The difficulty with Marx' and Engel's ideas imbedded in the manifesto could be that they were mistaken about which class would ultimately include all the others. They assumed that the proletariat would, in the end, assume the means of production and thus destroy the capitalism. They did not understand that production would become less costly as time wore on due to efficiencies in production. Workers would become entrepreneurs in free, not communist societies. The invention of computers, and the easy access to the tools of a service industry would make small business a driving force (Mattson, 2005).
In his book The Vital Center, Arthur Schlesinger believed this "mistaken analysis" was "responsible for the failure of" Marx's prophecies and the triumph of "bureaucratic collectivism" in the Soviet Union. Crucially, it neglected the possibility of liberal reform." The capitalist state has clearly not been just the executive committee of the business community" (Mattson,…...
mlaBibliography
Brooke, C. (1998). The political science of Karl Marx. Retrieved April 17, 2009, from University of Oxford: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~magd1368/archive/gov98f1/intro.htm
Capitalism. (2009). Retrieved April 20, 2009, from Encarta.msn.com: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576596_2/capitalism.html
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1998). The communist manifesto: A modern edition. London: Verso.
Mattson, K. (2005). Revisiting the vital center. Retrieved April 19, 2009, from Dissent magazine: http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=286
Communist Manifesto and Industrial evolution
The dominant form of economics in the Middle Ages and enaissance was feudalism; a patron system in which land was owned by royalty or the Church and leased to workers who, in turn paid rent via the products they grew or produced. However, with increased urbanization and tradecraft, ties to a feudal lord or castle were becoming rarer, thus necessitating a different form of monetary exchange. With the advent of steam power and machinery, especially in the 18th and 19th century, major changes in agriculture, mining, manufacturing and transportation literally revolutionized Europe and changed the socioeconomic and cultural conditions within almost every European country. Indeed, the onset of the Industrial evolution impacted daily life for almost every individual, and changed the course of history, too (More, 2000). Geographically, the Industrial evolution arose out of England and utilized the vast amounts of natural resources to allow for…...
mlaREFERENCES
Lorenzen, J. Rehabilitating the Industrial Revolution. Julielorenzen.net. 2009. Retrieved
from:
Marx, K. And Engels, F. The Communist Manifesto. New York: Haymarket Books, 2005.
Mumford, L. "Cultural Preparation," In Mumofrd, Techniques and Publication.
"Marx wants to replace the specter of Communism with Communism itself," and this happens precisely through the publication of the Manifesto; only in the expression of Communism is it able to "make" itself, and this fact has been recognized by countless other subsequent manifesto authors (Puchner 462).
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…...
mlaWorks 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.
Karl Marx, and his "Communist Manifesto," and "The 18th Brumaire."
MARX'S RITINGS
Marx's theories mean different things to just about everyone who reads it. There are as many definitions and deductions about his work as there are philosophers. One simple definition of his Marxist theory read, "Marxism, or Scientific Socialism, is the name given to the body of ideas first worked out by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). In their totality, these ideas provide a fully worked-out theoretical basis for the struggle of the working class to attain a higher form of human society -- socialism" (Sewell and oods).
Marx himself said of his basic theory, "At the same time through the division of labor inside these various branches there develop various divisions among the individuals cooperating in definite kinds of labor. The relative position of these individual groups is determined by the methods employed in agriculture, industry and commerce…...
mlaWorks Cited
Elizondo, Sonny. "Communist Manifesto." GradeSaver. 17 July 2000. http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/about_karl_marx.html
Marx, Karl. Ed. Frederic L. Bender. Karl Marx: The Essential Writings. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986.
The Communist Manifesto. New York: Penguin Classic Edition. 1985.
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon. Moscow: Progress Publishers.1937.
The Communist Manifesto
The central aspect of the Manifesto of the communist party is how to effectively handle the ever increasing rift between the contending classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The development of the bourgeoisie at the expense of the proletariat has highly been exacerbated by the industrialization and trade development over the years, the various revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange. The bourgeoisie has played the bigger role in the revolutions that have shaped the system to its favor, turning the physicians, the lawyers, the priest, the poet, the man of science into its paid wage laborers. Bourgeoisie has also torn away the noble family veil and has reduced family relations into mere money relations.
There is a big difference between the way the bourgeoisie view labor wage and that of the proletariat. The bourgeoisie see it as a means to increase accumulated labor, yet the proletariat…...
