If that's the case then why did he call for centralising the means of production under the control of the state? That seems rather utopian. At the time of the writing of the Manifesto there had been no successfull worker's revolution, so any claims as to the direction it would take could be considered utopian. When the Paris Commune happened Marx didn't drop these ideas in favor of emulating the Commune, but rather continued to promote the old state socialist line. To quote a speech he gave ("The nationalisation of Land") in 1872:
"The nationalisation of land will work a complete change in the relations between labour and capital, and finally, do away with the capitalist form of production, whether industrial or rural. Then class distinctions and privileges will disappear together with the economical basis upon which they rest. To live on other people's labour will become a thing of the past. There will be no longer any government or state power, distinct from society itself! Agriculture, mining, manufacture, in one word, all branches of production, will gradually be organised in the most adequate manner. National centralisation of the means of production will become the national basis of a society composed of associations of free and equal producers, carrying on the social business on a common and rational plan. Such is the humanitarian goal to which the great economic movement of the 19th century is tending."
> 2. Politically, he was trying to hold
> together a disparate group of people. Any specifics would be sure to
> create splits.
His state socialist views created splits anyway, ie. the famous one with Bakunin.
-- Joe R. Golowka joegolowka at earthlink.net Anarchist FAQ - http://www.infoshop.org/faq
"According to the libertarian litany, if an industry or an institution is making a profit, it is satisfying "wants" whose origins and content are deliberately disregarded. But what we want, what we are capable of wanting is relative to the forms of social organization. People "want" fast food because they have to hurry back to work, because processed supermarket food doesn't taste much better anyway, because the nuclear family (for the dwindling minority who have even that to go home to) is too small and too stressed to sustain much festivity in cooking and eating -- and so forth. It is only people who can't get what they want who resign themselves to want more of what they can get. Since we cannot be friends and lovers, we wail for more candy." - Bob Black