The Communist Manifesto was published just before the European Revolutions of 1848. It was meant as a statement of purpose for Marx's newly formed Communist League and its straightforward, even prophetic, tone is that of a man confidently explaining to a confused world the reasons for a tumult which had not yet begun. Why is he so sure of himself? The answer to this depends on Marx's deterministic view of history.
Marx inherited from his philosophical father, Hegel, the idea of historical progress (.http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/about_karl_marx.html). Both believed that human history unfolds according to a distinct series of historical stages, each following the other. These stages ultimately lead to a prearranged Utopian endpoint, after which there will be no more change and an end to history. Unlike Hegel, though, Marx thought that these stages can be predicted, because there are scientific laws, discoverable by empirical methods, which manage the development of history. In such a universe, people are merely enhancing or resisting the birth of a new historical period, unable to change the nature of the end product. Marx believed that he had discovered these laws and the fall of capitalism and the victory of communism.
According to Marx, the course of human history takes a very specific form: class struggle (Marx, 79). The facilitator of change in history is class antagonism. Historical eras are defined by the relationship between different classes at different points in time. It is this model that Marx seeks out in his account of feudalism's submission to bourgeois capitalism and his prediction of bourgeois capitalism's fal...
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...ce and virtue are not really appropriate. If so, why does Marx look forward to the end of history and even work to quicken its coming? From what perspective is Marx's judgment made if not from that of any one class? Though this is an important question, it is not addressed in The Communist Manifesto. Ultimately, Marx's answer to this question depends on his ideas about human nature and his clarification of the ethical consequences of capitalism and his theory of alienation. With no expansion on these particular theories, Marx's eagerness to incite violence to benefit the proletariat is without understandable rationalization.
Works Cited
ClassicNotes: Karl Marx
http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/about_karl_marx.html
Marx believed in socialism and that communism would eventually follow. He argued that social theorists and underprivileged people should topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic change. This is the ‘change we can believe in’ touted by Obama.
Marx sees history as a struggle between classes: “Oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes” (Marx and Engles 14).
Karl Marx 's writing of ‘The Communist Manifesto’ in 1848 has been documented by a vast number of academics as one of the most influential pieces of political texts written in the modern era. Its ideologically driven ideas formed the solid foundation of the Communist movement throughout the 20th century, offering a greater alternative for those who were rapidly becoming disillusioned and frustrated with the growing wealth and social divisions created by capitalism. A feeling not just felt in by a couple of individuals in one society, but a feeling that was spreading throughout various societies worldwide. As Toma highlights in his work, Marx felt that ‘capitalism would produce a crisis-ridden, polarized society destined to be taken over by
From the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century major historical events such as the Industrial revolution had occurred. During this period of time Europe was switching into an economy that is focused mostly on the industrial field. From this emerged two social-economic classes, the rich bourgeoisie and the poor proletariats. Furthermore, tension brewed between the two groups since the bourgeoisie source of wealth was from the exploitation of the proletariats. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ book
The Communist Manifesto, written in 1848, provided the views of Karl Marx on humans and nature. For the time in which the document was written, the ideas of Marx were very radical to society. The ongoing struggle between the Proletarians( the working class) and the Bourgeois( the owners) prompted Marx to develop a solution to this social problem. His solution to this historical problem was to create a capitalist nation, which in the end would result in a Communist nation. He wanted to help the social status of the working class, because he felt that they were being taken advantage of by the owners. The document also discusses the role of humans and their interaction with nature.
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.
Marx views history as being determined by economics, which for him is the source of class differences. History is describe in The Communist Manifesto as a series of conflicts between oppressing classes and oppressed classes. According to this view of history, massive changes occur in a society when new technological capabilities allow a portion of the oppressed class to destroy the power of the oppressing class. Marx briefly traces the development of this through different periods, mentioning some of the various oppressed and oppressing classes, but points out that in earlier societies there were many differentiations of social classes. Marx sees the modern age as being distinguished from earlier periods by the simplifications of the class conflict, splitting up society into two great hostile groups: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Marx’s perspective was not based on the conflict of ideas, but rather on the conflict of classes. This conflict is the results of a new mode of production. According to Marx, history would consist of epochs of modes of production. He states that these modes of production are: primitive communism, slave society, feudalism, capitalism, and then socialism and communism.
"SOCY 151 - Lecture 12 - Marx's Theory of History." Open Yale Courses. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
He does not want violence to exist or other type of social problems to affect people’s well living. Eagleton states that “it believes in the possibility of a perfect society, without hardship, suffering, violence or conflict. Under communism there will be no rivalry, selfishness, passiveness, competition or inequality. Nobody will be superior or inferior to anyone else” (64). Eagleton discusses various points that clarify the way Karl Marx explains his purposes of changing the future. Well, he wants people to live better in a way where they feel comfortable and they would not be scared by the presence of violence to suddenly appear and hurt their loved ones. First, Eagleton mentions The German Ideology, where “he rejects the idea of communism as an ideal to which reality will have to adjust itself” (65). Marx wanted communism to stop being guided from someone that would not let it be extendable to a better future. Second, Marx mentions The Civil War in France, “Marx writes that the revolutionary workers have no ideals to realize, but to set free the elements of the new society with which the old collapsing bourgeois society is itself pregnant. The hope for a better future cannot just be wistful “wouldn’t be nice if…” if it is to be more than an idle fantasy, a radically different future must be not only desirable, but feasible; and to be feasible, it has to be anchored in the realities of the present” (69). With his
This manifesto was written to give voices to the proletariat (wage worker) class working under the bourgeoisie (capitalist middle class). Marx and Engels’ stated “Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist
"History is nothing but the succession of separate generations, each of which exploits the materials, capital, and productive forces handed down to it by all preceding generations." Marx resists any abstraction from this idea, believing that his materialistic ideas alone stand supported by empirical evidence which seems impossible to the Hegelian. His history then begin...
The political philosopher believed that communism could only thrive in a society distressed by “the political and economic circumstances created by a fully developed capitalism”. With industry and capitalism growing, a working class develops and begins to be exploited. According to Marx, the exploiting class essentially is at fault for their demise, and the exploited class eventually comes to power through the failure of capitalism.... ... middle of paper ...
He developed the socio-political theory of Marxism. One of his most famous works is The Communist Manifesto, which he co-wrote with Friedrich Engels. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx discusses his theories on society, economics and politics. He believed that “all societies progress through the dialectic of class struggle”. He criticized capitalism, and referred to it as the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie".
He saw communism as a way for all people to be truly free and equal. There would be no more class discrimination and everyone would have resourced based on what is needed. He exclaimed that communism would give individuals the freedoms that the bourgeoisie denied them. While this is what Karl Marx predicted and believed would be successful, the reality over time has taken a much different path proving that Marx’s ideas cannot be accurately applied