I bought from Amazon a pretty much $0.00-0.99 online copy of The Communist Manifesto and just finished reading it
And I gotta say.....Marx looks to at some points sound really sane or reasonable and even says how much the Bourgeoisie have done for the world
Then he keeps going on as if the Bourgeoisie are a completely static system of idiots who'll fail to adapt
He acknowledges that increased advances in technology are a thing, but he doesn't look to take into account how things like Child Labor would be rendered unnecessary by it eventually as it is impractical
He also seems to think that the working class will never really improve much outside of being stuck in some dead-end-jobs, as if they're not smarter than they look or could get smarter with time out of necessity
I mean, those machines may need increasingly smarter people to operate
Going back to the Bourgeoise, he acknowledged again that they weren't all bad, he even said something called "Bourgeois Socialism" was a thing
Which he said was basically "Bourgeois" types NOT being in conflict with the Proletariat and actively ruling/managing society for said Proletariat's good.....even when he's speaking of them relatively negatively he still sounds like he's wishing for some ideal "Philosopher Kings"
"Bourgeois Socialism attains adequate expression, when, and only when, it becomes a mere figure of speech.
"Free trade: for the benefit of the working class. Protective duties: for the benefit of the working class. Prison Reform: for the benefit of the working class. This is the last word and the only seriously meant word of bourgeois socialism. It is summed up in the phrase: the bourgeois is a bourgeois—for the benefit of the working class."
Bourgeois Socialism right there is how I think those Totalitarian States can get "flexible" and you end up with countries like China that even with "free markets" have States with iron grips and control
Then there's his points regarding Communism sorta transcending Nations....I think there are still differences between different countrymen to account for that'd take a long while to disappear
Hell, I think he'd be against Homeschooling and Self-Online Education on the basis of it somehow being Bourgeoise and that you can't trust anyone "Bourgeoise" with their kids
Before any of you guys ask, I read it after a suggestion from a guy on r/AnarchoCapitalism who recommended it alongside reading stuff from Adam Smith and Fredrick Douglass
It's pretty easy to know why the idea of Socialism never dies if you only read from Marx's rather pessimistic perspective