The Communist Manifesto

The Communist Manifesto was originally published in 1848 as a reaction to the changing times of the Industrial Revolution. Written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, both of whom were German theorist, the Manifesto sought to clearly lay out the positions and goals of the Communist League. The short tract was translated into many languages to unite the many socialist movements of Europe. The composition has since become the defining work of Marx and Engels. Drastic changes in innovation and urbanization during the Industrial Revolution led Karl Marx and Frederick Engels to call for a radical reaction by the proletariat. They also made many predictions, including the continued pauperism of the proletariat, the vanishing of the middle class,

The nineteenth century was a series of pivotal years in world history. The world was changing due to the rapid industrialization taking place in the 1800s. To keep up with massive demands for goods, masses of laborers would work in overcrowded factories. Unfortunately as a result, the wealthy was getting wealthier and the poor, in relation, was getting poorer. Karl Marx and Samuel Smiles voiced their opinions about the changing and unfair society in their respective writings, The Communist Manifesto and Thrift. There they emphasized their opinions on social class, problems in society, and various ways to improve. While equality was what both wanted to achieve, they differed in the ways they viewed the social classes and how society could reform

This imbalance is significant because it illustrates the growing tensions between the lower class and the upper class. The disparity between these social classes resulted in Marx and Engels ideology of a “new historical era,” in which the proletariats would rise and overthrow the urban elite and take a hold of the means of production. All inspired by the notion that the working class were wrongfully being exploited. It also sparked Marx’s communist ideals that he wanted to apply to society to rid of this class struggle. Similarly, this class division also resulted in many peasant rebellions against the social system of society. As Huppert reports, peasant rebellions were largely common and although many weren’t successful, they called for change and elicited fear in the city folk when they became violent. These classes also hold significance because it essentially created the modern industrial

For many years, sociological theorists have severally examined the issue of social inequality, particularly its roots and effects on society. Karl Marx, for instance in his conflict theory argues that society is mainly made up of two classes: the proletariat and bourgeoisie (Weeden & Grusky, 1723). He further explains that the bourgeoisie are mainly individuals who own the means of production, for example vital equipment, businesses and factories. He refers to the workers who work or in these firms as the proletariat. Marx observed that the “material production forces” which exist in such societies result in conflicts and ultimately result to inefficiencies inequality, class struggle and stratification. By cutting down social benefits, pursuing military aggression and driving down wages, the owners of the means of production compensate for any fall in profit, mainly caused by unsustainable living standards and subsequent low purchasing power of the population.

Marx and Engels utilize three rhetorical strategies, pathos, ethos, and logos, to better explain and inform the goals of communism to the world to dispel false ideas of the political theory, and to persuade the modern proletariat to revolutionize against

In his life narrative, Frederick Douglass describes the economic system of slavery as needing the alienation of black Americans from their own identity to continue to function, where the slaves can see their oppression but cannot reject the one thing that they know. Karl Marx in Wage Labor and Capital explains the capitalist system as requiring the alienation of the working class from themselves, others and their work to keep the system going, so that the working class remains oblivious to the system they provide for. Despite their different views on whether their respective economic systems can be perceived, Douglass in his life narrative and Marx in his essay Wage Labor and Capital similarly view their economic systems as unsustainable because

Though Marx and Engels had similar idealistic views of revolution as Old Major did in Animal Farm, Orwell’s cynical interpretation of the power hungry pigs was a far more accurate image of a revolution than that painted by Marx and Engels. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels present an ideal situation where after leading a revolution, the revolutionary leaders step down from their positions of power. In contrast, Orwell uses the pigs in Animal Farm to show the selfishness of human nature as he expected the leaders to maintain and grow their power to dominate society. However, Marx and Engels were similar to Orwell in their views of achieving revolution and the ideals of communism or animalism. Although Marx and Engels had an idealistic hope for the proletariat revolution, Orwell’s interpretation of human nature provides a more accurate portrayal of revolution and its’ results.

