[Platt] As for Marx sanctioning despots, read the Communist Manifesto. [Arlo] The Communist Manifesto was a treatise arguing for freedom from an enslaving capistocracy.
[Platt] If still in doubt, look up Dictatorship of the Proletariat on Wiki. [Arlo] Marx envisioned a temporary collective body of workers who would manage the re-acquisition of production means from the defeated capistocracy. This body, replacing the despots just overthrown, would provide temporary support structure as local communes got production back online. Even your own source (Wikipedia) mentions the translational distinction when using the word "dictatorship", differing from the "dictatorship" which the revolution would have just ended. "... while Marx's dictatorship of proletariat is revolutionary government with majority (proletarian) support which wields absolute power to replace the incumbent capitalist economic system and its socio-political supports." (Wikipedia) The same source, again, gives Marx's ideas on what that body would look like. "The Commune was formed of the municipal councilors, chosen by universal suffrage in the various wards of the town, responsible, and revocable at short terms. The majority of its members were naturally workers, or acknowledged representatives of the working class. The Commune was to be a working, not a parliamentary body, executive, and legislative at the same time." (Marx) Indeed, the same source you cited states outright Marx and Engels saw the Paris Commune as a model for the transitional body (although both held some criticisms of the lethargy by which the Commune moved). Moving on the Wikipedia's entry on the Paris Commune, we find their short lived governance brought the following decrees: (1) the separation of church and state; (2) the remission of rents owed for the entire period of the siege (during which, payment had been suspended); (3) the abolition of night work in the hundreds of Paris bakeries; (4) the granting of pensions to the unmarried companions and children of National Guards killed on active service; (5) the free return, by the city pawnshops, of all workmen's tools and household items valued up to 20 francs, pledged during the siege; the Commune was concerned that skilled workers had been forced to pawn their tools during the war; (6) the postponement of commercial debt obligations, and abolition of interest on the debts; and (7) the right of employees to take over and run an enterprise if it were deserted by its owner; the Commune, nonetheless, recognized the previous owner's right to compensation. What despots!!!! Women's advocacy associated with the Commune "demanded gender equality, wages' equality, the right of divorce for women, the right to secular education and professional education for girls. They also demanded suppression of the distinction between married women and concubines, and between legitimate and illegitimate children." (Gasp! I know!! Despots!!!) Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
