I'm guessing it was to excuse him from the atrocities commited in his name. I'm a big believer in personal responsiblity and don't blame a bitter, cranky journalist for Lenin, Stalin and Mao's crimes. I blame them.
I agree. Marx was a 'good journalist' but he didn't know squat about economics or human nature. He saw problems and devised simplistic solutions based emotion and complete ignorance of the dynamics that created those problems. The shame was that he was such a good writer that some people thought he knew what he was talking about.