Great man history and the 19th century debate over assassination

August Bebel makes the Marxist case against murder.

Elon Musk, appearing yesterday on Fox News, said that DOGE critics “basically want to kill me”. It’s not the first time he’s voiced anxiety about the danger of assassinations — back in November, for example, he worried that his plans would “make a lot of people angry” and added that he, “will need tight security.” For my part I have to say that I have never seen any actual threats against Elon, and since we would probably get a big public spectacle of denunciations and arrests if anyone did threaten him, the more plausible explanation is that the man is just a paranoid coward.

That said, whenever Elon starts wringing his hands like this it sets off another round of debate over the same question: would it even change anything if he were gone? Is DOGE’s current assault on our government something that would only happen with Musk at the helm, or was something like this going to happen regardless? And what does it say about left theories of history that one man alone, it seems, can so radically change it?

Disclaimer up front: my opinion is that assassinations are a terrible idea, not only because they are a good way to sign your own death warrant, but also because they are unlikely to change the course of history in the long run. DOGE, I have argued, is not the innovation of one man or even one administration — it’s the culmination of a long-term project of neoliberalization pursued by Republicans and Democrats alike. If Musk were gone the same same material forces responsible for neoliberalism would still be guiding our country to the same end, later if not sooner.