Marxism was already outmoded by the time I read The Communist Manifest back in the sixties. I remember reading Marxs predictions about the withering away of the state and the dictatorship of the proletariat and realizing, even as a 16 year old hippie, that Marx had been totally refuted and discredited by HISTORY. The left must have complete blinders on...and willfully so. No, they don't. Never assume that what they say is what they really think. The Left's positions make perfect sense once you just realize that they (or at least their leadership and opinion-molders) are liars who strive for power over others.