Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- The close of Section 2 of the Manifesto says the proletariat must put all means of production (such as factories) into the hands of a centralized state (government) and take despotic (dictatorial) control of property. This vanguard state is to be a temporary measure before differences in classes cease. Um, yeah, okay—would that really work in real life? Could Marxists avoid someone such as Stalin taking over? Why or why not?
- Who are workers, and what is work? Pretty basic concepts, but how does the Manifesto define those terms (if at all), and how do you define them?
- How would Marx consider what we today call unpaid domestic labor? What happens if those who cook and care at home daily are considered the model for the "really revolutionary class" (Section1.44) rather than Marx's wage-laborers? What about infants or the very sick who cannot work at all—are they accounted for, or does the Manifesto overemphasize wage-labor?
- You've probably heard the Communist slogan "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." Who should decide an individual's ability and need, and how?
- Okay, so it's Sunday afternoon, and instead of watching cartoons, you've decided you're going to change the government. The usual options are 1) violent revolution and 2) the attempt, like that of the petty-bourgeois socialists discussed in Section 3 of the Manifesto, to reform but still maintain the capitalist system—which Marx predicts will only become more oppressive over time, regardless of reform efforts. Now, is there a door number 3 anywhere? What if you simply built a just society, ignoring the authorities? What might that look like? What would happen?