>> Marx envisaged a transition between a first phase of
>> communism and a higher phase of communism - but they are both
>> *communist* societies.
>
> Any idea on how we get there from here, or will it all happen in some
> lightning bolt transformative repture? How do you dispense with money
> when the stuff is drilled deep into our heads?
As a start, I suggest it would help if was more widely understood what Marx was arguing. At a time when interest in his ideas is undiminished - in 1999 Marx was voted the "Greatest Thinker of the Millennium" in a BBC online poll, and then in 2005 he was voted the "Greatest Philosopher" in another BBC poll - his ideas are still poorly understood.
Specifically, as to the role of money and how we can live without it, see the following article. It's a rebuttal of Mises' Economic Calculation Argument, but I think may address the point you raise. If you and others agree with the Coxian/Marxian argument, and we can generalize that agreement, then that contributes to the start of the revolution.
The "Economic Calculation" controversy: unravelling of a myth <http://www.cvoice.org/CV3cox.pdf>
-- Lew