Article discreditng the thesis that Mao "killed millions of people" in The Great Leap

[FireIceTalon]

I would interpret it to mean both. Although, I'm pretty sure they were referring to communism in the context as an inevitable political movement or force (as they detailed in the opening lines of the Manifesto itself) against bourgeois society, rather than the actual ultimate goal of communism as a mode of production. A proletarian revolution and a DoTP does indicate the eradication of bourgeois property, though the bourgeois itself as a class, at this point, still does exist. The DoTP, or socialism, is a transitional stage that has features of both the old capitalist order and the impending (but still not inevitable) communist society. It would seem to me that it was these two things which they were referencing - the inevitable rising of the proletariat against the bourgeois, and the impending abolishment of bourgeois property thereafter.

Marx himself proposed the outcomes of communism or another, less desirable alternative; this was something that Luxemburg would later go into more detail on when she raised the question of 'socialism or barbarism'. While Marx didn't hold communism to be inevitable, I gather that he was very optimistic about its eventual victory and that he believed it to be the more likely outcome than what Luxemburg would later refer to as 'barbarism'.

While I wholeheartedly agree with Marx's theories in general, that capitalism is entirely unsustainable and that communism is a genuine possibilty for a future society, I am much more cyncial and don't share his optimism. Marx had good reason to feel as he did though, as the socialist movement was very strong during his time compared to today. Capitalism is indeed breaking down and its institutions are failing everywhere, but it wont go quietly, and as a result, the world is in a especially volatile state at the moment - as indicated by a rise in right-wing populist and fascist ideas in many places. While it is still way too early to tell, I fear that 'barbarism' is every bit a possibility as communism is at this point, and I have much uncertainty as to whether humanity will indeed take matters into its own hands and carve out its own revolutionary destiny, or if it will slip into the dreaded abyss of despotism and complete social decay.

The current state of the world, through my lens, is very unsettling and disturbing in general.