The Communist Manifesto was written
in 1848 when there were revolutions happening all over Europe. It was an effort
to explain the idea of communism and the key reasons of the movement. In a way,
it could be seen that they wanted to express their views as well as oppose all
the negativity and misconceptions of the movement. Marx and Engels describes a
materialists’ conception of history, by which all history is the history of
class struggles. They discuss how society used to be organized into many
different classes. Marx and Engel describes the different class antagonisms
within this manifesto.
The first class antagonism they
describe is between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie class
rose from the inefficient feudal system that was run by aristocrats. With the
increase in production and markets, the manufacturing class were driven to
produce more and more goods. In turn, they slowly gained political power, which
in turn helped them to over throw the feudal system. Their productive
motivation would not allow them to fit in with the older system where it was
difficult to move higher up on the social hierarchy. In this way, there were no
restrictions for them. Now, the relationship between the workers and their boss
has been severed and men would act on self-interest alone.
Chapter 2 we see the discussion of
proletariat and communist. A communist is described as ‘avant gard’. They see
themselves at the very front edge of proletariat politics. Their main aim is
the abolishment of private property and the promotion of public property. Hence
we see the class character gets changed so that personal property becomes
property of everybody. They go on to discuss about labor and value. The margin of
exploitation is high in society, as the superiors will not value the laborer.
An example is that laborers work hard but they don’t ‘acquire’ the property at
all. The owner of the property, who are most likely to be in the ‘bourgeoisie
class’, are the ones who benefit from the laborer’s hard work. Laborers were
seen as a commodity and only matter for their labor and they are not credited
for their work. Proletariats were seen to be increasing in number and were
associated with revolutions. When they begin a revolution, they will wipe out
the whole idea of exploitation and private property.
The main
ideas that come across when reading The Communist Manifesto is the abolishment
of private property so that everyone will have an equal amount of access to
property. Due to the way that the manifesto was written, people were able to
relate to the idea that laborers are exploited by their bosses and that they
are not valued for their hard work. Also, the class struggle that was present
in society had an underlying concept, which is economic. The economy and the
market had a hidden indirect influence on society and the different social
classes that are formed.
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