Can you explain that further? I'm interested in the idea that our understanding of an idea like Marxism can improve the further away we are in time from it. That seems counter-intuitive.

It doesn't seem counter-intuitive to me that understanding improves with time. Quite the opposite. It's odd that you think that. Why wouldn't our understanding deepen with time to reflect, more information, and with the unfolding of events in history to reveal mysteries?

I don't agree that our understanding of ideas improves with time. For example, do we understand the teachings of Jesus better today than someone who heard them first hand?

I would argue no, because we don't have anywhere near the same life experiences as that audience. In addition, all our information has been mediated through the accounts of others with their own biases and every recounting makes it a little bit worse.

With this in mind your statement that someone "has an outdated view of Marxism" sounds odd to me, like someone saying "You have an outdated view of Christianity". Says who? Marx?