The Core Principles of the Federalist 10 and the Communist Manifesto Federalist 10 and the Communist Manifesto, the most notable works of James Madison and Karl Marx respectively, present different socio political theories that defend government structures that were fairly atypical for their times. These theories are well known as they are two radically different approaches to solving and identifying the cause of political corruption by analyzing historical patterns of failed governments. These documents have differed causes and solutions of said political corruption, but can be outlined by four main principles; classicism, oppression, staple chaos, and equality. Both Federalist 10 and the Communist Manifesto rely on the idea of sociopolitical class divisions. Madison calls the classes factions, and defines factions as following, “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion.” Madison presents factions as very vague, rather open-ended categorical system, in which notably the impact of a single faction …show more content…
Madison proposes that factions themselves are the staple chaos of the ideal government as the only way to eliminate factions is “by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence” or “by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.” He shows these solutions to be flawed as he thereafter notes that they are impractical and immoral. Marx, alternatively, has the staple chaos as the revolution of the proletariat to overthrow the bourgeoisie. He avoids acknowledging the problems and suffering that are associated with revolution and goes to great length to not label this as an “evil.” He paints revolution to be ideal and noble for the sake of his argument to convince the proletariat to
James Madison’s Federalist 10 was written amid criticisms that a republican form of government had never been successful on a large scale. Madison’s argument was that a well-constructed union could control factions. He argued that in order to control factions from their causes, we would need to either give up liberty or free thought. Since we cannot infringe upon these two natural rights, we must move on to controlling the effects. A republic, Madison argues, would be able to do this because the people choose the representatives, and they choose representatives who they feel best represent their opinions.
Perhaps the most famous Federalist paper, Federalist 10, starts off by saying that one of the biggest arguments that favors the Constitution is that it creates a government suited to minimize the harm caused by factions. Faction, in this case, is defined as a group of people whether a minority or majority based on class, race, and profession that all share a common interest. It was inevitable that factions would occur and perhaps the defining characteristic was the unequal distribution of property. This would ultimately lead the poor without property to become the majority in a “tyranny of the masses.” Madison believed that there were two solutions in preventing majority factions, 1) Remover the causes, and 2) Control the effects.
Madison is analyzing the way to deal with the growing faction problem. He begins his essay by defining factions for the reader. “By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of
Madison began discussing the most famous Federalist papers by saying that one of the most grounded contentions for the Constitution is the way that it sets up an administration well-appointed for controlling the violence and harm created by factions. Madison characterizes groups as gatherings of individuals who assemble to secure and advance their exceptional monetary hobbies and political feelings. According to the text, Madison has only two ways to control a faction. The first was to remove its reasons and the second way was to control its outcomes.