“In connection to our discussion of how Marx & Engels saw a potential Communist society, (1) how would life be different without the Muck of Ages? and (2) Would you want to live under Communism as Marx & Engels describe it?”

“In connection to our discussion of how Marx & Engels saw a potential Communist society, (1) how would life be different without the “Muck of Ages”? and  (2) Would you want to live under Communism as Marx & Engels describe it?”
Just for clarification on the “Muck of Ages” and what that might include, we talked about it in class, but a few of you have asked questions since then.  Marx & Engels’ point is that many of the negative things that we associate with “just human nature” or “how people are” are in fact connected to how we are under this capitalist way of life.  So if all of the bad, negative, dirty aspects of life are taken away, things like greed, selfishness, backstabbing, taking advantage of others, racism, sexism, etc. what are we left with?  What would our jobs be like? What would our relationships be like? That’s what I’m asking you to consider, in addition to the question about whether or not you’d want to live under Marx & Engels version of Communism (there should be NO mentions of China, Russia, Cuba or any other so called Communist place in your assignments, only what Marx & Engels sketch out).  You especially might want to pay attention to his discussion in the German Ideology, in terms of the qualitative difference between Capitalism and Communism, especially on the division of labor, pg. 160 in the original text, in the middle of the middle paragraph:
“…For as soon as the distribution of labour comes into being, each man has a particular, exclusive sphere of activity, which is forced upon him and from which he cannot escape.  He is a hunter, a fisherman, a shepherd, or a critical critic and music remain so if he does not want to lose his means of livelihood; while in communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity, but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me, to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”