The Communist Manifesto, written by social scientists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is one of the most controversial and important documents in modern world history. It deals with many ideas but the three main ones are class struggle, alienation and communism. These three aspects are still alive and well today which just goes to show how timeless this piece of work is. This essay will discuss these three ideas and critically asses Marx’s and Engel’s views on class struggle, alienation and communism.
Class Struggle:
One of the most prevailing ideas from the Communist Manifesto is class struggle. Chapter one of the publication deals with the bourgeois and proletarians. The bourgeois are the upper class who are mainly concerned with property. …show more content…
Communist’s main goal was to see the proletarians become a class, a class that could ultimately overcome the bourgeois class. As Marx says, "The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat". (1848, p34) Because the communist party represented the workers or the labourer’s rights, it was different to other political parties. Marx and Engels go on to defend the idea of communism as it receives a lot of criticism. What Marx says, is that "communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society; all that is does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labor of others by means of such appropriation" (1838, p40) By wanting to abolish private property, it is said that communism would promote laziness or less of a drive for work. Marx argues that the labourers that are working will continue to work, that they already work hard and receive nothing in return, only exploitation. He says that if a fair and equal wage is given to all, i.e. the bourgeois class stop exploiting the proletarians, and this would work better and be much more equal. it is presently the case that those who work don't acquire anything, and those who acquire things don't work. As Marx says, "Don't wrangle with us so long as you apply, to our intended abolition of bourgeois property, the standard of your bourgeois notions of freedom, culture, law, etc. Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property...” (1838, p42) Marx continues to defend communism by stating that the bourgeois class have already started to abolish some countries as a result of their efforts to globalise free trade, and it is not communists that wish to destroy
Class Struggle:
One of the most prevailing ideas from the Communist Manifesto is class struggle. Chapter one of the publication deals with the bourgeois and proletarians. The bourgeois are the upper class who are mainly concerned with property. …show more content…
Communist’s main goal was to see the proletarians become a class, a class that could ultimately overcome the bourgeois class. As Marx says, "The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat". (1848, p34) Because the communist party represented the workers or the labourer’s rights, it was different to other political parties. Marx and Engels go on to defend the idea of communism as it receives a lot of criticism. What Marx says, is that "communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society; all that is does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labor of others by means of such appropriation" (1838, p40) By wanting to abolish private property, it is said that communism would promote laziness or less of a drive for work. Marx argues that the labourers that are working will continue to work, that they already work hard and receive nothing in return, only exploitation. He says that if a fair and equal wage is given to all, i.e. the bourgeois class stop exploiting the proletarians, and this would work better and be much more equal. it is presently the case that those who work don't acquire anything, and those who acquire things don't work. As Marx says, "Don't wrangle with us so long as you apply, to our intended abolition of bourgeois property, the standard of your bourgeois notions of freedom, culture, law, etc. Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property...” (1838, p42) Marx continues to defend communism by stating that the bourgeois class have already started to abolish some countries as a result of their efforts to globalise free trade, and it is not communists that wish to destroy