i think peter, doug and carrol are on the ball: marx does have a very important insistence against utopian blueprints.
on eric's question of why engels gets pulled out in claims of the scientificity of marxism, well, it's related to the issue above, as well as an official history of marxism as a straight line of succession between marx and lenin in which engels figures as the emphasis on scientificity (without the emphasis against blueprints).
but a question to those advocating planning as integral to marxism/communism: doesn't this assume that the problem with capitalism is the anarchic character of its production decisions? but, is it anarchic? surely, the aim of production in a marxist conception is surplus value -- not very anarchic there. and, without holding fast to this, isn't there the danger of transforming our versions of communism into a planned capitalism? a very real danger, i would think.
Angela _________