It's hard to know where to begin with Marx in the face of people who love him but haven't read him. These are proceeding on the faith of small children that their Authority cannot be wrong. Suffice it to say that in the
Manifesto he and Engels make certain rock-solid predictions practically none of which came true. In fact, by the 1860's, when he wrote
Capital, Marx had to modify those predictions into the form "haven't happened yet but will", a form that has persisted for more than a century. For example, no, the industrial proletariat did not become more illiterate, more "immiserated", but literate and prosperous even within Marx's lifetime. Profits for the capitalists did not go down, they went up. The working class found itself in the role of
petit bourgeoisie first, and through union pension funds, major capitalists, among the highest holders of common stock in America. When you approach a factory these days the first thing you run into is the parking lot, filled with automobiles that are possessed by the working class (a true proletariat cannot do this) and many of which purchased on credit (a true proletariat cannot do this either). It's
ALL WRONG.
There is, as well, the silent but telling evidence that Marxist economists are strictly hot-house plants in academia for the simple reason that any company run on those precepts goes broke. We see in Venezuela what happens when an entire country is run on those precepts. And still they believe. We are dealing with people who pride themselves as rational, believers in "scientific" socialism, and they're the most irrational people on the planet.
Socialists claim to want ownership of the resources by teh people.
Today, either directly or indirectly (through pension funds and organizations), over 50 percent of us are stockholders — meaning, owners of at least a small piece of major companies.
IOW, the people own the resources. So why are the socialists so unhappy about it?