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Communist Manifesto Though Perhaps Not Reaction Paper

However, this should not be taken to mean that the Communist Manifesto's influence is relegated to the realm of avant-garde art, because the Manifesto's conception of history is even relevant for the sciences, due to the fact that "generalization that "the ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class" resonates with some of the formulations of present-day sociologists of science," demonstrating the way in which the Manifesto, while failing to predict many of the key social and political events of the subsequent years, was decades (and even centuries) ahead of its time when it came to developing theoretical events and developments (Dorn 224). The Communist Manifesto continues to "point to [other] research frontiers in the history of science," because despite the failed attempts at instituting Communist states, the critical tools provided by Marx and Engels' theory have never been broadly applied in the wide variety of contexts in which they would ultimately prove useful, thus demonstrating the continued relevance of the Manifesto even after all these years (Dorn 247).

The Communist Manifesto's contribution to the study of rhetoric and ideology is twofold, because not only did the manifesto provide, for the first time, a useful description of the underlying relations and processes governing life under capitalism, but it also represented a kind of template for subsequent manifestos. Marx and Engels' manifesto accurately describes the way in which the economically powerful subjugate and exploit the lower class and helps to reveal the hypocrisies and lies...

Although Marx and Engels admittedly fail at predicting the future of class struggle due to their naivety regarding the effectiveness of religion and nationalism for controlling human behavior, their description of the essential constituent parts of capitalism remains as accurate as ever. Similarly, the influence of the Communist Manifesto on subsequent political and artistic performances continues to this day, because the Communist Manifesto represents an ideal example of the performative power of writing through the creation of its own Communist ideology. The failure of numerous Communist states is ultimately shown to be a problem not with the manifesto's conception and history of capitalism, but rather with the rosy assumptions regarding the relative ease with which one might overthrow the ruling economic powers. With this in mind, one can see how the Communist Manifesto continues to influence the world today, from avant-garde art to literature to the hard sciences.
Works Cited

Balasopoulos, Antonis. "Ghosts of the Future: Marxism, Deconstruction, and the Afterlife of Utopia." Theory & Event 12.3 (2009).

Dorn, Harold. "Science, Marx, and History: Are There Still Research Frontiers?." Perspectives

on Science 8.3 (2000): 223-254.

Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. The Manifesto of the Communist Party. Rev. English ed.

1888. 87-125.

Puchner, Martin. "It's Not Over ('Til It's Over)." New Literary History 41.4 (2010): 915-928.

Puchner,…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Balasopoulos, Antonis. "Ghosts of the Future: Marxism, Deconstruction, and the Afterlife of Utopia." Theory & Event 12.3 (2009).

Dorn, Harold. "Science, Marx, and History: Are There Still Research Frontiers?." Perspectives

on Science 8.3 (2000): 223-254.

Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. The Manifesto of the Communist Party. Rev. English ed.
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