PDP4 - Excerpt of Communist Manifesto

Author Bio: Karl Marx was a Prussian philosopher who was born in 1818. He earned his doctorate in 1841 and eventually became a social reformer because of his interest in history and law. He was a liberal journalist, and many of his writings were highly controversial at the time. Because of his interest in social reform, he became greatly interested in the French socialist movement, and began publishing a series of documents, one of them being the Communist Manifesto. Based on his controversial ideas of the elimination of social classes and empowering of women, it is clear that Marx leaned very far left, something that was uncommon at the time. Marx died in 1883.

Date/Context: At this time in history, societies began to explore various philosophies and employ many social reforms. Among these was the French socialist movement, which helped to spark Marx's interest in political ideaology. Additionally, workers and the middle class began to grow in numbers, and they became aware of their numerous plights, and so they formed unions or leagues. This led to many ideas of how society and social classes should work, which also led to the Communist Manifesto.

Summary: The Communist Manifesto is, at its simplest form, a document describing the goals of communists and how they compare to capitalists. The excerpt that I read explores a few of the key ideas of the communist, and the major goal of the ideaology. The ultimate goal of communism is the elimination of social classes, or private property. He backs this up by saying that many capitalists may think that this also includes the elimination of their freedoms, but he scoffs at this by noting that the freedoms of capitalists are innately tied to how much private property they own, and that the removal of it gives them a purpose. Instead of working simply to attain more property, people would begin to work for the greater good of society. Marx also describes the struggles of women, and how capitalists would see the elimination of private property as woman gaining rights. Marx, similarly to the last point, is disgusted at this view. He notes that capitalists only see women as tools, while through communism they could actually be recognized as a community and have their own basic rights. Marx goes back to note that the abolition of private property does remove buying, but it also removes selling, which balances out the equation and nothing is really lost; he says that capital is not a private thing as much as it is a social power, which tends to be exploited and abused. He wraps up the excerpt by saying that communists will not conceal their views, and that the only way is to overthrow current social systems. He calls for the uniting of the working class around the world.

Key Quotation: "The distinguishing feature of Communism is not the abolition of property generally, but the abolition of bourgeios property. But modern bourgeios private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few."