but, probably his greatest single insight was the realization that religion is a tool of control that acts as a conservative force to prevent any sort of revolution at all. it doesn't just prevent proletariat revolt, it also keeps the bourgeoisie in place, in their struggle against the aristocracy.
it is central to marxism that we need to hold the mirror up to the working class, to have them recognize their condition and reject the weberian formulation of the "protestant work ethic", which came later but is really what marx was on about. the idea that you need to work harder and harder to get further and further ahead is called slavery, and the fundamental purpose of left-wing politics is to abolish first the mindset - as a pre-requisite - and eventually the system of control that upholds it.
so, when you hear media or the pundit class try to pass themselves off as leftists by talking about "the american dream" or the "decline of the middle class", you should be exceedingly skeptical. that makes absolutely no sense in a leftist political discourse. like, at all.
that ties into these...let's say opinions about the pandemic response. obviously, everybody wants to minimize the loss of life, but it's made it very easy to tell the real leftists (who should strenuously oppose state regulation over personal freedom) from the fake ones (who are fine with and even seem to crave conservative forms of authoritarian or even monarchical governance).
i'm not going to sit around and get myself pissed off again. it doesn't matter, if there's no movement on the ground. all i can do is ask people to think more rationally and hope they figure it out.
you can't build a castle in a swamp, and you can't build a socialist society in a capitalist social framework.