Marxism and Me

What really made the biggest impression of me from the unit on Marxism was the extent to which this ideology (can I use that word) pervades society and is all encompassing. With the exception of some Ayn Rand novels, I've never seen capitalist literature, or ever heard a teacher ask me to interpret a piece from a bourgeois perspective. Somehow, the tenets of Marxism have made it into popular literature, film and television, art, and of course, politics.
I think I didn't know how to word my impression of Marxist literary criticism until we read the essay by Raymond Williams. He accuses other Marxists of reductionism, and I think he's correct. The Marxist approach takes a piece and breaks it down according to a pretty normal formula. The proletariat is good, the bourgeoisie is evil, work is pure, etc. It seems to adapt literature to its belief system by reducing it to nothing but a piece of political and economic propaganda.
Most compelling in our reading of Marxism was the Marxist approaches to a number of different works, specifically Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (I'm just stuck on it). I like seeing the breakdown of the characters, their intentions, there class, and what that means for the story. In the case of Rudolph, I find it interesting that it can be interpreted with a Marxist bent because the history of Christmas in America is so soundly rooted in capitalism.
Reading Marx's works were probably the least compelling. His style of writing is so dense that it's really a major undertaking to push through even a single paragraph (which, because it's written by Marx is probably a very long paragraph). It's no fun to read something that takes you six or seven rereads just to begin to understand. I had previously wanted to read The Communist Manifesto, but after having experienced some of Marx's writing, I don't think I'll even be able to scratch the surface.
I know I already brought this question up in class, but it has been bothering me, and to me it seems to be a major question on Marxist literary criticism. In the world that Marx and Engels wanted to create, is there room for the bourgeois pursuits of art, literature, and "culture?" It seems like the answer to that question should determine how much stock to put in a Marxist critical interpretation.