Comparing Marx And Engels In The Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx

Even the brightest individuals make the mistake of using the terms “state” and “government” interchangeably. Someone as powerful as Louis XIV did too, when he said “I am the State.” However, political scientists are extremely particular about the difference between the two.

When one wonders what a state is, many definitions come to mind. One such describes it as people permanently occupying fixed territory bound together by common habits and custom into one body politic exercising, through the medium of an organized government, independent sovereignty and control over all persons and things within its boundaries, capable of making war and peace and of entering into international relations with other states. (TheFreeDictionary.com 2015)

A government,

Marx and Engels said, “The executive of the modern state is nothing but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.” (Marx and Engels 1948) Marx, in his book, The Communist Manifesto, Marx argued that society is divided into two parts, namely the bourgeois and the proletariat. (Marx and Engels 1948) he explains that the bourgeois control the factors of production, and in order to earn and utilize the factors of production the proletariat has to sell its labour power to the bourgeois. He explains how the bourgeois exploit and take advantage of the situation of the proletariat for their own selfish gains. This was seen during the Industrial Revolution where technological innovation was at the expense of the mistreatment of the proletariat. Karl Marx argues that another change in the structure is due where the bourgeois will be overthrown the same way they overthrew feudal society in the past. A change in structure is vital; for years the working class has been at the mercy of the elite and powerful. Looking at it not entirely in a Communist context, but generally applying Marx’s theory, we see that the problem of the poor being exploited is a serious one. In Pakistan, for instance, the lower or middle class is being trampled on by the upper class. The elite have always been subject to royal treatment, with their influence deep-rooted in the system. They only work to their advantage ignoring the millions who suffer in the process. Marx, to some extent is correct in stating that the bourgeois will be overthrown. It is time for a structure change that will give greater power to the working class or proletariat. The poor need to come out of their misery; Marx calls for two-class consciousness where no class has monopoly over the other. In other words, he calls for equality and no