Communism And Communism Essay

Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx’s “Manifesto of the Communist Party” relays the ideas and principles surrounding communism and Marxism. According to Marx, “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed…” Marx describes the superior/inferior relationship between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie, yet another example of oppressor and oppressed. Marx emphasizes the importance of accumulation resulting in centralization, as well as the immense effect historical materialism has on the economy and the economic struggle. Upon reading and discussing the Communist Manifesto, the true theme and

China, Russia, and dictatorships are all things that come to mind when Communism is mentioned. The capitalist, brainwashed individual has been bred to shy away from communism and live a capitalist lifestyle. Capitalists grow up with tunnel vision that their economic system is the best and it is the only way a nation can survive; conversely, communism claims that capitalism will not last and that communism is the only answer to the greatly struggling economy. As a result of WWII, the US perceived Russia as a threat, leading to the Cold War. Americans soon became extremely opposed to communism and Russia. A majority of those that read Karl Marx’s Manifesto had a preconceived idea of what Communism was. For those that already understood communism and knew how it worked, they still received more insight upon reading the Manifesto. Reading the Manifesto revealed the true motive behind communism, and swayed some people to start to believe that communism is indeed the superior economic system. The preferred idea of capitalism was not completely eradicated from the minds of those that read the Manifesto, but they started to see the positives of communism. As discussion progressed throughout class, argument erupted, but at the end of the day, the class found it difficult to have a solid argument defying Marx. Reading the Manifesto allowed the class to truly understand what communism is, and it led to us questioning how capitalism has

They failed because they were not true communism. As the class continued to read the Manifesto, it became clearer that a true communist society is a classless society of equality. There will not be a ruling class. No individual is more equal than another. An argument that blossomed from this discussion revolved around the idea that there will always be someone higher in rank. According to communism, “No one person is more important than another.” However, there will always be someone more talented or more successful. Those people would use those talents and successes in order to better everyone as a whole. Those that read the Manifesto understood that concept and saw the consequences that could come from communism. A classless society would lead to a universal pay, and a majority of the class saw that as an irrational achievement. There will never be complete and total equality. People will have to change in order to achieve that visionary equality. As a class, there was a definite line between those that agreed with Marx, and those that only agreed with a fraction of his principles. The class did agree that within a communist society, the minority would be the middle-class, upper middle-class, and the rich, and those left would be the poor minority. As a