Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

It's been said, if a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart, and if he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain; obviously, that's utter bollocks, although too often it would appear the older folk get the more right wing they become. I first read Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, many years ago as a teen with a growing political appetite with left of center sensibilities; and so was interested to revisit it now as a jaded adult, who if the saying was true should have moved to the right, though in reality hasn't moved a at all. I still look left, still agree with their basic premises, which I believe still hold true; that equality of opportunity, a genuine stake in society and opportunity to shape said society are our fundamental rights. Now though I see some failings in how Marx and Engels thought this would or could be achieved, as well as maybe a touch of naivety. Particularly in their assertion that the necessity for the bourgeoisie to educate their workforces would lead to the downfall of the bourgeoisie and the road to salvation for working people; agreed, education can liberate people, but why hadn't they considered that education would be used as a tool by the bourgeoisie to maintain their control, as it continues too; surely they must have foreseen that the bourgeoisie would not relinquish control so easily? Of course, I'm being unfair, they couldn't foresee the future and it's too easy for me to criticize them with my benefit of hindsight; at least they proposed a better world. Though communism didn't bring about liberation, equality and opportunity for the working masses, how could it; Marx and Engels had already remarked how revolutions only became effective when a section of the bourgeoisie had broken away to become part of said revolution; inevitably ensuring the perpetuation of the old system, merely in another form. I'm sure both Marx and Engels would be pissed to see the regimes who've called themselves 'Communists', it's clearly not what they had in mind. Still a good read and certainly food for thought.