Marx 's The Communist Manifesto

Marx begins by writing, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. (Jones, 219)” The existing society was divided between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat, as I stated before. The Bourgeoisie consisted of the social class who owns the means of production. The Proletariat consisted of wage-laborers who have no means of production of their own and they are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live (Jones 219). As you can see the bourgeoisie had the upper hand because they were the people who were mainly in charge of the proletariat. Marx believed that the

     Marx describes the problem in great detail in the first chapter. He feels there is a problem between the bourgeoisie and the proletarians. The bourgeoisie were the oppressed class before the French Revolution and he argues that they are now the oppressors. The proletarians are the new working class, which works in the large factory and industries. He says that through mass industry they have sacrificed everything from the old way of religion, employment, to a man’s self worth and replaced it with monetary value. He is mad that the people of ole that use to be upper class such as skills man, trades people, & shopkeepers, are now slipping into the proletarians or working class. He

In Chapter 2, "Proletariats and Communists," Marx elaborates the social changes communists hope to effect on behalf of the proletariat. Marx notes firstly that the interests of communists do not differ from the interests of the proletariat as a class; they seek only to develop class-consciousness in the proletariat, a necessary condition of eventual proletariat emancipation. The primary objective of communists and the revolutionary proletariat is the abolishment of private property, for it is this that keeps them enslaved. Bourgeois economics, capitalism (a system based on owning your own property that you buy and make profits off of whatever you sale) requires that the owners of the means of production compensate workers only enough to ensure their mere physical subsistence and reproduction. In other words, the existence of bourgeois property, or capital as Marx calls it, relies on its radically unequal distribution. The only way the proletariat can free itself

The debate between how society is formed and how it should be formed has always been a point of contention among people. When a society is formed, there is a constant struggle between the proletariat, the working class population, and the bourgeoisie, the upper class of society with significant capital. One of the better known ideologies is Marxism, which explains how a nation should form itself to develop a communist society. Karl Marx illustrates his ideas of Marxism in The Communist Manifesto. A point of controversy within the Communist Manifesto addresses how nationalism does not help form the communist state but rather rhetorically seeks to deny the sense of nationality. The writings of Benedict Anderson are about how the nation state manifests itself through the spread of nationalism in his book, Imagined Communities. In Anderson’s book, nationalism helps create a community and a sense of unique identity for the population within that community. Marxism shares a common ground with Anderson’s imagined political community, despite denying the existence of nationalism within the emergence of communist communities.

Marx starts his book off by outlining what is happening to society. He states that “society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two hostile camps, into two great classes facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.” Here, he is portraying that society has divided themselves and are on the verge of fighting, hence him saying “two hostile camps”. He is describing the fact that, according to him, money is driving us to fight. Bourgeoisie, by Marx’s definition, means “the capitalist class who owns most of society's wealth and means of production”. He posits that this class has title to all of the people below them because they own the means of production. These people under

To understand the arguments and theories of Karl Marx in “The Communist Manifesto”, one must know the difference between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Due to the discovery of new land and the opening of markets, the bourgeoisie arose and with it the proletariat. The bourgeoisie is made up of business/property owners and the proletariat is made up of the working class, who work for the bourgeoisie. With the means of producing goods, the bourgeoisie led society into a new era in which goods were being mass-produced and relations were strictly

Marx’s ideals of communism were drawn from the realization that the cycle of revolutions caused by the class struggles throughout history lead society nowhere. Society as a whole was more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes that were directly facing each other—bourgeoisie and proletariat. According to Marx, in order for society to further itself a mass proletarian revolution would have to occur. The bourgeois, who were the employers and owners of the means of production, composed the majority of the modern capitalists. It was these individuals that controlled the capitalist society by exploiting the labor provided by the proletariats. For example, the bourgeoisie make property into a right

Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto in 1848, and with it a public warning to capitalists that the entire economic, social and political systems would soon crumble. His prediction continues by stating where society was headed as a result of bourgeoisie economics: a revolution by the workers and the eventual ushering in of socialism. Soon after Marx publicized the reasons communism would come to conquer capitalism, riots, strikes and general unrest surfaced in France – just as he predicted. However, the revolution that transpired in France over the next four years disappointed Marx. Marx harnessed that frustration into motivation and published The Eighteenth Brumaire, which can be viewed as the latter half of his bookend to the French Revolution. If the Communist Manifesto is the declaration of purpose for the communist party and the reasons capitalism will falter in the face of socialist revolution, then the Eighteenth Brumaire is an assessment of how and why Marx’s prophetic revolution failed in France.

In the first section of the Communist Manifesto, "Bourgeois and Proletarians," Karl Marx relates earlier epochs of history as a way of argument, his theory about the eventual destruction of the bourgeoisie, which was the dominant class during that epoch. He considered the modern bourgeois society as a class that came out from the ruins of the feudal society. This means to him, a new class that continues struggling and exploiting the working class, the proletariat. Therefore, the society was divided into these two great hostile social classes: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. The discovery of America among other worldwide events resulted in a boost never known before to the different sectors

In nineteenth-century Europe, the industrial revolution is underway. The upper class has accumulated wealth through the exploitation of technological advancements, and the lower class is forced to uphold the upper class businesses in order to survive. In The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx justifies the need for an economic system that can extinguish this modern class system that restrains its citizens into strict roles.

With an Analysis of the four authors and their take on politics and society, it becomes easy clear that their ideas on human reason have become very influential. Each idea has become a basis of reference when it comes to structuring government roles in a variety of nations over the past centuries. Although each idea is extreme in its own way, societies have implemented them into the roles of the government as well as how private property should be handled. John Locke wrote the Second Treatise on Government where his main issue concerns the relationship of people to their government and where the lines are drawn on what the government can do that is acceptable. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince, in which he argues that people are

For Karl Marx, the analysis of social class, class structures and changes in those structures are key to understanding capitalism and other social systems or modes of production. In the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels comment that the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Analysis of class divisions and struggles is especially important in developing an understanding of the nature of capitalism. For Marx, classes are defined and structured by the relations concerning (i) work and labour and (ii) ownership or possession of property and the means of production. These economic factors more fully govern social relationships in capitalism than they did in earlier societies. While earlier societies contained various strata or groupings which might be considered classes, these may have been strata or elites that were not based solely on economic factors like that of priesthood, knights, or military elite.

Communism was definitely a beautiful idea, and Karl Marx was a genius; maybe the greatest mind of the 19th century. But don't be tricked into believing that Communism serves a purpose other than being a beautiful idea; that it was actually effective. For now we know, through past history, that it's impossible for Communism to work.

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx clarifies the ideas and terms of Communism for the general public. In this work, Marx explains Marxism as the structure of a unified class and state. He states one can reach this unity through the downfall of the upper-class bourgeoisie and the rise of the proletariat working class. Marx’s contempt for the bourgeoisie is largely due to their position of power. This power is determined by the bourgeoisie owning the means of production. In a new state of Communism, no person holds this unjust power over another through labor, land, or wages. In his Manifesto, Marx calls for the termination of the bourgeoisie exploitation of workers through a revolution.

But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons—the modern working-class—the proletarians.”2 Marx has introduced the solution to creating his equal society. He believes that the proletarians are capable of overthrowing the bourgeois because of their large population.