“The Communist Manifesto”

“The Communist Manifesto”

The Communist Manifesto” is one of the most influential political documents that was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The political pamphlet was written on February 21, 1848 and its contents have continued to reverberate with increasing force into the 20th and 21st centuries. The pamphlet reflects an attempt by the authors to explain the main goals of Communism. Organized into four sections, it attempts to explain the class relationships and the flaws that exist in these relationships. Eventually, Karl Max and Engel argue that the class struggles and the exploitation of some classes by others are the main motivations behind all historical developments. These exploitations exist within the class relationships. However, the relationships may eventually stop to be compatible with the arising forces of production, thus leading to a revolution and an emergence of a new class that becomes the ruling one. This is a process that is known as the ‘march of history’ that is driven by more significant economic forces. The authors apply several critical approaches to underscore this argument.

“The Communist Manifesto” dramatically opens with the words “A specter is haunting Europe – the specter of Communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre.” This is a statement that underscores the position of the Communist party in Europe in the 19th century. Marx points out that being a communist in Europe was popular as an insult and an accusation of opposing the prevailing powers in Europe at that time. European governments would accuse their critics of being supporters of Communism. By so saying, he sets the tone for the need of a manifesto. He asserts that Communism is already acknowledged as power, and as such, required to come up with its manifesto just like other powers.

He then organizes the manifesto in four sections with the first section beginning with the words “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles,” which is then followed with the various classes and the struggles that have existed. For instance, in the first sections’ Bourgeois and Proletarians’, the authors state that the capitalist bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat who created wealth for them. Therefore, capitalism depends on the existence of the underclass. Marx argued that capitalism had the seed for its own destruction as the proletariat would revolt against the bourgeoisie and defeat capitalism. This would lead to a new classless society where wealth would be shared between the people. The proletariats have the same aim as the communists, as asserted in the second section. Their main aim is to form the proletariat into a class and overthrow the bourgeoisie and take over power (95). He asserts that this would be realized by abolishing private property and class antagonism

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The main implication of Marx’s argument is that capitalism is the source of all class struggles. His argument in the first section particularly implies that the main aim of the capitalist bourgeoisie was to control trade and create wealth and profit at the expense of others deemed to be in the lower class. The proletariat are treated as commodities towards production. Therefore, they always try to find ways of outdoing their competitors and increasing production. This affects the workplace environment that may reflect in other areas of work. In the second section, he implies that the proletariats should also enjoy wealth as it is created on their sweat. He means that this would be the source of the fall of Communism as the proletariats would eventually demand to be more considered in the distribution of wealth and revolt against the bourgeoisie. This would lead to the prevalence of Communism and socialism. This would imply doing away with the private property and equally distributing the generated wealth. Socialism, therefore, is seen as a necessary concept that would be achieved by a campaign based on exhortation and education.

“The Communist Manifesto” seems to give a materialistic look at history. However, this manifesto may also considered from an idealistic point. The idealism of the manifesto is that it is mostly an argument that is based on ideas and notions. It is prudent to note that Karl Marx held onto the idea of pushing for a revolution from the proletariats that would overthrow the bourgeoisie. The manifesto was a pamphlet that sought to answer questions posed by the lives of the people in Germany at the time. He questioned the economic structure and how it was fostered by classism. Particularly, Karl Marx sought to comprehend the concept of human development that had become imprisoned in the social norms that denied some people humanity and any knowledge of how to liberate themselves. By looking at the idealistic philosophical meaning of the text, “The Communist Manifesto” implies that it is only through the struggling for liberation that one would understand humanity. The manifesto may be applied in the modern social relations to comprehend how the fragmented society functions and forms a barrier to one’s potential freedoms. This alternative meaning seems to be more persuasive than the original meaning of the text, especially since most countries have got rid of Communism.