re: "Western Civilization" has demonstrated its superiority in many areas

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When I was in my undergraduate philosophy program, how I viewed reading Marx, Engels, Hegel, etc. was reading a thought experiment. Basically these guys writing out an elaborate "white if" scenario down on paper to address particular issues of their times.

I didn't agree with the direction they went, but it was fascinating reading nonetheless.

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Right. Lenin read Marx and saw he didn't account for all the ways capitalism changed, which meant he added to it, which formed the basis of the USSR and the Chinese.

On one level, it's important that those writers be read because they are fundamental in the history of ideas. But it's always important to contextualize those ideas, as without that context, or by actively removing that context, you can invite all sorts of insanity.