Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of the Communist Manifesto, published circa February 1848, and which sparked many political and economic debates, and not just a few revolutions.
Same Old
It was that kind of day,
when I could finally speak paradox,
between the corner store
and the park.
It was there I heard
the suit encased optimist’s manifesto,
from the podium,
“yadayadayadayadayadayadayada”
with only a momentary pause.
The man behind me asked,
“Can you splain that mate?”
And, I said, “Sure, it goes like this;
lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies,
but it came out as,
paradise, free bread, equality,
love and peace.”
Then the woman in front said,
“You know, we already have all these things,
they’re a manifesto of your heart.”
©Paul Vincent Cannon
Paul,
pvcann.com
parallax 
Fantastic!
Not wanting to get political here on a poem, but a thought on Marx & Engels, it always bothered me when people are so excited about Marx & Engels. Engels’ father was a rich industrialist who owned a factory in England and Friedrich Engels would see the atrocious conditions in the factories that were so rampant in the industrial “revolution” were young kids worked long day, women were giving birth on the factory floor as they could not afford to take off etc.
Friedrich Engels then would feed all this info back to Marx in Germany and later London and Marx was just writing immense volumes while neglecting his own kids. Engels did NOTHING to reach out to his father or help in any way to improve work conditions, while feeding Marx all the info on how appalling work conditions are.
This hypocricy on Engels AND Marx’ part always has me gobsmacked how people can get so impressed and excited on mere “theoretical” change on paper.
It’s great to WRITE about work conditions, but if one has the opportunity due to being fortunate to be the son of the “slave master”, but not trying to practically do something, I don’t want to read any of those people’s words.
Marx’ seven children he raised in poverty, 3 survived while he was busy writing theories, neglecting his kids and Engels missed opportunities to help improve what he witnessed in his father’s factory. And is it any wonder that the writings were then the basis for so much turmoil!
It truly is a lot of bla bla bla!
Great poem.
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well said, they were both huge hypocrites who could have made substantial changes in their day and time, yet so many worship them 😦
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Yes, that’s exactly what I think! People idolize especially those who are dead and gone and cannot be questioned or challenged anymore. We just stay stuck in “theories” that actually brought millions and millions death and pain!
And these hypocrites only theorized and bathed in their own words and self-absorbed way while neglecting the very people closest to them.
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well said!
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Yes to that
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Yes, stuck in theories, that’s how I relate to it too.
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Yes, an opportunity selfishly lost
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I have not read the books, my knowledge is solely based on the first episode of Netflix series ‘genius of the modern world’, and with that knowledge you cannot deny the cleverness of their writing, also that they were able to define a model for capitalism with concepts like surplus value and labor theory.
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Yes, horrible stuff, yet also genius achievement to get everyone to consign to it.
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Reblogged this on Poetras Blok and commented:
Brilliant poem from a fellow blogger!
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Many thanks, very kind.
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Love Marx but I love this poem better.
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Many thanks Mark
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Personally, i feel that social/socio-political revolutions are just superficial, pseudo-revolutions that do not fundamentally change things. 🙂
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Tom I couldn’t agree more, apparatchiks, oligarchs, dictators, wasters, and more. There’s one thing about gravy, both/all sides are on it.
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Hmmm very true. Great piece. Blessings!
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Sadly so, only one person worthy of my following 🙂
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🙂
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very skilfully said, love it Vincent … got both your ears still 🙂
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Sometimes they get pinned back 🙂 but no. My mother named me Paul after St. Paul and Vincent after Van Gogh, two of her passions.
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ooh what an interesting heritage you have … my father originally named me after an opera singer he admired … nobody could spell or pronounce the name correctly so I changed it by deed poll in my early twenties … oh and I can’t sing a note and have zero tolerance of opera 🙂
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Lol, the ironies of parental dreams, you have quite an interesting journey, worthy of a book
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lol nobody would believe it 🙂
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Fiction is all the rage 😉
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but fact is often less believable 🙂
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But fact as fiction is therefore the winner 😊
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lol now I got where you are going 🙂
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Yay, like minds
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