Marx’s Odyssey: Is Wokeness the Finale or the Prelude?

The internet has been aflame with talk of whether Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is woke or not. Some even argue that the film is truly conservative. If, as some say, woke is on the decline, Nolan’s film certainly demonstrates that talk of it is not.

But what if wokeness was not so much the dregs of Marxist radicalism in the prosperous West, but its prelude? If the latter, then debate on Nolan’s The Odyssey may merely be a distraction from the real revolution unfolding.

If developments in the United States are anything to go on, this remains a live question. The deeper challenge that now faces fair-minded Westerners is the resurgence of Karl Marx’s more radical and enduring doctrines.

The harbinger was Zohran Mamdani’s ascension to mayor of New York City late last year — an event hailed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) as “the most monumental electoral victory for the US socialist movement in the last century.”

In his victory speech, Mamdani swept away any doubts as to his ideological lineage, opening with a quote from socialist icon Eugene Debs — “I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity” — and vowing: “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.”