Class warfare is the political and economic inequality of different classes in a society. It creates a lack of unity and imbalance within society. In Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and The 18th Brumaire,  he outlines his opinions of the social classes and the conflict that has occurred mainly between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat throughout Europe. 

In Marx’s opinion, the Bourgeoisie united over their common interest in capital and controlling the means of production of society. There was a need, in European society, for a social class to become the leaders of the manufacturing systems. Modern industry arose to replace the guild system and the bourgeoisie took over. Marx comments on the social class: “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”(Communest Manifesto, 14). The bourgeoisie had formed this class on the basis of oppression and being able to make more money. They did not care about who they were putting new struggles on and the issues they caused for the working class. 

Since the Bourgeoisie were the owners of the means of production of society, their material interests were capital and production. The Industrial Revolution in Europe gave the Bourgeoisie an opportunity to become the leading means of production in society. They were interested in making as many products as they could, with the cheapest labor possible. Then sell the products to make a large profit. Marx states, “The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society” (Communist Manifesto, 16). It is simple, the Bourgeoisie had one goal and it was to make more money. With the constant need of more products in their society, they were able to keep producing and making more money. 

Additionally, because they owned the factories, the products being made, and the profits, the Bourgeoisie were the capitalists of society. They were interested in keeping free trade and markets for them to buy and sell goods. Their political interests included having a republic that they could control to make laws and decisions that benefited them. The Bourgeoisie were very much against socialism because it would have dismantled everything about capitalism. Trade would be controlled by the state, which took away their control and profits.  Marx states, “Each step in the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance of that class…The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.”  (The Communist Manifesto, 15). Like any political party, the Bourgeoisie wanted political control to benefit their social class. 

Moreover, Marx describes many political actors in The 18th Brumaire, who are individuals or groups that claim they represent the entirety of a social class. For the Bourgeois the political actors were known as: the Pure Republicans, Tricolour Republicans, Political Republicans, or Formalist Republicans. They claimed to represent: “…the bourgeoisie held together by great common interests and marked off by specific conditions of production. It was a clique of republican-minded bourgeois, writers, lawyers, officers, and officials” (The 18th Brumaire 27). Not only do they represent the industrial Bourgeoisie, but the wealthy and powerful people of society. 

The Bourgeoisie Republicans did represent the entirety of the party successfully, especially the industrial bourgeoisie. Marx explains: “The industrial bourgeoisie was grateful to it for its slavish defense of the French protectionist system, which it accepted… the bourgeoisie as a whole, for its vicious denunciation of communism and socialism… It demanded a republic instead of a monarchist form of bourgeois rule and, above all, the lion’s share of this rule” (The 18th Brumaire 28). The Pure Republicans did exactly what the group as a whole wanted. They all wanted a republic to replace the monarchy. Their main aspect was to have “the lion’s share” of control of government. They would not have been able to have that with a monarchy. 

These political interests of the Bourgeoisie, that Marx describes in the Communist Manifesto, was solely to advance themselves in production. Through this, they gained political power by becoming wealthy and powerful through industry. Through this, they become involved in politics because of their wealth.  One way of gaining this power was through: “The bourgeoisie… has agglomerated population, centralised the means of production, and has concentrated property in a few hands. The necessary consequence of this was political centralisation” (Communist Manifesto, 17). They urbanized Europe and moved the majority of the poputlations into cities. This created a centralized society that they could control under one set of regulations. This allowed them to gain power and wealth, and as anyone knows power and wealth leads to political influences. 

Overall, the Bourgeois were a very powerful social class that came about from the rise of Industrialization. They became very wealthy very fast, and did not care about the exploitation of the working class. They wanted money and power any way they could. Marx’s analysis of the class struggles in the Communist Manifesto and the 18th Brumaire highlighted the Bourgeoisie selfishness and their misguided actions.