Within this shared common language they are able to see a commonality or a common existence and, despite the many other differences that exist, this common thread will hold a society together.
Thus, it can be said that, according to Marx, language is the great equator. Within language a society is able to claim equality as, at least at the time of his writing, societies, regardless of how many classes it may have had, shared one basic language. However, this is not necessarily the truth today. As societies become more and more intermixed, due to immigration and the global economy, languages are beginning to clash and the emergence of class-based languages are starting to arise (such as Ebonics). When these clashes occur, one begins to see sub-societies rally behind their language and thus, their right to identification. When someone else tries to translate ones language as being the foreign one,…...
mlaBibliography
Crumb, R. (1996): Kafka. New York: Kitchen Sink Press, Inc.
Marx, Karl. (1998): Communist Manifesto. New York: Penguin Group.
GD Communism
The main problem with GD Communism was that it was essentially full of itself -- completely idealistic and pretentiously embracing a "newfound" optimism and faith in a youthful spirit. Everything was supposedly new -- all the old institutions were influx -- and corruption was on its way out, as though it was something that could be eradicated simply by adopting the right policy, by implementing the right socialist or communist agenda. There was nothing really logical about any of it: corruption is a staple of the human condition -- always has been and always will be. Human nature does not change just because the manifesto changes. Human nature is constantly being pulled in two directions at once. With its idealistic goggles on, the GD simply spoon fed optimism and pride in itself to young generation, insisting that they reject what came before -- the sacred institutions, the sacred temples,…...
mlaReferences
The Director of the Youth Institute Comments. (1988). GHDI.
http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1178
The New Youth Program of the Communist Party. (1963). GHDI. Retrieved from http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=835
He contrasted the work done in factories with such tasks as lace making, stocking knitting and rural work and felt that factory work was easier by comparison and less tedious or monotonous in nature. The arguments of Marx and Ure are as dissimilar as two could possibly be. While Marx believed that history of technology since 1830 could be described as one of 'weapons against the revolts of the working-class', Andrew Ure felt that machine system was just so perfect that it could destroy any labor unions that ever came into existence. Writing about the dressing machine, he said:
It affords an instructive warning to workmen to beware of strikes, by proving how surely science, at the call of capital, will defeat every unjustifiable union, which labourers may form.
Thomas Carlyle was another important figure of the time. He can be described as the man whose views ran somewhere in the…...
mlaReferences
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. The Communist Manifesto 1848. Retrieved online 24th September 2006 at http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html
Andrew Ure. Philosophy of the Manufacturers. 1835 Retrieved online 24th September 2006 at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1835ure.html
Thomas Carlyle: Signs of the Times: The "Mechanical Age." Retrieved online 24th September 2006 at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/carlyle-times.html
Voice, however, is usually political and confrontational.
In communist societies, it is impossible to get all people to conform to an ideal without using some type of force. People view freedom as the ability to do what they want with their time and control their resources. If the state forces you to work only for its benefit and the benefit of the community, individual freedom will always be limited. This problem was seen in the Soviet Union, North Korea, and China, which were repressive nations that used force to support its theories.
It is important to consider that "exit" is not always physical. It can be mental or emotional, as well. If communist theories were in motion, citizens would not have the ability to exit the system if they decided they did not like it. Physically, it is likely that they would lack the resources to move to another country. In…...
mlaBibliography
Hirschman, Albert. 1970. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Marx and Engels. (1969). Marx/Engels Selected Works, Volume One, Progress Publishers, Moscow, USSR, pp. 98-137.
Putnam, Robert D.,editor. 2002, Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society, Oxford University Press Inc., New York, NY.
But to say that Marx had a conservative agenda on hand would also be wrong. hat Marx was propagating for a more socially equal and respectful environment for women where they could work out of their own free will and did not have to resort to prostitution and other evils to support themselves. But I must agree that Marx's sarcastic way of advancing his argument in the manifesto is certainly offensive in tone. It shows disregard for women and levies some unsolicited and unsupported charges against capitalism.
