Manifesto of the Communist Party
Political Ideologies
The basic thought running through the manifesto is that all history has been a history of class struggles between the exploited and exploiting, between dominated and dominating classes at different stages of social evolution. (Slavery, Feudalism, Capitalism, Socialism, Communism). This struggle, however, is believed to have reached a stage where the exploited and oppressed class (the proletariat) can no longer liberate itself from the bourgeoisie. This thought belongs to Marx and Marx only as we've learned.
Communism is haunting Europe. Two things result from this:
Communism is already declared by all European powers to be itself a power.
It is time that Communists openly, publish their views, their aims, and their tendencies.
This manifesto was sketched by communists of various nationalities that assembled in London, and published it in English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish.
Bourgeois and Proletarians
The oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another. Each time this fight ended either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.
Now, class oppositions are simplified. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great aggressive (hostile) camps, into two great classes directly facing each other- the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
The first elements of the bourgeoisie developed during the middle ages. The discovery of America then opened up fresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie.
The modern bourgeoisie is itself the outcome of a long course development of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and exchange.
Each step in the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance in that class. "It has drowned out the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor (passion), of chivalrous (medieval knightly system) enthusiasm, of philistine (person who is hostile) sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation." So it also reduced the family relation into a mere money relation.
The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must settle everywhere, make connections everywhere. In place of the old wants, we find new wants; therefore a universal inter...
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...eases in number, it becomes concentrated in greater masses, therefore the workers begin to form "trade unions", they club together to keep up the rate of wages. Here and there the contest breaks into riots/chaos. (Revolt)
The real fruit of their battles is not in the immediate result, but in the expanding union of the workers. This union is helped on by the improved means of communication. Still, every class struggle is considered a political struggle.
The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense/huge majority. The proletariat, the lowest stratum of our present society, cannot stir, cannot raise itself up without the whole strata of official society being sprung into the air.
The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie.
Up to now, in every society we have seen the oppressing and he oppressed classes. The essential conditions for the existence and for the sway of the bourgeoisie class are the formation and expansion of capital; the condition for capital is wage-labor. Wage labor rests exclusively on competition between the laborers.
The antithesis would come with the unification of the proletariats, forming the trading unions. The role of synthesis is given to the emergence of political democracy and mass political parties. The time period from 1860 to 1914 is defined by the surfacing of the "mass societies." The social order practically ignored the industrial proletariat and the foundation for a reform was laid. The industrial proletariat refers to all the workers who desperately depended on their wages.
The Capitalists have their own idea of justice which suits their own needs and desires, evidently overlooking the waged class. This leading to the waged class forming their own concept of justice as Cohen points out “The exploited class… the proletariat, develops a conception of justice different from the prevailing one and arrives at a negative evaluation of the existing distribution of productive wealth and income.” (Cohen, M. 2014) on top of this Husami states: “it is valid… for the proletariat and its spokesmen to criticize capitalist distribution using proletarian standards of justice. Marx… offers such a critique.” (Husami, 1978). Through this argument, it shows that Marx condemned capitalism as unjust through the use of justice from the waged workers point of view. Marx was adamant that the capitalist state was only beneficial for the individuals who are able to exploit it in order to reach the top of the social
The Bourgeois emerged from “the ruins of feudal society” that once ruled Europe and went on to establish their rule the Industrial Revolution (textbook 708). The Industrial Revolution saw the innovation of the steam engine and machines that could do the same work skilled craftsmen did at half the price in factories. In his “Draft of Communist Confession of Faith” The Communist Manifesto co-author Friedrich Engels traces the development of the Proletariat
The changes accompany the transition from one epoch to another. In the late nineteenth century labor has become a commodity to the merchants, and the formation of a new mode of production has risen which gave rise to a capitalist society. There is a new class distinction between the laborer and those who owned the means of production.
In Marx’s opinion, the cause of poverty has always been due to the struggle between social classes, with one class keeping its power by suppressing the other classes. He claims the opposing forces of the Industrial Age are the bourgeois and the proletarians. Marx describes the bourgeois as a middle class drunk on power. The bourgeois are the controllers of industrialization, the owners of the factories that abuse their workers and strip all human dignity away from them for pennies. Industry, Marx says, has made the proletariat working class only a tool for increasing the wealth of the bourgeoisie. Because the aim of the bourgeoisie is to increase their trade and wealth, it is necessary to exploit the worker to maximize profit. This, according to Marx, is why the labor of the proletariat continued to steadily increase while the wages of the proletariat continued to steadily decrease.
