Marxism was never scientific. Not the way we conceive of science today as empirical. It was scientistic. Its claim to science lay in it's use of Hegelian dialectic.The crux of Marxist theory is that it represents a scientific analysis of history and social relations. The question that Marxists must ask themselves today is whether the politics of ethno-nationalism, hatred of women, and broader xenophobia sound particularly scientific to them. If not then maybe it's time to recognize that there is nothing particularly scientific about Marxist analysis itself It's just a plea to any of my old friends who may be reading this (I've posted it elsewhere too) to question the merits of authoritarian politics.