My brackets pit Louis Marx against Leo Marx with the winner rising to challenge Richard Marx.
posted by octobersurprise at 10:47 AM on March 9, 2015
My brackets pit Louis Marx against Leo Marx with the winner rising to challenge Richard Marx.
posted by octobersurprise at 10:47 AM on March 9, 2015
> Surely you mean Gang of Four, comrade. Don't make us send you out for reeducation.
I did! I even intended to write that, but remnants of false consciousness from my bourgeois upbringing got in the way!
*engages in vigorous self-criticism*
posted by languagehat at 11:06 AM on March 9, 2015 [8 favorites]
I did! I even intended to write that, but remnants of false consciousness from my bourgeois upbringing got in the way!
*engages in vigorous self-criticism*
posted by languagehat at 11:06 AM on March 9, 2015 [8 favorites]
Marx vs Spencer
posted by a lungful of dragon at 12:05 PM on March 9, 2015
posted by a lungful of dragon at 12:05 PM on March 9, 2015
Will the eliminations involve ice-picks in any way?
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:30 PM on March 9, 2015
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:30 PM on March 9, 2015
Bukharin for the win
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:14 PM on March 9, 2015
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:14 PM on March 9, 2015
"And the answer is...Mao?"
"Sing Little Birdie?"
posted by umberto at 6:12 PM on March 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
"Sing Little Birdie?"
posted by umberto at 6:12 PM on March 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
Will the eliminations involve ice-picks in any way?
Hey, hey: it was an ice axe.
posted by atchafalaya at 6:26 AM on March 10, 2015
Hey, hey: it was an ice axe.
posted by atchafalaya at 6:26 AM on March 10, 2015
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Angela Davis vs. Rosa Luxemburg
Lenin vs. Stalin
Then I want to see the winner of the first match kick the ass of the winner of the second.
posted by languagehat at 8:51 AM on March 9, 2015 [8 favorites]