More Marx: The Communist Manifesto

As I studied about Marx and socialism, I decided to dive deeper into the Communist Manifesto, as that can be argued to be Marx (and Engels)'s most important work. I didn't end up reading it, but as I mentioned some of my findings in my previous post on Marx. However, there was one portion of the Manifesto in particular that I didn't take time to dive into that I saved for here. That portion was the second section of the Communist Manifesto, a section called the Proletarians and the Communists. This section
outlines the relationship of communists to the rest of the working class, saying they should not form a separate class but instead will always represent the interests and will of the entire proletariat (working class). It defends some attacks against communism, and in the end puts forth ten short-term demands. The following points were summarized in the Wikipedia article on the Manifesto, but can easily be derived from the original text here. Here are the ten main points from the section:

1. Abolition of land property and using land rents for public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the all property of emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralism of credit in the hands of the State, with national bank owned by State with an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralized State communications (newspapers, etc), and transportation.
7. Extensive State-owned factores and such, and land cultivation being done according to a common State-wide plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment fo industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual end of distinction between town and country, a more even distribution of the population across the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. End of child factory labor, and combination of education with industrial production.

First of all, most of these points completely scare me. These were the "short-term" demands. Yet after giving all of this power to the State, what left is there to give? Looking at these points alone as one of the bases of Marxism that many future communist governments built off of, it is easy to see why those governments often ended up with corrupt dictators at their heads with way too much power and who abused that power. Think of the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba.

I like the general idea of communism, where everyone in a country works together for the common good, but I simply don't think we humans can pull it off, especially not according to the ten points laid forth here. There's simply too much power given to one entity, and no easy way to balance that power should the State become corrupt. 

But besides my general problems with the points Marx put forth for Communism, I have a general problem with Marx. I call hypocrite. These points don't work out too well for Marx. Abolition of all rights of inheritance? The only reason Marx could ever comfortably provide for his family was because of the many inheritances he received form various wealthy relatives.

Confiscation of all property of emigrants and rebels? That's Marx. He was a total rebel, criticizing the Prussian government and getting kicked out of three different countries, so he was a total emigrant as well (though not necessarily by his own choice).

The Communist Manifesto calls for centralized communications, but the only attempt at a career Marx really made was as a journalist for various independent, start-up newspapers where he could publish his socialist political views.

He called for the equality for all to labor, but he labored mostly to put forth his own ideas, criticizing the ideas of others including other communists, and relied on Engels to be able to put bread on the family dinner table.

Oh, and don't forget the claims against communism that this section tried to defend against, like the idea of "free love" (i.e. an end to marriage). Marx fathered an illegitimate son with the family maid, and had him raised by foster parents outside of the home to avoid scandal while he kept the maid around.

I freely admit, I have only skimmed the surface in my study of Marx and the Communist Manifesto. But in my first fly-by, I already see tons of things I have problems with. I'm open to corrections of my findings, but some serious new light would have to be shed here in order for me to change my view of Marx and communism to a positive one.