I think broadly speaking, you are right. That this is about a kind of an almost ecstatic amazement at the achievements of what you could loosely call capitalist society and remembering the milieu in which these guys were growing up. And I think it goes a little deeper as well. I mean, I think they're also both exhilarated and sort of discombobulated by this sense of rush when they invoke this pale male sense of rush. They do see this as both liberating and also atomizing and they're pretty clear about that. But there's a paradox which is that this seminal document of communism is actually the last gasp of an excessive optimism and admiration for the bourgeoisie as a class.
Featuring China Miéville on The Communist Manifesto. Miéville is the author of A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto.
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