11.07.09
Darwin and Malthusianism
Hungry generations;: The nineteenth-century case against Malthusianism Rereading this old gem of a study on the ideology of Malthus in the nineteenth century (amazing what you can find second hand at Amazon) Any student of Darwinism should consider the now seldom correctly told history of Malthusianism with its blatant class warfare tactics starting during the period of the waning of and reaction against the French Revolution. Malthus’ assertions that social improvement was an illusion, and his attack on Godwin, were almost brazen, and succeeded in achieving a victory over the next generation, only to begin waning in the next generation after the Reform Bill. Not a small part of the first socialist and then Marxist cryastallization sprang from this disgusting and head-scratcher of a debate, when the ‘better they starve’ attitude toward the poor was still openly stated by upper class ideologists in public. A similar but more disguised strain of this still remains in the background of the Darwin paradigm, although the issues are rarely brought out in the open. The idiocy of so-called Darwinian liberals, the confusion of the left since Engels over Darwin, and the recent conservatism of ID critics of Darwin, has made the issues hopelessly confused. But Darwin’s theory is, and always was, infected with the Malthusian virus, and a hidden class ideology. This book should be reprinted, but won’t be, we can feel sure.