Capitalism: The Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx

Capitalism is a system where the sole goal is for private owners to gain profit. In the 1930s’ Dust Bowl, private owners, such as farm owners did not pay laborers enough money. In addition, minimum wage laws did not begin until 1938. Wages dropped so low because of the contradicting owner and laborer goals. Moreover, the stock market crash caused demand to drop and jobs to disappear. Overproduction also contributed to elimination of jobs. The wage gap between the wealthy and poverty further increased over time. Despite, the huge elimination of many jobs during the stock market crash, the changing seasons created some cotton and fruit picking jobs because certain plants are ripe for a certain period. However, laborers had to travel to other states or even countries to look for jobs only to face ostracization from the natives. In pursuit of capitalistic goals, the government promoted harmful DDT chemicals and nuclear weapons to keep the chemical and weapons industry alive.

During the Industrial Revolution, a man named Adam Smith wrote the Wealth of Nations, in which entails the idea that job specialization makes society great. Approximately 70 years later, a man named Karl Marx writes the Communist Manifesto, which totally disagrees with Smith’s thinking and says that specialization is bad for society.  The strengths and weaknesses of Smith’s argument are to be followed by Marx’s ideas that contain some  weaknesses but is overall the best argument. Marx believes that all people are born equal, but due to resources and opportunities scarcely available, few people can succeed by which they must exploit the rest of the world.

He begins trying to use a sort of a reverse psychology, by saying the communists do not write their principles specifically for the proletarians. Rather, just by chance, the communist vision is perfect for the proletarians to use. He said the problem of all other societies before this time have been a battle between the oppressors versus the oppressed. The basis of these battles has been property. So Communism looks to get rid of different classes in society. Therefore getting rid of different property levels or class levels. Marx says it best by “In sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.” He says with no private property there will be no reason to fight or feud.

Marx's theory on Capitalist exploitation is an incredibly deep theory, but to explain it in a nutshell, it is that the working-class people are improperly compensated for their work. The rich, the higher-ups, they continue to expand their wealth by exploiting the working class, the Capitalist system not only allows but effectively demands that Capitalists increase their wealth, long-term or short-term, whether at the cost of the working-class or not. There are three “values” to take into consideration, the use-value, the exchange-value and the

Marx’s primarily aims to explain how communism will free men, end the class struggle. The work argues that class struggles, and the exploitation of one class by another is the source of all inequality. Marx’s theories become one the motivating force behind all historical developments. The work strongly advocates the freedom of the proletariats which Marx’s claims can only be achieved when property and other goods cease to be privately owned. He see’s that private property has been a problem through out history, capital that aids the ruling class to maintain control. Marx argues that the lower class come together in a revolution and gain power and eventually take the power away from the upper class.

Karl Marx, in the Capital, developed his critique of capitalism by analyzing its characteristics and its development throughout history. The critique contains Marx’s most developed economic analysis and philosophical insight. Although it was written in 1850s, its values still serve an important purpose in the globalized world and maintains extremely relevant in the twenty-first century.

Marx understanding of society shift into modernism lead to develop a form of communism that would come to be known as Marxism, communism is the economic thought of Marxism. Marx understands that Modernism calls for society to embrace equality for the betterment of society. Part of the problem with Capitalism comes from its exploitation of the working class; Marx understands this problem to be a vein of Pre-modernism and not a pillar of Modernism. Marx calls for the working class to rise up over their bourgeoisie oppressors and seize the equality that rightfully belongs to them. “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – bourgeoisie and proletariat. (Communist pg. 9)” If society wants to embrace modernism, then society needs to shift its focus from fighting each other and one exploiting another to a classless society. Marx highly criticizes the bourgeoisie in The Communist Manifesto, and this stems from the problems they created for themselves and for the rest of society. In their attempt to gain more power, land, and resources, their material conditions, upon the prominence which their families had been formed, were dissipating due to the lack of foresight and selfish greed. If the Bourgeoisie continues to exploit the proletariat then society will head to conflict, as is expected of Pre-modernism, but if the Bourgeoisie cease its exploitation and relinquish its power for the group,

There is deep substance and many common themes that arose throughout Marx’s career as a philosopher and political thinker. A common expressed notion throughout his and Fredrick Engels work consists of contempt for the industrial capitalist society that was growing around him during the industrial revolution. Capitalism according to Marx is a “social system with inherent exploitation and injustice”. (Pappenheim, p. 81) It is a social system, which intrinsically hinders all of its participants and specifically debilitates the working class. Though some within the capitalist system may benefit with greater monetary gain and general acquisition of wealth, the structure of the system is bound to alienate all its

As capitalist societies expanded, Marx argued that exploitation amongst workers became more apparent. Marx believed that the only way to get rid of the exploitation, oppression and alienation was for a revolution amongst the proletariat workers. Marx suggests that it is only when the means of production are communally owned, that class divisions among the masses will disappear.