Another important and rather controversial remark is found later in the manifesto when Marx argues: "But you Communists would introduce community of women, screams the bourgeoisie in chorus. The bourgeois sees his wife a mere instrument of production. He hears that the instruments of production are to be exploited in common, and, naturally, can come to no other conclusion that the lot of…...
mlaWorks Cited
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the Communist Manifesto (1848) reprinted in Modern Political Thought: The Great Issues, ed. By William Ebenstein, (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1960), pp. 413-22
It makes sense that the advanced and more inclusive study of a history of a group of disenfranchised individuals, such as women and/or men and women of color, would occur simultaneously with the rise in providing them a voice within their modern place in society. The fact that these individuals have not been traditionally explored within the realm of class, society, and politics does not mean that they are not a part of our History. Rather, it is a reflection of the historical underpinnings of our societies as traditionally relegating women and people of color to a realm of silence in a lesser role of the other or the inferior class. On a positive note, the fact that researchers and scholars are devoting time, effort, and resources into re-examining our histories reveals that we are moving toward a more inclusive world.
orks Cited
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. In My Father's Eyes. New York:…...
mlaWorks Cited
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. In My Father's Eyes. New York: Oxford University Press,
1992.
Foner, Eric. The New American History. Temple University Press.
Marx, Karl. Capital, the Communist Manifesto and Other Writings. Ed. Max Eastman.
Law and justice across the ages of artistic representation -- a fair system of justice means nothing when ice water, corruption, and evil run through the hearts of those appointed to enforce the system
The 1980's crime novel Gorky Park, Shakespeare's 'problem' play "Measure for Measure," Marx and Engels political manifesto "The Communist Manifesto," and the orld ar II arner Brothers motion picture "Casablanca" all fundamentally ask, at their respective narrative and philosophical hearts the fundamental human question: what is justice? All grapple with the issue of how best to create a truly rather than a superficially just society. Do just men and women, or a just system of laws, produce fair and equitable societies? hat is more important, a fair code of laws, or good people attempting to do what is right within any particular moral context? Despite having been produced during different times and for different purposes, these…...
mlaWorks Cited
Casablanca." Dir. Michael Curtiz. Perf. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, and Claude Raines. 1943.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. New York: Signet
Classic, 1998.
Shakespeare, William. "Measure for Measure." Eds. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul
Wheen (1999), in his biography of Marx's life, argued that Engels had greater knowledge and understanding of capitalism and its dynamics than Marx, thereby making the very concept of alienation as an idea that originated from and was put forth by Engels, and was only expounded upon theoretically by Marx (75):
Though he had already decided that abstract idealism was so much hot air, and that the engine of history was driven by economic and social forces, Marx's practical knowledge of capitalism was nil. He had been so engaged by his dialectical tussle with German philosophers that the condition of England -- the first industrialised country, the birthplace of the proletariat -- had escaped his notice. Engels, from his vantage point in the cotton mills of Lancashire, was well placed to enlighten him.
In the preceding passage, Wheen brought into light how, despite Marx's authority on the issues of oppression and…...
mlaBibliography
Carver, T. (1984). Marx and Engels: the intellectual relationship. Olympic Marketing Corp.
Engels, F. (1842). The condition of the working class in England. NY: Penguin Books.
Marx, K. (1998). "Alienated Labor." In Seeing Ourselves: classic, contemporary, and cross-cultural readings in sociology. J. Macionis and N. Benokraitis (Eds.). NJ: Simon & Schuster.
Wheen, F. (1999). Karl Marx. Fourth Estate.
"
One of these leaders of nations who had subsisted to the promise of Communism is Vladimir Lenin, Revolutionary leader who became the first leader of Soviet Russia, and eventually, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Under Lenin's leadership, he began realizing Marx's vision of a Communist society, where there is no private property and no class stratification. However, Lenin did not subscribe to Marx' belief that it should be the working class who will induce social reform and revolutionize to build a Communist society, in opposition against capitalism. In "What is to be done?," Lenin argues that revolution under a broad organization of revolutionaries made up of "hardened workers" is not feasible, simply because this organization is "loose," making the revolutionaries of workers more susceptible to outside intervention. These interventions, he states, are the police and gendarmes; hence, a broad organization of workers are not ideal, for it will…...
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Butler, T. (2007). Understanding social inequality. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif:
Cohen, G. (2009) Why not socialism?:
Friedrich Engels played a key role in the development of socialist thought through his collaboration with Karl Marx. Engels helped to shape and develop many of the core concepts and ideas of Marxism, which became the foundation of socialist ideology.
Engels' work, particularly his collaboration with Marx on the Communist Manifesto, helped to define the principles of socialism and laid out a vision for a society based on equality and social justice. Engels also provided important theoretical contributions to Marxist theory, such as his analysis of the role of capitalism in shaping society and his exploration of the dynamics of class....
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