The Communist Manifesto An Overview Of The Famous Book By Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels By Ashley Crossman The

Communist Manifesto is a book written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1 848 and has since been recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Marx was the principle author while Engels assisted and edited. In it, Marx presents an analytical approach to class struggle and the problems of capitalism and his theories about the nature of society and politics. The book came about as a result of a group of radical workers called the Communis t League in London. In 1847, Marx and Engels joined the group and shortly after t hey were commissioned to write a manifesto on the group's behalf. Marx's theories sh ould be understood in the context of the hardships suffered by 19th century work ers in England, France, and Germany. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 1 9th centuries created a permanent underclass of workers, many of whom lived in p overty and worked under terrible conditions with little political representation . The Communist Manifesto has four sections. In the first section, Marx discusses the Communists' theory of history and the relationship between proletariats and bo urgeoisie. In the second section, Marx explains the relationship between the Com munists and the proletarians. The third section addresses the flaws in other, pr evious socialist literature, and the final section discusses the relationship be tween the Communists and other parties. The Communist Manifesto is an attempt to explain the goal of communism as well a s the theory underlying the communist movement. It argues that class struggles a nd the exploitation of the lower class are the motivating factors behind histori cal developments leading to the communist movement. Marx insisted that his brand of socialism was different from others because it was scientifically based in t he objective study of history, which he saw as a continuous process of change an d transformation. Just as feudalism evolved into mercantilism and then capitalis m, capitalism would inevitably give way to its logical successor, socialism, as the necessary result of class struggle. Marx discusses modern industrial society, which is characterized by class confli ct between the bourgeoisie (the employers of the wage laborers and the owners of the means of production) and the proletariat (the wage-laborers who do not have their own means of production and therefore must sell their own labor in order to survive). The productive forces of capitalism, he argues, are quickly ceasing to be compatible with this exploitative relationship and therefore the proletar iat will lead a revolution different from any previous revolution. Where previou s revolutions simply reallocated property in favor of the new ruling class, this revolution would have the proletariat destroying all ownership of private prope rty, which would cause social classes to disappear and a classless society to ar ise. Marx argues that this development is inevitable and that capitalism is inhe rently unstable. The Communists intend to promote this revolution and will promo te the parties and associations that are moving history towards this natural con clusion. The elimination of social classes cannot come about through reforms or changes in government, but has to happen through a revolution. The Communist Manifesto concludes with a discussion about the role of the Commun ists as they work with other parties and ends with a rallying cry: Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to l ose but their chains. They have a world to win. WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UN ITE! References SparkNotes Editors. (2011). SparkNote on The Communist Manifesto. SparkNotes LLC.

http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/communist/ Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1848). The Communist Manifesto.