Analysis Of Manifesto By Karl Marx

Among the most famed, celebrated and perhaps controversial figures in the history of political and economic theory is Karl Marx, the patriarch of Communism. One of Marx’s defining works, the Manifesto of the Communist Party, outlines the direction and intentions of Communism as a movement as well as providing a solid ideological framework for Communists worldwide. In the Manifesto, Marx attempts to explain human history in the context of class struggles and the oppression of the many by the few, which he claims stretches back to the first known societies. According to Marx there is always an oppressor class and those oppressed by it, though they may take different forms to suit a different age’s discourse. He divides the contemporary

He gives examples of the classes that have faced and grappled with each other throughout the ages as oppressed and oppressor, and claims that the coming of new ages in the past has simply signified changes in the hierarchy of social classes while the hierarchy itself as a structure of society remains intact, declaring the bourgeoisie as the new ruling class which has simply created new conditions in which to oppress the proletariat. He defines the bourgeoisie as those who own and control the means of production and the proletariat as those “wage laborers” who work under the bourgeois system. He explains how the feudal system collapsed due to the development of modern industry and the inability of the feudal guilds to deal with the new markets, prompting those who are in charge of manufacturing industry to rise in political status and eventually wrest control. He then explains what he sees as the effects of the bourgeoisie becoming the ruling class, namely the replacement of traditional abstract principles with materialism, the conversion of all values into material exchange value and the establishment of a new hierarchy based not on ideals but on economic superiority. The engine behind these changes and the fulcrum of bourgeois rule, in Marx’s view, is the prioritization of Free Trade above all else, which has caused all of those who do

Trade unions, as an example, something which was perceived by some as the possible blueprint for the revolution to come, proved to be very beneficial for the ruling class. Trade unions allowed workers to engage with those in command of production in direct dialogue, and the bourgeoisie’s willingness to accept these unions gave the working class a platform from which to negotiate with the bourgeoisie, in effect paving the way for compromise and helping sidestep the danger of violent revolution through resolution of minor problems such as wage increases. Trade unions give the proletariat a sense of power within the established system to expel from his head any thoughts of gaining it by overthrowing the system, providing the bourgeoisie with stability in which to continue their practices in exchange for compromises on issues trivial in comparison. The feeling of power is also granted to the proletariat in the form of social mobility. The bourgeoisie in most modern societies have allowed for a greater range of social mobility underneath them, allowing lower segments of the proletarians to be able to rise to the top of the hierarchy of their own class without approaching the bourgeoisie themselves. This abolishes any feeling of entrapment or enslavement that may be harbored among the proletarians