'State Power'
Engels elucidates, “Having public power and the right to levy taxes… the officials now stand, as organs of society, above society. The free, voluntary respect that was accorded to the organs of the gentile [clan] constitution does not satisfy them, even if they could gain it.” Here, officials enjoy privileges due to their role “as organs of the state power”; thus they are permit to collect levies that are instrumental in the functioning and running of the state. The power puts the officials above the other classes in society.
Wealth
Engels expounds, “In a democratic republic…wealth exercises its power indirectly, but all the most surely, first by means of direct corruption of officials (America); secondly, by means of an alliance of the government and the Stock Exchange [France and America]." Affluence is a determinant of the selection of leaders. Wealthy individuals finance campaigns; hence, it would be impracticable for an individual without financial resources to be a leader. Wealth and politics in democracies are intertwined.
Classes
Engels observes, “We are now rapidly approaching a stage in the development of production at which the existence of the classes not only will have ceased to be a necessity, but will become a positive hindrance to production.” Classes influence the ownership and control of factors of production. Engels argument regarding the dispensability of classes is in line with his projection regarding a revolution that would dismantle all the classes in society. Engels undermines the class- system because it is contributory to the exploitation of the proletariat.
Democracy
Lenin argues, “We cannot imagine democracy, even proletarian democracy, without representative institutions, but we can and must imagine democracy without parliamentarism, if criticism of bourgeois society is not mere words for us, if the desire to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie is our earnest and sincere desire, and not a mere “election” cry for catch workers’ votes.” Representative entities are mandatory in democracies for they ensure that the masses are represented adequately. Parliamentarism would complicate the course of overthrowing the bourgeoisie due to the involvement in the selection of the parliamentarians.
Utopianism
Lenin observes, “There is no trace of utopianism in Marx, in the sense that he made up or invented a “new” society. No, he studied the birth of the new society out of the old, and the forms of transition from the latter top the former as a mass proletarian movement and tried to draw practical lessons from it. He “Learned” from the Commune, just as all the great revolutionary thinkers learned unhesitatingly from the experience of great movements of oppressed classes.”
Lenin suggests that Marx's observations are pragmatic; they are founded on the history of revolutions that have contributed to the emergence of new societies. Marx's foremost argument is that change is inevitable when oppressed individuals have had enough of the oppression and are determined to confront their oppressors and the circumstances that permit their subjugation. Marx's predictions are revolutionary and based on experience.
