Essay on The Communist Manifesto

Marx begins by writing, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. (Jones, 219)” The existing society was divided between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat, as I stated before. The Bourgeoisie consisted of the social class who owns the means of production. The Proletariat consisted of wage-laborers who have no means of production of their own and they are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live (Jones 219). As you can see the bourgeoisie had the upper hand because they were the people who were mainly in charge of the proletariat. Marx believed that the

I’m sure you all are familiar with the concept of communism, and perhaps how it is the staple of Russia and the society that was the Soviet Union (which failed). However, the Communist Manifesto was composed by two German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published in London in the year of 1848. It essentially says that our lives should be governed by us, and that all property shall be publicly owned. All citizens of the nation must work and are paid according to their abilities and needs. It sounds enticing, sounds like it’ll work. That was the basis of their philosophy. But, a society in which there is an absolute power, in this case the working class, is the fault. It simply won’t work. It breeds absolute corruption. We’ve all probably heard that

The Communist Manifesto, originally drafted as, “Manifesto of the Communist Party”, is a pamphlet written by Karl Marx, that in essence reflects an attempt to explain the goals and objectives of Communism, while also explaining the concrete theories about the nature of society in relation to the political ideology. The Communist Manifesto breaks down the relationship of socio-economic classes and specifically identifies the friction between those classes. Karl Marx essentially presents a well analyzed understanding of class struggles and the issues concerning capitalism, the means and modes of production and how those means affect the classes as a whole.

     Quite clearly, Marx is concerned with the organization of society. He sees that the majority of society, more specifically, the proletariat, are living in sub-human conditions. Marx also sees that the bourgeoisie have a disproportionate amount of property and power, and because of that, they abuse it. He writes of how the current situation with the bourgeoisie and proletariat developed. "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." There has always been struggles the between two classes, an upper and lower class. However, Marx speaks of the current order saying,

As the bourgeois advanced financially, they also gained political influence. They progressed from a once oppressed class to an independent urban republic. As their political influence increased, certain changes became clear. The bourgeois had “torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation (Marx).” This force eventually grew to the point that it was able to force other nations to conform to its values and methods or suffer extinction. As the bourgeois became richer, the proletarians began to suffer more. The balance of property began to shift even more rapidly than before leaving property “concentrated…in a few hands (Marx).” Eventually, the super-efficient production of the manufacturing economy began to take its toll on the bourgeois as well as the proletarians. More goods were produced due to the cheaper costs and ease of manufacture leading to an over-production of goods (Marxism). Over-production became a serious problem, resulting with widespread unemployment of the proletarians, and threats of a revolution on the horizons.

Therefore, it can be simplified down to this: the proletariat is always working not for himself but for the bourgeoisie in order to survive, producing products that will not only be taken away from them but decrease their human value as well. If one is to assign a monetary value to a proletariat’s life, for example a hundred dollars, each time the proletariat works, a dollar will be decreased from his total value and in the end he is basically left with nothing. However, since the bourgeoisie is the capitalist, he gains from the products produced by the proletariat and increases his own wealth as well. This inequality is why Marx believes there should be a classless society because the bourgeoisie will continue to exploit the hard working proletariats until they void themselves of any human value. It is unfair to have a minority ruling wealthy class over a majority class of working laborers. However, Davis and Moore disagree with how it is unfair to have a wealthy class ruling over the working class.

Although the relationship between the classes was based highly on economic standards set by society, Marx described the class relationships as social exploitation rather than an object of the labor market.5 Marx’s class relationship is described “in these two ways the worker becomes a slave to his object: firstly he receives an object of labor, that is he receives labor, and secondly, he receives the means of subsistence.”6 Marx believed that the Bourgeoisie would eventually lose its power to the working class, which would rebel against its exploitation and eventually bring about the creation of a middle class.

Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels' Communist Manifesto is one of the world's most influential pieces of political literature. The manifesto was created for the purpose of outlining the aims and goals of the "The Communist League". The Communist League was made up of radical proletariats who were fed up with the bourgeoisie social order and sought to overthrow them. The manifesto is known to have been written by Marx and assisted and edited by Engel therefore the many ideas and theories expressed by this work are known as Marxism. Marxism has many poignant views on changing society and its class structure, and what needs to be done to achieve these changes. The Marxism theories do fall

Marx’s primarily aims to explain how communism will free men, end the class struggle. The work argues that class struggles, and the exploitation of one class by another is the source of all inequality. Marx’s theories become one the motivating force behind all historical developments. The work strongly advocates the freedom of the proletariats which Marx’s claims can only be achieved when property and other goods cease to be privately owned. He see’s that private property has been a problem through out history, capital that aids the ruling class to maintain control. Marx argues that the lower class come together in a revolution and gain power and eventually take the power away from the upper class.

Marx understanding of society shift into modernism lead to develop a form of communism that would come to be known as Marxism, communism is the economic thought of Marxism. Marx understands that Modernism calls for society to embrace equality for the betterment of society. Part of the problem with Capitalism comes from its exploitation of the working class; Marx understands this problem to be a vein of Pre-modernism and not a pillar of Modernism. Marx calls for the working class to rise up over their bourgeoisie oppressors and seize the equality that rightfully belongs to them. “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – bourgeoisie and proletariat. (Communist pg. 9)” If society wants to embrace modernism, then society needs to shift its focus from fighting each other and one exploiting another to a classless society. Marx highly criticizes the bourgeoisie in The Communist Manifesto, and this stems from the problems they created for themselves and for the rest of society. In their attempt to gain more power, land, and resources, their material conditions, upon the prominence which their families had been formed, were dissipating due to the lack of foresight and selfish greed. If the Bourgeoisie continues to exploit the proletariat then society will head to conflict, as is expected of Pre-modernism, but if the Bourgeoisie cease its exploitation and relinquish its power for the group,

Marx viewed society as a conflict between two classes in competition for material goods. He looked at the history of class conflicts and determined that the coming of the industrial age was what strengthened the capitalist revolution. Marx called the dominant class in the capitalist society the bourgeoisie and the laborers the proletariat. The bourgeoisie owned or controlled the means of production, exploited laborers, and controlled the goods produced for its own needs. He believed that the oppressed class of laborers was in a position to organize itself against the dominating class. He felt that it was the course of nature, that is, it is the way that society evolves and that the communist society would be free of class conflict, "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." (Marx & Engels 1948, 37)

Police will not be needed and people can live in harmony. Marx¡¦s theory won many supports from many countries and political parties throughout the world in the 20th century. They believed that Marx¡¦s theory Marx¡¦s idealism of communism will lead to a utopia world, and many believed that communism will eventually replace capitalism. Although the idea of communism was accepted, several years later, people were starting the reject the idea, because there is economic development to be considered. Under communism, people get the same property and income no matter how much work they have done. As a result, the economy will never be improved because people will not try their best to work.

Though Marx’s theories were first conceived over 150 years ago, his work continues to be tremendously influential and is perhaps the most well known scholarship within the sociological canon. Despite their prominence, some of Marx’s most famous ideas have yet to be proven by the course of history. Neo-Marxists may insist that the revolution is coming, but the fact remains that the overthrow of capitalism has yet to materialize. I argue that the communist revolution has not yet occurred because the proletariat has been unable to develop the universal class consciousness that Marx asserts is a necessary condition for his predicted mass uprising. Additionally, I postulate that the theories of Weber and Simmel reveal the factors impeding

     If the workers will not work there is no capital to invest in anything. Once the workers are fed up with their situations and realize there is a need to get together for a revolution and change of labor, the bourgeoisie will have lost everything it owns; and that will lead to the end of a class based society. “In Communist society, accumulated labor is but means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existence of the laborer” (68). The accumulated labor in Communism is not just to benefit one and only one person; but it is to benefit the workers as well as the employer. Everyone will be rewarded according to how hard they work and people will have the equal chance of moving up the social ladder. “In the place of the old bourgeoisie society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all” (76). Workers will have independence and freedom of labor; and each person is seen as an individual that is part of a bigger and greater society.

There is a threat haunting Europe- a threat on communism. All of the powerful countries in Europe have created an alliance to fight communism. The Pope and Tsar, the Metternich and Guizot, and the French Radicals and German police-spies have all turned against communism.