According to Marx class is determined by property associations not by revenue or status. It is determined by allocation and utilization, which represent the production and power relations of class. Marx’s differentiate one class from another rooted on two criteria: possession of the means of production and control of the labor power of others. The major class groups are the capitalist also known as bourgeoisie and the workers or proletariat. The capitalist own the means of production and purchase the labor power of others. Proletariat is the laboring lower class. They are the ones who sell their own labor power. Class conflict to possess power over the means of production is the powerful force behind social growth.
The poem continues to talk about how weak the turtle is, saying that the turtle is “barely mobile” (2). However, Ryan’s metaphors argue the opposite: the turtle is actually a mentally and physically strong creature. First, Ryan calls
The latter part of the nineteenth century was teeming with evolved social and economical ideas. These views of the social structure of urban society came about through the development of ideals taken from past revolutions and the present clash of individuals and organized assemblies. As the Industrial Revolution steamed ahead paving the way for growing commerce, so did the widening gap between the class structure which so predominantly grasped the populace and their rights within the community. The development of a capitalist society was a very favorable goal in the eyes of the bourgeoisie. Using advancing methods of production within a system of free trade, the ruling middle class were strategically able to earn a substantial surplus of funds and maintain their present class of life. Thus, with the advancement of industry and the bourgeoisie's gain of wealth, a counter-action was undoubtably taking place. The resultant was the degradation of the working-class, of the proletarians whom provided labour to a middle-class only to be exploited in doing so. Exploitation is a quarrel between social groups that has been around since the dawn of mankind itself. The persecution of one class by another has historically allowed the advancement of mankind to continue. These clashes, whether ending with positive or negative results, allow Man to evolve as a species, defining Himself within the social structure of nature. Man's rivalry amongst one another allows for this evolution! through the production of something which is different, not necessarily productive, but differing from the present norm and untried through previous epochs.
The Communist Manifesto made the oppressed people aware of their status and called them to unite. It did this by outlining the history of classes and class struggle. The Communist Manifesto stated that society and history are shaped by class struggles and that two classes were present in 1848, the bourgeois and the proletariat. The document goes on to state that the bourgeois had created capitalism and were oppressing the proletariat.[1] Marx defines the proletariat as “an appendage of the machine”. [2] He recognized how the proletariats were being exploited and he brought it to the attention of the public. Not only does the Communist Manifesto point out that the proletariats were being exploited, it went a step further and called the proletariats to action. He called the working class the revolutionary class and told them that they had the power to fight the bourgeois.[3] The Communist Manifesto forced the Proletariats to recognize their exploitation. As a result the attitude of the proletariat was changed. Proof that the proletariats attitudes were changed comes from the widespread uprising of revolutions in Europe that followed the publication of the Communist Manifesto.
The Communist Manifesto was published in 1848, a period of political turmoil in Europe. Its meaning in today’s capitalistic world is a very controversial issue. Some people, such as the American government, consider socialism taboo and thus disregard the manifesto. They believe that capitalism, and the world itself, has changed greatly from the one Marx was describing in the Manifesto and, therefore, that Marx’s ideas cannot be used to comprehend today’s economy. Others find that the Manifesto highlights issues that are still problematic today. Marx’s predicative notions in the Communist Manifesto are the key to understanding modern day capitalism.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Trans. Paul M. Sweeny. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998.
Bender, Frederic L. Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ed. 1988.
The rich and the working class rely on each other, just as the capitol and labor also. By having both cooperate with each other will promote stability in society. Within the paper it states that the workers should be res...
Marx outlines the goals that the Marxists should strive toward. He states that they do not form a separate party from the other working class parties and serves only to protect the interests of the proletariat. Marx states that the only differences between the Communist party and other working class parties are that Communists serve the proletariat regardless of nationality and that Communists must always represent the movement as a whole. This way, Communists are the most driven of the working class parties because they have a clearly defined goal and standard operating procedure. This goal is the same as all other proletariat parties, as Marx
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