The Communist Manifesto Essay Example

The Communist Manifesto, one of the world's most influential political pieces was first published on February 21, 1848. Commissioned by the communist league and written by communist theorist Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the Communist Manifesto set out the leagues program and purpose. The widespread inequity in the distribution of valuable resources created a political, social, and economic climate perfect for the introduction of Marx and Engels' Manifesto. The work suggested a counter-hegemonic course of action. Marx and Engels were deeply moved by the disparity in the living conditions between two classes of people, the "bourgeois" and "proletariat." They argued that the far smaller bourgeois class held a position of power—a hegemonic control—over the far larger proletariat class. The Manifesto attempted to re-dress that disparity by invoking a proletarian revolution to overthrow capitalism and, eventually, bring about a classless society. In the United States, employment workers in the nineteenth century were feeling increasingly insecure about their jobs, and the unemployed expected little help from the federal government. This resulted in fifteen million unemployed Americans, which, in turn, opened the gateway to widespread unrest among the working class (wikipedia.com). Although, Marx and Engels believed that the principles of the Communist Manifesto could not apply to American society, some Americans seized the ideology. It was "the perfect storm" and the ideology easily gained momentum starting with the labor-unions, moving past the motives to overthrow the ruling upper class, end inequality in gender and finally make general and social improvements. Thus the communist manifesto played a great role in American society by setting a precedent in the nineteenth century.

Nalbandian 2
Marx believed that every age attained the rivalry between two classes of society beginning with masters against slaves, down to the bourgeoisie against the