The Communist Manifesto Thematic Paper 11/9/11 With the rise of the industrial revolution, came a number of new

responsibilities for mankind. Never before had man been able to produce so many products in a small amount of time. For many socialist thinkers and later communist thinkers, the Industrial revolution marked the time when mankind began to crawl out of the darkness and do away with economic systems that were based on individual interest. Robert Owen, Charles Courier, and James Bronterre OBrien were both early prominent reactionaries to the industrial revolution. Following the rise of Utopian Socialism was Communism and the publication of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. All of these reactions made up the political landscape and marked a pivotal period in human history. Robert Owen, once a British manufacturer, was a major figure in the Utopian Socialist movement. In his report to the Committee of Magistrates in the county of Lanark, Owen made public his opposition into the idea of capitalism. In the report, Owen stresses that the current economic policy of individual interest is the most anti-social and irrational system possible. He argues that capitalism does nothing but repress the best qualities of human beings. Socialism, he argues, is the key to unlocking the human races full potential. He continues to state that the principle of individual interest (or capitalism) can be blamed for all of mankinds problems throughout history. From this principle of individual interest have arisen all the divisions of mankind, the endless errors and mischiefs of class, sect, party, and of national antipathies, creating the angry
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Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

and malevolent passions, and all the crimes and misery with which the human race have hitherto been afflicted. Robert Owen Owen states that the rise of industry and of machines that can do what it used to take one thousand men are very important to mankind, but more important is the intellectual power gained by men that understand the effect of circumstances on the development of the human race. To Owen, the key to Utopian Socialism lies in the union of man and the abandonment of the petty individual interests that do nothing but pit men against each other as enemies.1 Owen continues by claiming that if workers were fairly compensated they would be able to consume more and put an end to the crisis of overproduction. Another key figure in the Utopian Socialist Movement was Charles Fourier. Fourier wrote about what he called, The Theory of Universal Unity. Unlike Owen, whose theory was based on the science of character formation, Fourier wrote that the natural passions from social repression would lay the foundation for a society based on harmony and the cooperation of the human race. Fourier states that all men share the same passions for wealth and prosperity. He theorizes that agricultural association will yield greater profits than the current system of self interest. He believes that when people realize this, they will quickly forget their differences and work together so that all can receive the wealth and pleasures that socialism has to offer. Obviously, people will always be greedy, what Fourier is suggesting is a way to change the direction of greed so that serves the whole instead of just the individual. Fourier believes that in order for a society to function, people must love their work. In the past, he claims that the only way to get people to work was by slavery or fear of starvation or persecution. He believes that god has now provided with man with what he refers to as industrial
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Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

attraction. It is this, he argues, that will make work pleasurable for individuals. For industrial attraction to exist, a society must fulfill seven basic conditions. 1. Each worker must be an associate who is compensated by dividend and not by wages. 2. Each Person must be paid according to his/her contribution in capital, work, and talent. 3. Work sessions must be varied about 8 times a day to keep workers enthusiastic 4. These tasks must be performed by friends who gathered spontaneously and are stimulated by rivalries. 5. Places of work must be clean and elegant. 6. Suitable tasks must be allotted for people of all sexes and ages. 7. The distribution of tasks must assure everyone the right to work in the field he/she is qualified in. According to Fourier, as long as all of these conditions are fulfilled, mankind can live in harmony with prosperity for all.1 Fourier envisioned an ideal society in which mankind would flourish. The plan was to split society up into separate communities called phalanxes. Fourier had himself believed there to be eight-hundred and ten distinct personality types. The community would include onethousand six hundred and twenty people; one man and one woman of each personality type. Unfortunately for Fourier, no one ever came along to finance the dream he had of a perfect society.2

Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

The Utopian socialists used the preaching of a new social gospel to achieve their goals. They believed that religion would help save mankind from the ravages of inequality that the industrial revolution helped to institutionalize. This is one of the main areas in which Marx and Engels disagreed with socialism. One of the central themes of the Communist Manifesto was the abandonment of religion for a more secular society. As Marx himself spoke, Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.3 What Marx meant was that religion was and is a tool used by the Bourgeoisie to make impoverished individuals accept their fate. When one believes that they have no control over his/her own destiny, it is unlikely that he/she will do anything to change the current system. Thus religion is a tool to keep the Proletarians from ever rising up and realizing the injustice of their world. The world envisioned by Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto is certainly an interesting one. Marx states that the distinguishing feature of Communism is the abolition of private property. Not just any property though, he is speaking about what he calls bourgeoisie property. Marx and Engels state that there is no need to abolish hard earned property. However, they go on to explain that modern industry has already destroyed most of it. The manifesto continues by explaining that the wages workers receive are not property but capital. Capital is a collective product, and only by united action of many members, nay, in the last resort, only by united action of all members of society, can it be set in motion. Capital is, therefore, not a personal, it is a social power1
1

Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

The current system of capitalism supplies the worker with the just enough capital to survive, no more and no less. Communism seeks to do away with a system . . . under which the labourer lives merely to increase capital, and is allowed to live only in so far as the interest of the ruling class requires it.1 In a communist society, accumulated labor is meant to directly benefit and improve the life of the laborer. Whereas bourgeoisie society takes its lessons from the past, Communism focuses on the present. Many believe that the goal of Communism is to abolish all forms of property and take away from man what is his. This is not the case. Communism does not limit man from claiming the products of society; it simply robs him of the power to control the labor of others through such means. In matters of family, Communism seeks to abolish the current idea of family. Marx and Engels claim that the family has been reduced to merely a financial relationship. The manifesto continues to state that communism seeks to end the exploitation of children by their parents.1 Because modern industry has allowed all to work, regardless of age or sex, children have become nothing more than laborers. The argument here against communism is that this lack of true kinship will destroy home education and replace it with social education. Marx and Engels counter with the idea that education has always been social. Communism seeks to change the way society affects education and remove the control by the ruling class on said education. Another aspect of Communist society is the abolition of countries and nationality. Modern industry and labor, Marx states, has caused the differences between foreign peoples to disappear almost completely. National divisions and antagonisms between peoples are daily more and more vanishing, owing to the development of the bourgeoisie, to freedom of commerce, to the world
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Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

market, to uniformity in the mode of production and in the conditions of life corresponding thereto.1 To put this in perspective for a modern day reader, one simply has to look to the massively successful fast food chain, McDonalds. Their focus on uniformity has allowed a person to buy a burger in the U.S.A. and buy then buy the same burger in Europe and not even be able to tell the difference between the two. This has lead to the invention of a sociological term called McDonaldization. When applied to society, McDonaldization means making society the same everywhere, which is encouraging the idea of uniformity. Though it has little connection with Communism, it is a good example of the uniformity that Industry creates. What makes Communism different from every other societal system is that it is the only truly revolutionary one. Marx and Engels state that throughout recorded history (with the exception of hunter-gatherer societies) every society has had one thing in common. That thing is the exploitation of one class by another.1 Over the course of history: religious, moral, philosophical and judicial ideas have been changed to fit the current values of a society. However, they have survived all of these numerous changes in some form or another. The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.1 Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion and morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience.1 What Marx and Engels mean is that Communism does away with all of the ideas that preceding classes used to justify inequality and the exploitation of one class by another.
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Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

The key to achieving the goals of a Communist revolution lies in the seizure of political power by the Proletariat through democracy. The Proletariat must then use this power to centralize the means of production in the hands of the state. Marx and Engels go on to explain that when public power is concentrated in the hands of a union of individuals, public power will lose its political character.1 When the proletariat come to power and get rid of the old industrial system, it will have done away the institutionalization of inequality and done away with its own supremacy as a class.1 Marx and Engels express the idea that revolutions will be different in each country but will most like follow these ten guidelines. 1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy graduated income tax. 3. Abolition of all right of Inheritance. 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5. Centralization of credit, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. 6. Centralization of the means of all transport in the hands of the State. 7. Extension of Factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country. 10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of childrens factory labor in its present form. Combination of Education with industrial production.1
1

Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

Following the publication of the manifesto were a number of revolutions all over continental Europe that embodied liberal ideas. The year 1848 was indeed a tumultuous one. The 1840s were a dark time for many and this lead to increasing dissatisfaction with the current regimes in place. In France, a republic was established; this lead to demands for liberal reforms all over Europe. Due to government mismanagement in the repression of these revolutions, many of the movements were initially successful. Revolutionaries in Prussia, Austria and several other German and Italian states succeeded in establishing more liberal constitutions. Only Britain and Russia did not experience such revolutions.2 Unfortunately the revolutions ultimate downfall was a lack of consensus between the individuals involved. Though at first moderately successful, the Provisional government set up in France after the revolution was beginning to falter. After a failed attempt by leftist political clubs to dissolve the Constituent Assembly and to declare a social republic of the people, the provisional government began to arrest radical republicans. On June 23, 1848 with few options left, the Assembly announced the closure of the national workshops. These workshops had paid unemployed workers to repair roads and level hills. With their closure came the announcement that all enrolled unmarried men would be drafted into the army and married workers would be sent to work in the provinces. Parisian workers immediately rebelled. What followed is known as the June Days. The uprising was put down by General Louis Cavaignac with extreme brutality. Only three days after the rebellion began 1500 insurgents had been killed with another 4000 being deported to the colonies and countless thousands being imprisoned. The rebellion was

Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

over. The result was governmental limitation of freedom of the press and the closure of all political clubs.2 In the German states the divide between liberals and radicals began to deepen. This allowed the conservatives to gather strength. The liberals favored a constitutional monarchy whereas the radicals advocated a republic based on universal male suffrage. A number of the radicals joined a short lived insurrection in the Rhineland state of Baden. This insurrection raised what was referred to as the specter of communism.2 There was talk of dividing the great European estates up among the entire population. This movement quickly died out, however. The remaining liberals and radicals created a new national assembly known as the Frankfurt Parliament. Operating outside any state organization and with no army, the Parliament was powerless to govern the German states. Their attempts to unify failed because they stated that they would only accept states that were possessive of German nationality. This angered many who were not of German descent. Each attempt to unify Germany failed.2 What transpired next in the Central European Hapsburg Empire was a counter revolution to the liberal and radical revolutions of early 1848. In June of 1848 the Czechs held a Pan-Slav Congress to support the rights of Slavs within Central Europe. Like the radicals and liberals in France, the assembled nationalities could not come to a consensus as to how to reorganize national policy. While they fought, average citizens were starving. On June 12th artisans and the laboring poor began setting up barricades in Prague. Like the June days in France, the insurrection was quickly put down by brutal methods that resulted in many deaths. Soon after, Emperor Ferdinand returned to Vienna and began to close down the workshops that had been set up in his absence. The workers quickly rebelled but were crushed by the National Guard. A
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Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

couple months later, the workers rebelled again, forcing the emperor to flee Vienna once more. Again though, the rebellion was crushed, resulting in the death of over 3000 people. When the emperor returned, martial law was imposed, political clubs were shut down and censorship was reestablished.2 Emperor Ferdinands nephew Francis Joseph took over as emperor in December of 1848. With the help of newly appointed head of government, Prince Felix zu Schwarzenberg, the minister of justice, Alexander Bach implemented a system of bureaucratic surveillance, spying, and repression to destroy political opposition. With the help of 140,000 Russian troops, Joseph destroyed the opposition in Hungary that did not recognize him as emperor. On December 31, 1851, the Patent restored imperial absolutism.2 Revolutions failed everywhere as the old regimes began to crush them with their armies. On December 2, 1852, the recently elected leader in France, Louis Napoleon proclaimed a new constitution and declared himself emperor of France. All over Europe, the old regimes rose up anew, stronger than ever. European history had reached its turning point and failed to turn.2 Even though the revolutions ultimately ended in complete and total failure, they marked the first time that organized workers called for political rights. With the revolutions failures came the exile of countless revolutionaries to all corners of the globe. With their exile came the spread of ideas pertaining to nationalism, republicanism, and socialism. So that was it, a new social order had been devised that promised equality and prosperity for all and then it was crushed. I personally believe that Communism is a good idea on paper but is flawed system in its application. As great as it sounded, the countries who eventually adopted communism in the 20th century didnt turn out to well. There was still inequality and in the case
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Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.

of the Soviet Union, countless deaths and atrocities committed in the name of the state. That doesnt mean a modified version could not work however. Though many disagree on the merits of Communism, I think many agree that something has to be done about our current Capitalistic system that provokes such savage inequalities. Marx said that the invention of railroads allowed laborers to organize much more quickly than their ancestors from the middle ages. Imagine how fast it could be done now with the internet. In fact, it has happened already, as evidenced by the Arab spring protesters who used such tools as facebook and twitter to quickly spread their ideas. Just as Marx explained that the bourgeoisie had furnished the Proletarians with the weapons to bring upon their own demise, the invention of social media by powerful capitalist corporations will lead to their demise as well. With the start of the Occupy Wall Street movement (also publicized by use of social media) we may once again be at a pivotal point in human history. Lets just hope we dont blow it again.

Marx, Karl, Frederick Engels, and Owen, Fourier, OBrien. The Communist Manifest and Related Documents. The Bedford Series. Bedford, 1999. 2 Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Third ed. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. 3 Ge or ge He ge l , a n d Ka r l M a r x , E l emen t s o f t h e Ph i l o s o p h y o f R i g h t, ch a p . In t r o.