[trentmb]

Ironically non-inclusive, elitist language is a mainstay for leftists too.

EDIT: Read Marxists.org, it's incredibly unapproachable to the layman that didn't complete high school let alone middle school.

[allengeorge]

Elitist language can be used by any group to partition themselves from others. I'm sure many groups (formal and informal) do it.

That said, I believe there has to be a floor to the language level you choose, and it's reasonable to use "high school English" as that floor. Besides, I checked out that link (history section) and didn't see anything that screamed "overly clever"...

[morsch]

The comparison to marxist texts is more pointed if they were unapproachable not just to the layman, but to people proficient in (non-marxist) political economics -- which is arguably the case.

[mikeash]

I'm not sure why that's ironic. Extremists tend to have a lot in common in their overall approaches, even if they may be violently opposed on the specifics.