by Ibrahim » Thu Dec 15, 2011 6:10 am
Marx and Engles take it as a given that the entire bourgeoisie and those members of the proletariat coerced or duped into supporting them (their view) will act with determination and violence to protect the existing bourgeois capitalist system. The point is that they will ultimately fail as the system loses the ability to support its own defense.
Arguably we see this happening already, as the wealth gap widens. The key is for the proletariat to sufficiently outnumber the bourgeois (often the case) and to also realize the inequality and their ability to change it (harder). We've seen groups of poor and oppressed people rise up against dictators, it's already happened many times this year, and we're seeing bourgeois capitalist systems start to sputter. What we haven't seen yet is the combination of the two in the same country at the same time, which is what Marx and Engles were talking about.
I don't think there's anything utopian about it, and much turmoil and violence is predicted. Contented bourgeois types like myself don't stand to gain anything.