Marx wished to emancipate the Proletariat and ultimately develop a class-consciousness, which respects the lower class. “In Marxism the division of society into classes is determined by position within the process of production.”7 The goal was to eliminate the property of all individuals, because private property is what keeps the Proletariat enslaved. The Bourgeoisie dominated control of the property and capital distribution, which hindered the advancement of the Proletariat. Marx believed that the Proletariat must abolish capitalism in order to destroy the Bourgeoisie culture and aspects of the upper class, such as aspects of family, religion, and

In the chapter, “Manifesto of the Communist Party” in The Marx-Engels Reader book, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had broken up the topic of the Communist Party up to four parts: 1. “Bourgeois and Proletarians”, 2. “Proletarians and Communists”, 3. “Socialist and Communist Literature”, and 4. “Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties.” In this essay, I’ll be focusing on the first two parts of the “Manifesto” since there are so much information to cover within three to four pages. To begin I would like to summarize, “Bourgeois and Proletarians” was about the vicious cycle of the proletariats having to constantly fight the socioeconomic classes above them considering that they are always exploited, yet they have no norms (“appropriation”) of their own to secure or embrace. “Proletarians and Communists” was where Marx and Engels define what Communism is, how it relates to the Proletarians, and how Communism works (or would work). History can be trace back to the class/political struggles; the oppressed fighting against their oppressors; the “subordinate gradations”. Subordinate gradation was defined as a social rank, where the highest power is at the top and the weakest is at the bottom. However, when old subordinate gradation falls another one would rise, that was the cycle. Marx and Engels went on to make a statement that the current class antagonisms are between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The proletariat is defined as the

Karl Marx is the first in a series of 19th and 20th century theorists who started the call for an empirical approach to social science. Theorizing about the rise of modernity accompanied by the decline in traditional societies and advocating for a change in the means of production in order to enable social justice. Marx’s theories on modernity reveals his beliefs of modern society as being influenced by the advancement of productive forces of modern industry and the relationships of production between the capitalist and the wage laborers. The concept of modernity refers to a post-feudal historical period that is characterized by the move away from feudalism and toward capitalism. Modernity focuses on the affects that the rise of capitalism has had on social relations, and notes Karl Marx and Max Weber as influential theorists commenting on this. The quick advancement of major innovations after the Enlightenment period known as modernity stood in stark contrast to the incremental development of even the most complex pre-modern societies, which saw productive forces developing at a much slower pace, over hundreds or thousands of years as compared to modern times, with swift growth and change. This alarming contrast fascinated Marx who traced the spawning of modern capitalism in the Communist Manifesto, citing this record speed as the heat which generated the creation of the global division of labor and a greater variety of productive forces than anytime before. Ultimately,

Though Marx views the communist revolution as an unavoidable outcome of capitalism, his theory stipulates that the proletariat must first develop class consciousness, or an understanding of its place within the economic superstructure. If this universal character of the proletariat does not take shape, then the revolution cannot be accomplished (1846: 192). This necessary condition does not pose a problem within Marx’s theoretical framework, as the formation of class consciousness is inevitable in Marx’s model of society. His writings focus on the idea that economic production determines the social and political structure (1846, 1859). For Marx, social class represents a person’s relation to the means of production, a relation that he believes is independent of

The definition of utopia is an ideally perfect place especially in its social, political, and moral aspects (dictionary.com). This paper will discuss the changes in capitalism since Marx’s critique in 1848. Marx’s fundamental critique remains correct today. Marx is still correct about his critique of capitalism because even though there have been changes made to capitalism to prevent some abuses, capitalism still produces inequality, reduces the family relationship, destroys small business, and enslaves.

     In the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx explains his historical vision of a revolutionary class struggle between Bourgeois and Proletarians. His views are highlighted from the very beginning “The History of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles” (50). Focusing on the development and eventual destruction of the bourgeoisie, which was the dominant class of his day, and the rise of the working class, that of the Proletarians.