Commentary
When I was a kid in the 1950s, I thought I knew what the left was—and I did, up to a point.
The Communist Manifesto appealed to my 14-year-old self because, in a way, it’s written on that level. When you think about it, it’s pretty simplistic, especially about human psychology.
Nevertheless, in those days, it was clear to me and to many others what the left was—socialism, the working class owning the means of production and so forth, no more chauffeur-driven Cadillacs for my parents’ stuffy, imperious neighbor.
I even remember reading that this “scientific” socialism would, according to Karl Marx anyway, lead to the “withering away of the state.” Hurray, I thought. I wasn’t sure what that would be like, but it sounded good….