The Communist Manifesto is a document written by Karl Marx, with the help of Friedrich Engels. It was written in the mid 1800s and is concerned with the inequalities in the social classes of the time. It is a story about what is wrong with the government and social class system. It talks about the history of inequalities in social class, solutions to the inequality, and the intent of Communists.
Karl Marx opens The Communist Manifesto stating two facts he believes about Communism. The first is that "Communism is already acknowledged by all European Powers to be itself a Power" (pg. 473). Second he states that, “Communists should "openly publish their views and tendencies" (473). The first section titled "Bourgeois and Proletarians" is an illustration of why Marx believes that all of history is based on class struggles. The Bourgeois represent the rich business and landowners, and Proletarians are the poor workers. Marx goes on to say that the government is basically in place only to further the cause of the evil Bourgeois. In Marx's theory, history is shaped by economic relations alone. I disagree with this view. I fell that Marx should look at other elements such as religion, culture, ideology, and even the individual human being. These factors play a very little role.
In the second section of The Communist Manifesto, "Proletariats and Communists", Marx speaks about changes to be made under Communism. Marx says that the goals of the Communist and proletariat have the same goals in equality. He goes on to speak about how he wants to make all things such as wages, property, and education equal among the rich and poor. In this section, Marx gives examples of reasons to oppose Communism, and then tries to give examples of why these objections are not valid. One of the opposition's arguments that Marx attempts to refute is "that upon abolition of private property all work will cease and universal laziness will overtake us". His argument was that if that is truly the case, because they don't really work, the Bourgeois would have been ruined by laziness. I feel this section is interesting because it demonstrates Marx's methods of responding to criticisms. Marx is harsh and often quite sarcastic about the critiques of Communism. This leaves one to wonder if Marx would have been more convincing if he took a more serious tone about the critiques of Communism.
Karl Marx ends this work with a call to arms for all working class people. He threatens the current ruling class with a Communist revolution. He makes clear the insubordinate intentions towards the current governments of the world. The Communist Manifesto is ended with an inspirational battle cry "Working men of all countries unite!"
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