1. In what may be its greatest April Fool’s joke, the U.S. capitalist class has long sought to convince the working-class majority of people that they belong to the “middle class,” with a class above them and a class below. Marxists define “middle class” as

a. those who own homes with mortgages and autos, televisions, and microwaves.
b. families where the husband is the “bread winner” and the wife is the “homemaker.”
c. small-business owners, storekeepers, and landlords.
d. all employed people not on welfare.

2. April 1, 1917, marked the return of Vladimir Lenin to Petrograd and the beginning of his leadership of the Russian Bolshevik party in what would become the first successful socialist revolution in history. One of Lenin’s great contributions to Marxism was his theory of imperialism. If Lenin were alive today, he would see which of the following as examples of his theory of imperialism?

a. U.S. attempts to “contain” the People’s Republic of China and blame it for COVID-19
b. U.S attempts to overthrow the government of Venezuela, continue its blockade against Cuba, and defend the coup in Bolivia in the face of the COVID-19 crisis
c. U.S. leadership in continuing sanctions against Iran while it is hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis
d. All of the above

3. U.S capitalists and their allies sought to develop a schizophrenic view of the People’s Republic of China, condemning it as a “totalitarian Communist country” and at the same time seeing it as an aggressive capitalist rival to the U.S. The Communist Party of China and government define their policy as

a. restoring Confucian values and once more making China the “Middle Kingdom” of Asia.
b. developing a socialism with Chinese characteristics through a mixed social market economy with both public and private sectors, and the public sector controlling internal investment capital and pursuing a peace-oriented foreign policy to promote a “shared future for humankind.”
c. establishing a “free enterprise, free market” economy.
d. reviving the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

4. The Trump administration in its response to the COVID-19 crisis

a. ended all attacks on its political opponents and established a bipartisan national health commission to coordinate the national campaign against the virus.
b. created a health industries board (similar to the World War II–era War Industries Board) to rapidly produce test kits, ventilators, ameliorative drugs and vaccines, and the scientific testing necessary to certify such drugs and vaccines.
c. continues to insult Democratic Party opponents and major newspapers and networks and make contradictory policy statements, creating frustration and confusion as the U.S. becomes the world center of the crisis in terms of verified cases and deaths.
d. established a mandatory national social distancing policy to contain the virus.

5. Marxists see the working class, representing the overwhelming majority of the world’s people, as most at risk from the virus because

a. the working class is genetically inferior to the business owners, landlords, investors, and other classes above the working class and is more likely to contract the virus.
b. the working class lacks the discipline to practice the personal and family hygiene that the business owners, landlords, investors, and other classes above the working class practice and are more likely to contract the virus.
c. of capitalist exploitation, which creates inequality and poverty; overcrowded living conditions with inferior health care, nutrition, housing, and sanitation; and underlying chronic conditions making them most vulnerable to contracting and spreading the virus.
d. capitalists are spreading the virus to the working class to reduce labor costs.

Answers here.

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