In the late 1800s, Frederick Engels and Karl Marx authored The Communist Manifesto to voice the beliefs of working men’s associations, workers who no longer could stand oppression by a ruling class. Marx’s fundamental proposition of The Communist Manifesto, as summarized by Engels was, “that in every historical epoch, the prevailing mode of economic production and exchange, and the social organization necessarily following from it, form the basis on which is built up, and from which alone can be explained, the political and intellectual history of that epoch...” (Marx, 53). Through this claim, Engels proposes that the way people produce and exchange products and services in the economy affects the arrangement of people in society and both in turn influence

It was written by Karl Marx who was assisted with the help of Friedrich Engels. Published on February 21, 1848, by revolutionary socialists, German based, they were known as the Communist League. The political pamphlet had a great influence on society and asserted “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” and that the proletariat, the working class would put an end to all classes in society. The two influential philosophers, Marx and Engels, strive to enforce communism, hoping Europe will adopt the pamphlet. Marx is able to instill fear in the people who oppose communism by starting off with ‘’A spectre is haunting Europe–the spectre of communism.’’ Subsequently he states ‘’The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of the world, unite!’’ By this, Marx is trying to begin a revolution with the proletariat against the

The other negative aspect of the bourgeoisie is that their gigantic means of exchange and production have led to over-production‚ which has been caused by too much means of subsistence‚ too much civilization‚ too much commerce‚ and too much industry that have all resulted from the bourgeois over-production. It has also compelled other countries to be bourgeois because the conditions that they set from the cheap commodity prices forces countries to adopt their mode lest they become extinct. The bourgeoisie has generally subjected the country to be ruled by towns thus leading to an increase in the urban

I find this passage a very strong message. It probably motivated a lot of the previous communist. Again, let us keep in mind that this from the past. In order, to make an effective passage in the present time it will need to be reworded and actualized to situation now days.

For Marx, Communism is the perfect alternative to liberal and capitalist democracies. Marx describes Communism as being the “affairs of the people” (Marx Karl, On the Jewish Question, 63), since the detachment between the state/government and the people is abolished. On the contrary, the community will lead the people. In Marx’s Communism there is also no division of labor, and consequently no division of classes, instead everyone will be equal. In capitalist and liberal democracies, since men cannot change their conditions whenever they want, men are obliged to continue the work that they first performed. In capitalist societies workers cannot choose the work they would like to perform, but they perform a job only because in this way they are securing a wage, whereas in communism workers can choose on a daily basis what type of work they would like to perform, and they can change it every day, since in communism there is no “exclusive sphere of activity”. (Marx, Karl. “The German Ideology.” Karl Marx: Selected Writings. Ed. David McLellan. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. 185. Print.). Moreover, Marx claims that communism leads to the emergence of the “social power”. (The German Ideology, page 185) which entails a natural form of cooperation between the individuals. Thus, Marx believes that Communism is the best type of government that a society can

Although theorists many year apart Stephen Greenblatt and Karl Marx have a lot in common. Greenblatt, the originator of “New Historicism”, studied literary texts not just as texts but as “ material artifacts made in interaction with specific social, cultural, and political forces” ( Leitch, et al. 30). His theory highlights the connections between literature and the culture and society around it. Marx too writes about the connection between culture, society and literature, but he emphasis the rise of the bourgeoisie and their control of the arts while Greenblatt is focused on the oppression of struggling minorities.

I am critiquing an article on ‘intelligence and race’ by Paul Popenoe. I will be using contemporary psychological knowledge including new style and critical histories. Some topics I will cover are subjectivity, how Marxist psychology may critique the article and the importance of language in Psychological writing.

The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, presents ten “commandments” that define a communist society – for example, the abolition of child labor and centralization of communication by the state (Marx, 176). Because of its bold claims for revolution to achieve an ideal society, communism - since its inception in the 19th century - has garnered radical support from every corner of the world, as well as extensive opposition. This paper will focus on three areas of the Communist Manifesto that has led me to support and question communism. These three areas consist of (1) Marx’s accurate critique of capitalism, (2) the lacking evolution of a united proletarian, and (3) the possibility of global communism as imperialistic.