at Germany will be the site of the inaugural proletariat revolt. This is interesting because it indicates that all societies need not progress at the same rate in approaching communist revolution. The ordering remainsfeudalism, capitalism, communismbut the pacing is different. This is also apparent in Marx's insistence that communists raise the property question always and everywhere. Marx's willingness to hurry things here might well have influenced later Marxist revolutionaries who did not even await the arrival of fully developed capitalism to liberate the masses. It is these people, Trotsky and Lenin in Russia, Mao Tse-Tung in China, and Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Latin America, whom we most associate with communism as they succeeded in bringing it to some one half of the world's population. As the cold war has ended and the remaining communist states are slowly atrophying, it is tempting to bury Marxism happily, offering only a litany of human atrocities as its ironic eulogy. This, though, ignores the debt we owe Marx for both focusing our attention on the plight of those on whose strength the wheels of industry turn and elaborating the multifarious ways in which we are products of our societies. And despite the sad and bloody legacy of his followers, perhaps the greatest debt we owe Marx is the temporary hope he gave that there might be some radically different and better alternative to our society. Key Terms and Quotes:Key Terms:Bourgeoisie: "[B]y bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern Capitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labor" (79). The bourgeoisie developed out of feudalism and will be destroyed by the proletariat, whom they necessary exploit on account of their economic position. Proletariat: "[B]y proletariat [is meant] the class of modern-wage laborers who, having no means of production of their own, are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live" (79). The proletaria...
