The Communist Manifesto, By Karl Marx

Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto mainly in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. This was a time when the focus of life shifted to production and the urban working class centered their lives around wage labor. For example, children had to work in the same factories as their families if they wanted to stay together. The social and political consequences that resulted from the Industrial Revolution caused Marx to believe that capitalism was the cause of a selfish, corrupt society. Since the Renaissance, European countries were under a class structure where the wealthy, usually only a small portion of the population, ruled the rest of society. In the 1800s, when the Industrial Revolution took place, capitalism gained popularity. However,

Romantics emphasize the worth of humans because they are more concerned with the emotional aspects of life. Marx is influenced by this movement because he pauses to address the issue of alienation: 1. Workers become commodities and 2. Workers become alienated from nature. Workers are alienated from themselves because they lose their creative identity when they make identical products in a factory. Romantics emphasize the importance of nature. For example, in romantic art, nature is usually a part of the main subject. In Friedrich’s Monk by the Sea, the vastness of nature is contrasted with the little figure, suggesting that nature is more powerful than man. Marx seems to be influenced by the notion of drawing attention back to nature because he is surrounded by industries and factories. He argues that nature is “no longer a habitat sustaining and enriching human existence” because it has become any other object that has been given a monetary value

For example, the bourgeois class was created and strengthened, which made proletariats suffer because they worked for little to no money. However, what concerned Marx is that the bourgeoisie only consisted of a small portion of the population. What Marx could not believe is that the rest of society listened to them and continued to tolerate their miserable lives. He concluded that this is because of false consciousness, meaning that the proletariats do not actually understand the issues at hand. Instead, they “direct their attacks not against the bourgeois conditions of production, but against the instruments of production themselves” (62). Marx believes that once they understand the underlying problems, the revolution will take place. Another conclusion Marx draws is that this political imbalance continues to exist between the working and bourgeois class because nationalism causes disunity among proletariats. In the 1800s, nationalism continued to be a driving force. However, Marx claims that nationalism is only an illusion used to trick the proletariats into working for the bourgeoisie. Instead, he urges for internationalism, calling out “WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!” so that proletariats of all countries can revolutionize and overthrow the current political system together