Certain concepts are declared and developed by Marx in the Communist Manifesto. At this point I have looked at the class struggle and end of private property. As I look through my notes I also see that the family is under attack.
The first mention I noted was more an attack on the bourgeoisie than the family.
“The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation.” Kindle Location 58-59.If you want to give Marx the benefit of the doubt it is possible that he was concerned about children laboring in the mines and factories. He might have been totally unaware that on farms children were also part of the team that gathered eggs, slopped the hogs and weeded the garden. However you want to look at it he had strong feelings.
“Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty.” Kindle Location 300-301What is strange to me is that the introductions to parts of Das Kapital, which I have started, refers several times to how his daughter was involved in proof-reading and editing his work. He seems to be guilty of his own accusations. I would also say that he must have had some positive contributions as a father. No one ever said that socialists had to be consistent.
If those statements are not clear enough for you all you need to do is look back a few paragraphs where Marx declares:
“Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare up at this infamous proposal of the Communists.” Kindle Location 295-296That seems pretty clear and simple. The family builds a loyalty that the state cannot compete with so the family must be done away with.
Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto, 1848, Project Gutenberg download
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.