Lim- Communist Manifesto

The Communist Manifesto, a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx documenting the layout of communism in a sense to find a new and fair government for countries of the world to use. Marx also looks over the (at the time) current state of other government. That which includes the French government and the social classes within its society. Those classes are the petty bourgeois, the bourgeoisie, proletariats, and peasants. These four classes of people are what made French society when this pamphlet was released. Marx didn’t appear to be the biggest fan of social classes. You can tell that even more when you know a little bit about what communism is. He despised how they all couldn’t work together as one, as he defines a class as a group of people that have similar interests. The similar interests would obviously lead to you being in the same social class as you would probably be in the same situation. Each class would have a different interest than the other  and that is what made a class a class. He seemed to hate the bourgeoisie the most of all classes. The bourgeoisie once an oppressed class under French nobility has now taken control over the social classes of France. Marx says that the modern bourgeois has been formed over the course of time, has developed with each change with the government and society. It a product of a long course of development saying, “Each step in the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance of that class. An oppressed class under the sway of the feudal nobility, an armed and self-governing association in the medieval commune: here independent urban republic; there taxable “third estate” of the monarchy; afterwards, in the period of manufacturing proper, serving either the semi-feudal or the absolute monarchy as a counterpoise against the nobility, and, in fact, cornerstone of the great monarchies in general, the bourgeoisie has at last, since the establishment of Modern Industry and of the world market, conquered for itself, in the modern representative State, exclusive political sway,” (The Communist Manifesto 15). He probably didn’t like the change the bourgeoisie took over time and now is ruling over everyone essentially. As previously stated, the bourgeoisie once were just a group being oppressed by French nobility where their material interests were to just be treated fairly. They probably just wanted food and good enough wages with just a bit of land. Now they are in a sense rulers. Their material interests are all basically summed up to money and power. Their change in material interests is best said when Marx states, “The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage labourers. 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). If they can control these powerful men of society and force them into a classification of just waged laborers, the bourgeoise have a load of power. That’s where they are from a political stand point. All they want is power, power over everyone and power over everything. It uses a lot of the political power from an economic standpoint as well. They created a boom in production of everything. “The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together,” (The Communist Manifesto 17). The bourgeoisie also took a lot of land and placed it into the possession of very few people while also controlling the population. Marx says the bourgeoisie resulted all of this into political centralization. What that sounds like it all political matters are centered into one power. That is also what it is, all the power concentrated into one power creating a centralized government. Again what the bourgeoise want is power, power over everything. The interests for the bourgeoisie politically very much line up with their material interests. Not only do they line up, they advance their interests and again everything is advanced from an economic standpoint. The bourgeoise want money and power. They have the power where they make respected workers turn into paid waged laborers. They also have the power to control the production of factories. Increasing production of product means there are more things to sell. More things to see means more things to buy and when they sell, someone makes money. So when they have power the bourgeoise easily have the means to make the money thus getting exactly what they want. The political interest very much advance the material interest of the bourgeoisie. They do all of this according to Marx because, “The bourgeoisie naturally conceives the world in which it is supreme to be the best,” (The Communist Manifesto 31).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*