A Summary of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx Essay -- Communist M

A Summary of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx Karl Marx was an idealist. He observed the cruelties and injustices that the poor working class endured during the period of industrial revolution, and was inspired to write of a society in which no oppression existed for any class of people. Marx believed in a revolution that would end socialism and capitalism, and focus on communist principles. The Manifesto of the Communist Party, written by Karl Marx and edited by Frederick Engels, describes the goals of the communist party for ending exploitation of the working class and creating a society in which there is equality in society without social classes.1 The first part of the Manifesto is entitled the Bourgeois And Proletarians. Marx begins by explaining that the history of man and society is the history of class struggles. The modern bourgeois society has developed out of the feudal society, but in a simpler form: two classes opposing one another, the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. With the discovery of America, and expanded markets across the world, the feudal system of industry no longer satisfied the increased needs of those markets. Manufacturing and modern industry soon took its place. This is how, according to Marx, the bourgeoisie increased their capital, advanced their political influence, and distinguished themselves from the working class. Marx accuses the bourgeoisie of turning respected professionals into wage-laborers. By creating large cities, they have centralized the population and means of production. This property then, is held by few, and so creates political power. The once independent towns and provinces are now brought together under one government with one set of laws. Despite the power that the... ...he struggles between the exploiting and the exploited. Marx concludes in the Communist Manifesto that a working-class revolution would overthrow the bourgeois and a classless society would exist.11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Karl Marx, â€Å"Manifesto of the Communist Party,† The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School, 1888, (5 March 2002). 2. Marx 3. Marx 4. William Leon McBride, The Philosophy of Marx, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1977). 5. Marx 6. Marx 7. Michael Lowry, â€Å"Globalization and Internationalism: How Up-To-Date is the Communist Manifesto?† Monthly Review, November 1998, 16-27. 8. Marx 9. Marx 10. H. B. Acton, What Marx Really Said. (London: Macdonald & Co. Ltd., 1967). 11.â€Å"Attack on Capitalism,† Canada & World Backgrounder, October 1999, 19-22.