the Eighteenth Brumaire of Gaius Balthar

“Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire provides commentary on the politics of the February Revolution in France (1848), leading onto an analysis of the to-ing and fro-ing of Louis Bonaparte (the nephew of Napoleon) in the aftermath of this revolution, noting as he takes the presidency that his actions prove that you can’t please all the people all the time, but with cynical, even comic, brilliance he tries exceedingly hard to at least please some of the people most of the time, whilst simultaneously and successfully pleasing himself at all stages. As we acknowledge Marx’s text as a work of brilliant strategic deconstruction, we also think it much more than mere commentary: The Eighteenth Brumaire is important by way of interjection. Through this work we see how class and group can be pitted against each other – the text demonstrates how politics is played; not only ‘played out’, or even ‘played with’. Politics is played, as in toyed with, performed, rules change, morals get gambled and those who…