Space capitalist Elon Musk, photo by Steve Jurvetson/CC

Space capitalist Elon Musk, photo by Steve Jurvetson/CC   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Elon Musk, the capitalist and engineer behind Tesla and SpaceX, has claimed he is a socialist – unlike Karl Marx who is apparently a capitalist. Because he “wrote a book about it.”

Musk has come in for criticism after he announced the slashing of thousands of jobs to increase his firm’s profits. At the same time, he has received $4.9 billion in state funding towards his projects. He attacked socialists on Twitter who criticised him, by claiming that most socialists (presumably those who disagree with him) are wrong and not really socialists, including socialist thinker and revolutionary Karl Marx.

The book Musk referred to is called ‘Capital’, a valuable and influential book for socialists which analyses and criticises capitalism. He could learn a thing or two by reading it, including about capitalists like himself!

Yup, Marx was a capitalist...

Yup, Marx was a capitalist…   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

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