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Marx and engels world working toward communism
marx and engels on the good of communism
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Friedrich Engels' Life and Beliefs Revolutionaries are not necessarily born but are made. Friedrich Engels is an excellent example of this because his history and family life does not reflect his career path. Unlike Marx, he was born of a “well-to-do” authoritarian textile manufacturer on November 28, 1820 in Barmen, Germany. By the age of fifteen his parents were very concerned with his behavior. In a letter written by his father he was said to have had a “lack of character” and “other unpleasant qualities”. Friedrich was receiving substandard grades, and he was disobedient despite the strict discipline at home. His father saw promise in him despite his disobedience, but was continuously troubled by his son’s actions. These acts can be seen as a sign of his future rebellion toward society. [ii] Friedrich Engels’ biographical information is important to know because it gives the reader and understanding of what shaped Engels’ views in the Communist Manifesto. The Prussian Province in which Engels was raised was the most industrialized place in Germany at the time. This gave Engels the ability to see the growing aspect of capitalism in society. He soon noticed the conflict between the labor and management. Even in his early years he showed concern for “social injustices”.[iii] Everyday when he went to school, he passed factories where workers “ ‘breathed in more smoke and out more dust than oxygen’, where children were imprisoned from the age of six, to be ‘victims of capitalist exploitation’.” [iv] He saw the poor work from morning until night and the homeless who slept in stables or on dung heaps. He watched as society escaped reality by slipping into a state of drunkenness each evening. He noticed the fierce competition among the industries creating an even more demanding atmosphere that showed no improvement in the current situation. His keen observations drove him to take action, especially since he was the son of a factory owner.[v] He worked as a business apprentice during the day hours, and in 1842 he eventually traveled to England to learn commerce and management. In his spare time he visited the workers’ quarters in Manchester where he saw the same exploitation of the working class as he did back in Germany. Grief stricken families lived in filth and poverty because of the controlling bourgeoisie. These experiences continued to play a large role in shaping his political views.
In The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the two German philosophers saw history as the struggle between the working class and the Bourgeois, or middle class (textbook 708). The Communist Manifesto was written in 1848, during the peak of the Industrial Revolution, a time when the Bourgeois made huge profits in manufacturing at the expense of the working class. According to Marx and Engels, the fruits of the Industrial Revolution created a new class of the oppressed modern working class, the Proletariat, which had never before existed because it was neither like serfdom or slave hood in that it was dependent on the Bourgeois to hire them for wage labor. This was the class the two philosophers envisioned would set off a revolution that would overthrow capitalism to end the perpetual class struggle and create a fair society known as Communism.
The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is a short publication that contains Marx’s and Engel’s theories on the nature of society and politics, as well as class struggle, problems with capitalism, and how to slowly change the government from capitalist to socialist and finally communist. The start of the first chapter in the essay, "Bourgeois and Proletarians", states ‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles’ (...
The Marx-Engels Reader by Robert C. Tucker is an anthology containing essential writings of German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Major writing selections are to understand Marx perspective about history and society, such as The German Ideology. Marx introduces his historical materialism philosophy in the German Ideology: Part 1 of this book, where he proposes communism. Although I agree with a few points Marx gives, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that communism is the only way to become truly free. Marx suggest abolishing private property ownership and remove economic power from the hands of privileged people to accomplish freedom.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader . 2d ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
Marx, Karl. Reflections of a Young Man on the Choice of a Profession . : , 1835.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
Selsam, Howard, and Harry Martel. Reader in Marxist Philosophy: From the Writings of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. New York: International, 1963. Print.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Communist Manifesto explores class struggles and their resulting revolutions. They first present their theory of class struggle by explaining that “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx 14), meaning that history is a repeated class struggle that only ends with a revolution. Marx and Engels’ message in The Communist Manifesto is that it is inevitable for class struggles to result in revolutions, ultimately these revolutions will result in society’s transition to communism.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/germany/index.htmWritten: 1851-1852; First Published: New York Tribune, 1851-1852, as book, 1896; Edited: Eleanor Marx Aveling; Transcribed: Sally Ryan 1999; HTML Markup: Sally Ryan 1999; Proofed and corrected: Mark Harris 2010.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Trans. Paul M. Sweeny. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998.
Since 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell and Eastern European Communism came to an end, many of those who have lived through or bore witness to communism published their experiences to the public through media. These personal accounts tell, for the most part, of repressive and manipulative governments that constantly abused their power. Since the original goal for communism was equality, the East German government clearly corrupted the hopes that Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had for the future of the Eastern European government and society.
Born in 1818 in Prussia, Karl Marx was a philosopher, journalist, historian, sociologist, economist, and revolutionary socialist. Marx is most notably known for founding socialism, a system of society in which no property is held as private, and his economic works, like the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. His fundamental ideas, later known as Marxism, created the base of Socialist and Communist movements throughout the world. Marx also had a very close friend named Friedrich Engels. Engels, born in 1820 in Prussia, was philosopher and collaborator of Karl Marx. Engels helped Marx co-author The Communist Manifesto and edit Das Kapital. Throughout The Communist Manifesto, key themes are showcased in Marx and Engels’s argument on economics. The major argument is for Communism. Marx states that Capitalism
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. "The German Ideology." The Marx-Engels Reader. Ed. Robert C. Tucker. New York: Norton, 1978. 146-200. Print
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "The Communist Manifesto." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 769-773.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "The Communist Manifesto." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 769-773.