“In the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere a complicated arrangement of society into various orders, a manifold gradation of social rank,” (The Communist Manifesto, 14). Karl Marx, in The Communist Manifesto — along with Frederick Engels — details the omnipresence of class struggles throughout all aspects of history. Specifically, he talks about the bourgeoisie, proletariat, petty bourgeoisie, and the peasants, and their struggles with, and against each other. In the newly industrialized society, Marx focuses on the bourgeoisie, who he refers to as the oppressors, and the proletariat, or the oppressed working class. 

   According to Marx, the bourgeoisie essentially is the middle, or upper-middle class, who are the economic rulers of this time; they are also known as the modern capitalists. The modern bourgeoisie came to be through countless revolutions and revolts against the traditional, patriarchal ideas of the time. The Communist Manifesto states, “It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones,” (The Communist Manifesto, 14). The new society, in which the bourgeoisie has been established as the dominant class, has also established new ways of oppressing the working class, and created new problems on top of the old ones. To elaborate, prior to the Industrial Revolution, the middle class was the average businessman — a cotton factory manager for example — and after the economic boom and creation of new technology that can mass produce goods, the average factory manager is now the wealthy ruler of this time. Marx and Engels wrote on this idea that, “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 further supports the idea that whoever controls the means of production, controls society.

   “The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation,” (The Communist Manifesto, 16). The owners/managers of factories then, in order to stay at the top of the social and wealth hierarchy, exploit their workers: they pay the workers less than a liveable wage. This follows Marx’s idea that because entire families are forced to work — along with men, women, and children must sacrifice their time to help support the family — the relationship between family members is purely centered around their economic value. In Marx’s and Engels’ eyes, the modern bourgeoisie was only interested in money, and the ways they could expand their wealth. 

   Due to their control of the economy, the bourgeoisie held most of the political power as well. By controlling the means of production, the bourgeoisie was able to control the working class, and because they held this much power, they were also able to staunch any socioeconomic or sociopolitical opposition brought about by the proletariat. The Communist Manifesto states, “The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie,” (The Communist Manifesto, 15). By this, Marx and Engels mean that the government and political power served as a mere tool for the bourgeoisie to use to further their advantageous position, and to continue oppressing and exploiting the laborers of society. In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx wrote about the National Assembly of France in 1850, and their motivation, or lack thereof, to pass any legislation or attempt to get any ideas passed. He wrote, “In the domain of general bourgeois interests, the National Assembly proved itself so barren, that, for instance, the discussion over the Paris-Avignon railroad, opened in the winter of 1850, was not yet ripe for a vote on December 2, 1851. Wherever it did not oppress or was reactionary, the bourgeoisie was smitten with incurable barrenness,” (Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Part IV). The executive state was content to allow the bourgeoisie to continue whatever methods they were using to procure their wealth.

   Through a lack of constraining forces, the bourgeoisie were able to expand their market across the globe, which resulted in the expansion of their exploitation of the working class. The authors of The Communist Manifesto wrote on the global influence, “It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilization into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves,” (The Communist Manifesto, 16). The interest in expanding civilization to new places in the world allowed for the bourgeoisie to advance its material interests, through its installation of bourgeoisie and capitalist ideas into these new places. Through the substantial amount of wealth accumulated, the bourgeoisie held significant influence over the governing forces of the time.