I chose the Bourgeoisie class to focus my analysis on.  The Engels, 1888 Edition defines the bourgeoisie class in the footnote as “the class of modern capitalists, owners of means of social production and employers of wage labour” (The Communist Manifesto, 14).  This class of people are mostly millionaires who own factories and are vital in the process of manufacturing goods for trade.  The proletariat class is employed by this class.  The proletariats are “the class of modern wage labourers who, having no means of production on their own, are reduced to selling their labour power in order to live” (The Communist Manifesto, 14).  This proletariat class is employed by the bourgeoisie class.  They rely on the bourgeoisie for income and the ability to make a living to feed their families.  According to Marx, the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariats is one of oppression.  Marx claims, “The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms.  It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones” (The Communist Manifesto, 14).  In order for the bourgeoisie class to excel it has to oppress another class.  In this case, the proletariat class is forced to work for low wages in the factories, while the factory owners profit.

The material interests of the bourgeoisie class are money and power.  This money is obtained through free trade.  The possibility for this new trade occurred because, “The discovery of America, the rounding of the Cape, opened up fresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie” (The Communist Manifesto, 15).  The colonies in America allowed for a greater expanse of civilization to trade with.  The markets created massive demand and advancements in technology spurred greater production from factories.  Steam and machinery allowed for faster and greater production from factories.  “The place of manufacture was taken by the giant, Modern Industry; the place of the industrial middle class by industrial millionaires, the leaders of the whole industrial armies, the modern bourgeois” (The Communist Manifesto, 15).  This modern industry that the modern bourgeois controlled, established the world market.  This led to an extension of the reaches of industry and the ability of the bourgeoisie to increase their capital further.

The role of the bourgeoisie did not fit into the existing political system.  The modern market did not fit into the feudal system of industry.  The bourgeoisie “…has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors’, and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous ‘cash payment’” (The Communist Manifesto, 15).  The bourgeoisie was pursuing free trade.  “The bourgeoisie keeps more and more doing away with the scattered state of the population, of the means of production, and of property.  It has agglomerated population, centralized the means of production, and has concentrated property into a few hands” (The Communist Manifesto, 17).  The bourgeoisie had a lot of power in this new society and replaced the feudal society with free competition along with a new constitution.

The bourgeoisie did not fit into the original feudal system.  This system was holding back the productive forces of the bourgeoisie.  The creation of free competition was necessary for this class to continue to expand.  The new markets would not be attainable without a new political system.  Marx claims that the bourgeoisie system was not completely unlike the feudal system.  This new system still required another class of people to suffer in order for the bourgeoise to succeed.  But this political action was definitely necessary for the bourgeoise to continue their economic growth.  The way in which this new system caused increasing oppression of the proletariat class also aided the means of production.  As innovation increased and machines were introduced into factories, jobs were replaced.  Skilled jobs that had once been well-paying were now replaced by a machine.  Instead of hiring someone to do these tasks, you now only had to hire someone to oversee the machine that would perform them.  Because of this, there was less of a demand for skilled workers.  The lower part of the lower class, “…sink gradually into the proletariat, partly because their diminutive capital does not suffice for the scale on which Modern Industry is carried on, and is swamped in the competition with the large capitalists, partly because their specialized skill is rendered worthless by new methods of production” (The Communist Manifesto, 18).  Men are replaced with women and children and pay decreases as working hours increase.  However, the political interests that helped the bourgeoisie also ended up destroying it as well.  Because of lower wages and increased numbers, the proletariat class fights back against the bourgeoisie creating unions and demanding equality and change.