If considered the 'if', about Karl Marx. I can remember three of those who were at the round table discussion, Paul Foot, Orlando Figes and Susan George. What 'if' there had been communism, which sounded like there never was communism. There were three points that to me seemed important, the first being the idea of 'economic democracy'. The second point was the perception of political economics by the people.
Whist capitalism is the major force in global economics, it serves a minority of people well.
The Thatcher-Reagan variety of capitalism was mentioned, the opinion of the persons at the discussion was that capitalism was acceptable before entering the new liberalism and market forces directive. The third point was about the mood of the people. A suggestion was made which compares the present mood of the US on a level with that seen in Russia in AD 1906. The comparison included alienation and the unequal distribution of wealth in the US, that leaves ten million blacks with no hope, an unknown number of whites with no hope, and the number of guns is greater than the total population. Which adds up to an equation that will leave the last shoot out which ended in AD 1865 look as if it didn't really happen.