130 Short Answer

Originally written and published in German, 1848. Translated into English by Samuel Moore, 1888.

 

Chapter 1: Bourgeois and Proletarians

 

For Marx and Engels, “the [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”. In this chapter they set out a sweeping history of class society, in particular the struggle of the bourgeoisie against the feudal system, and explain how the bourgeoisie, having taken power in one country, is forced by its own system to revolutionize production on a world scale and with this, produces “its own grave-diggers”: the proletariat.

 

Study questions:

 

· What is the tone of The Communist Manifesto? Think about what a ‘manifesto’ is and how the political purpose of a manifesto shapes its tone and its rhetoric.

· Why do Marx and Engels believe the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat will have a different result from all previous class struggles in recorded history?

 

· How do Marxists define “class”?

· What relationship exists between economic development and the political struggle? Can we find examples of this in society today?

 

· What/who are the bourgeoisie and proletariat?

· What do Marx and Engels mean when they write, “The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part” (222)?

· Why does Marx say that “the bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production” (222)?

 

· How does this chapter predict globalization? Why do Marx and Engels argue that there is a “need” for a “constantly expanding market for its products” that chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe (223)? Follow the argument about expanding markets from pages 223-225.

 

· In what sense is capitalism “like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells” (225)?

 

· On pages 225 and 226, Marx and Engels start to argue that Capital takes on a life of its own, one that even exceeds the control of the bourgeoisie themselves. They argue that capitalism tends toward “the epidemic of overproduction” – something unique to capitalism. Read the long paragraph from the bottom of 225-226 and analyze it. Why does overproduction happen? Why does it pave the way for “more extensive and more destructive crises? (226)?

· How is the proletariat formed under capitalism (226-231)?

· What do Marx and Engels mean when they describe the proletariat as a revolutionary class (231)?

 

· Why do Marx and Engels claim that the bourgeoisie inevitably produces its own gravediggers? Why are the proletariat gravediggers of the bourgeoisie (233)?

 

· If one of the early stages of the proletarian revolution is a despotism of the working class (227), as Marx and Engels assert, how do they argue this order will give way to a free, classless society? Why do they argue by page 233 that the “fall” of the bourgeoisie and “the victory of the proletariat” are “equally inevitable”?

 

Chapter 2: Proletarians and Communists

In this chapter, Marx and Engels first explain the role of Communists in the class struggle and the confront some of the main accusations levelled at Communists by their bourgeois detractors of the time. In answering their critics, Marx and Engels also offer clarification and explanation of their own ideas, for example on the question of what is meant by the “abolition of private property” and of the “bourgeois family”: questions which are still raised to this day. Finally, Marx and Engels set out a list of demands to be raised by Communists active in the movement.

 

· Why do Marx and Engels assume there is a strong affinity between the grievances of the workers and the aims of Communism (234)?

 

· What gives Communists an advantage over the proletariat in understanding the conditions, direction, and general results of the proletarian movement (234-235)?

 

· Why do Marx and Engels say that “capital is therefore, not a personal, it is a social power” (236)?

 

· What is “capital”? What is “wage-labor”? And how do the two relate to each other?

 

· What evidence do Marx and Engels give for their claim that human consciousness—ideas, views, and conceptions—changes with every change in material existence?

 

· Why do Marx and Engels insist that the abolition of private property is central to revolutionary change (235-243)?

 

· What is the role of the state, and what form would the state take in a Communist society (243-244)?

 

Chapter 3-4: Socialist and Communist Literature & the Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties

 

In the final chapters of the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels analyze other Socialist trends present in society. In doing so, Marx and Engels give us even more insight into the specific characteristics of their own ideas. Today, some of the trends criticized have disappeared and so have little relevance today. However, some, and “bourgeois socialism” in particular continue to play a very powerful (and pernicious) role in the labor movement and so Marx’ and Engels’ criticisms retain their full force to this day.

 

Study questions:

 

· In what sense is petty-bourgeois socialism “both reactionary and utopian”?

· What is “true” socialism? What gave it such peculiar characteristics?

· What modern examples of “bourgeois socialism” have we found in recent political events? What standpoint should Communists take to this trend?

· Why do Marx and Engels advocate supporting the bourgeoisie in Germany when it acts in a revolutionary way, instead of advocating direct support of the proletariat in its class struggle?

· Why do Marx and Engels reject the possibility that existing social and political systems can be reformed – why do they argue that it must be overthrown altogether?