When and Why Communism Emerged
Communism is a concept or system of society in which the major resources and means of production are owned by
the community rather than by individuals. This concept has been around since Plato's Republic, but it reemerged in
mid-19th century due to many causes. Some are more obvious than others, and in this paper I would like to discuss,
in length, when and why did communism emerge.
Some minor aspects of communism were seen in ancient Oriental societies. For example, there was an Oriental
commune which contained elements of "communal landed property," or the idea that all land belonged to the
community instead of the people. But that didn't get far at all, until the mid- 19th century, when the Communist
Manifesto was published.
The communist manifesto was the fuse that was lit, which in turn ignited all the explosives — the workers. The
manifesto was written in 1848, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and it basically criticized the bourgeoisie, by
giving lots of examples on how it is not fit to rule the country, and described all the advantages of communism. It
was divided into four main parts or chapters:
1. bourgeoisie and proletarians, the chapter in which Marx outlines his theory of history and predicts an end to
exploitation. He identifies class struggle as the primary dynamic in history. Driven by the logic of capitalism to seek
ever greater profit, the bourgeoisie- one class, constantly revolutionizes the means of economic production, and
therefore the other class suffers. The more advancements in production the greater the hostility on the worker's side,
since he gets the same wage, but the owner gets much more.
2. proletarians and communists, ...
... middle of paper ...
...ics and Revolution New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc., 1968
Secondary
Encarta Ecyclopedia '95 CD-Rom
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia CD-Rom
Encyclopedia Britanica
Bibliography:
Bibliography
Primary
1. Freedman, Robert The Marxist System New Jersey: Chatham House Publishers Inc., 1990
2. Hunley, J. D. The Life And Thought of Freidrich Engels New Haven: Yale University press, 1991
3. Marx, Karl Engels, Friedrich The Communist Manifesto New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1987
4. Gurley, John G. Challengers of Capitalism: Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing
Company, Inc., 1988
5. Connor, James E. Lenin: on Politics and Revolution New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc., 1968
Secondary
Encarta Ecyclopedia '95 CD-Rom
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia CD-Rom
Encyclopedia Britanica
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 Manifesto of the Communist Party is well known for its revolutionary zeal, but we often think of the proletariat as the revolutionary force. However, Marx and Engels suggest that the bourgeoisie also came about through revolution. In your own words, explain how the “bourgeoisie played a most revolutionary part.”
Marx states that the bourgeoisie not only took advantage of the proletariat through a horrible ratio of wages to labor, but also through other atrocities; he claims that it was common pract...
It goes on to show how gradually the old feudal division of classes has disappeared, and how modern society is divided simply into two classes, that of the capitalists or bourgeois class, and that of the proletariat; of the expropriators and expropriated; of the bourgeois class possessing wealth and power and producing nothing, of the labor-class that produces wealth but possesses nothing. The bourgeoisie, after using the proletariat to fight its political battles against feudalism, has used the power thus acquired to enslave the proletariat. (Ormerod, 2-3)
Communism is defined as a political and economical doctrine, the aim which is to abolish private ownership of property and for-profit enterprise and to replace these with public ownership and control of industry, agriculture, and resources (“Communism”). The product of this government is supposed to be a society free of class ranking based on wealth, property, and political power. The Soviet Union was the first country to test these governmental strategies and it did not take long for the regime to collapse. The inevitable collapse of communism led to the fall of the Berlin Wall; this started the domino effect of freedom that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
1. Communism: Communism is a political theory which was originally developed by Karl Marx. Communism is advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. After the revolution, when Nicholas II was overthrown, communism was used for the first time to rule Russia (“Soviet Government”).
The driving force of history is in the conflicts of social classes, the bourgeoisie and proletarians. The thriving relationships between different classes is what develops history. The struggles and hardship that the proletarians has
Common misperceptions have convinced Americans over the years that communism is corrupt form of government. In reality, the leaders of so called communist countries are corrupt. Communism is an economic system derived by Karl Marx, which in theory is composed of publicly owned property and wealth spread equally among the population. According to Merino in his preface to What Are Some Concerns About Capitalism?, “Communism’s defining feature is the public, or communal, ownership of capital” in which “the means of production owned and utilized by all for the common good” where there is no difference in the wealth between the people. Communism and capitalism have opposite values, while communism is beneficial for society as a whole, capitalism
Boyer, George R. "The Historical Background of the Communist Manifesto." Journal of Economic Perspectives. N.p., 1998. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
At the time of Marx, communism stiff fell under the category of socialism. During the last twenty-five years of the nineteenth century, there was a split in the Socialist Party, and communism began to be recognized as a movement of its own. The original Communists were small extremist grou...
He saw he bourgeoisie as nothing more than millionaires who sought to profit with the Industrial Revolution and the begging of globalization. Doing so at the expense of the proletariats, which can be explained as the working or lower class. Today we can compare the b...
The wealth, power, and prestige of the bourgeoisie, acquired mostly from their control of institutions, industries, and means of production, enabled them to force upon the proletariat their economic, political, and religious ideologies. These are the same ideologies "used to maintain certain social relations" (Eagleton 466). These very ideologies are what "make the masses loyal to the very institutions that are the source of their exploitation" (Tischler 16). Once the proletariat ceases to believe in or abide by those ideologies, revolt is inevitable, and the moment it occurs, so does the destruction or alteration of a single controlling and tyrannical power altogether. Thus, it can be said that "the bourgeoisie reign is doomed when economic conditions are ripe and when a working class united by solidarity, aware of its common interests and energized by an appropriate system of ideas, confronts its disunited antagonists" (Rideneir).
Karl Marx, a German philosopher, saw this inequality growing between what he called "the bourgeoisie" and "the proletariat" classes. The bourgeoisie was the middle/upper class which was growing in due to the industrial revolution, and the proletariats were the working class, the poor. These two classes set themselves apart by many different factors. Marx saw five big problems that set the proletariat and the bourgeoisie aside from each other. These five problems were: The dominance of the bourgeoisie over the proletariat, the ownership of private property, the set-up of the family, the level of education, and their influence in government. Marx, in The Communist Manifesto, exposes these five factors which the bourgeoisie had against the communist, and deals with each one fairly. As for the proletariat class, Marx proposes a different economic system where inequality between social classes would not exist.
Karl Marx focused on Capitalism and the rise of social conflict as the basis of modernity. Marx felt that capitalism through industrialization had increased the productive capability of the economy. Nevertheless, he also felt that capitalism produced two opposing classes of people. The first class, who owned and controlled the means of production and hired laborers, were known as the Bourgeoisie. The second class, who were com...
Communism is a system of government, a political ideology that rejects private ownership and promotes a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of all property and the means of production, where by all work is shared and all proceeds are commonly owned. Communism is practised in China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. However most of the world’s communist governments have been disbanded since the end of World War II. Soon after the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II, Communist forces began a war against the Kuomintang in China. The Communists gradually gained control of the country and on the 1st October, 1949, Mao Zedong announced the victory of the Communist party and the establishment of the People's Republic of China. China has been ruled by the Communist party ever since.