Did Marx underestimate the power of the middle class ?

[Jackpine Radical]

5. In a word, maybe.

Or, if you were to allow me more than one word, yes and no.

There wasn't much of a middle class in continental Europe or in England when he wrote (think Dickens!), and he couldn't have anticipated its development and elaborations in the 20th century.

But that middle class may turn out to have been a transient phenomenon largely due to the New Deal (sure looks that way these days), in which case it may turn out that, as the oligarchs grab it all, they will succeed in putting Marx's predictions back on track.

Our particular set of oligarchs seem to be a special breed, unlike anything the world has seen before. In medieval times, the crowned heads were also pretty greedy, and had to contend with Jacqueries every now and then, but they eventually wised up enough to heed the wisdom of Macchiavelli and leave the peasants enough crumbs so they had something to lose if they rebelled.

What's "special" about the modern variety is the perversity with which they pursue their own short-term interests, heedless of what they are doing to the world.

Their own children will have to live with the environmental consequences of their actions (climate change, destruction of the aquifers, poisoning of the atmosphere and the oceans, etc.), and even if they are planning to retreat into some sort of bubble communities, the resulting quality of life, even for them, will have to be bleak.

They are dooming their own progeny to a life that is likely to be, at best, comparable to living in a domed city on Mars.