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Strange,
I have a few questions regarding for you:
1) Are you advocating a move from capitalism to communism?
Given your knowledge of Marxism, I find it strange that you haven't brought out his belief that we can't move from one phase to another by skipping an important transition--in this case, socialism. I wonder if you disagree with Marx on this point. If so, why?
2) Marx specifically argued that capitalism was a necessary engine of growth. I believe this should have been your response to the point raised in regards to the utility of competition. That is, Marx would agree with that assessment and wouldn't argue that competition should be squelched. Rather, he argued that capitalism was more fair than feudalism and that, once we had enough technology and desire, we could shift to the next (more fair) system of government. Only after that period would we be able to dismantle government and move towards a system that allows us to reach our species-being.
Creativity allows people to act according to their nature, not create growth. When everyone's needs are met, growth is no longer necessary. Don't dilute your message by warping it to the demands of a capitalist paradigm--that growth is a necessary component to productive (production can be defined as creativity and innovation rather than development, although one's understanding of these concepts may imply an overlap) society.
3) The critique I have of Marx's argument is that he was too influenced by a Darwinian paradigm. That is, he believed, due to the limited information he had access to, that societies progressed in linear fashion. We now know that societies fluctuate and co-exist with various types of economic structures. For example, we find evidence of "primative" societies smack in the middle of highly industrialied societies. I think his model needs to recognize that economic structures do not progress in a purely linear fashion. That said, it may be possible to shift from a capitalist society to a communist one--I just wanted your opinion as to whether you thought that was possible. I'm not quite certain one way or the other, to be honest.
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"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." -- Abbie Hoffman
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