Preamble

The Communist Manifesto is the working document of the Communist League

co-authored by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in 1848. Marx had joined the
Communist League in 1847 after being expelled from Paris, France in 1845. As a
Utopian socialist, Marx had lived his life in radical criticism of the prevailing situation
in government of his time i.e exploitation of the proletariat, peasants and workers by the
bourgeoisie and the ruling class. The Communist Manifesto thus is a call for Universal
Solidarity for the working class to unit in revolution to reclaim their rights and to
establish socialism which Marx assumed to be the best form of government.
Review of the Communist Manifesto
Chapter 1: The Bourgeois and Proletarians
The attitude of the Bourgeois and relationship with the Proletarians is the focus
of chapter one. It begins with Karl Marx’s famous generalization that "the history of all
hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles". Here, Marx describes these
classes in terms of binary oppositions, with one party as oppressor, the other as
oppressed. While human societies have traditionally been organized according to
complex, multi-membered class hierarchies, the demise of feudalism affected by the
French Revolution has brought about a simplification of class antagonism. Rather than
many classes fighting amongst themselves (e.g. ancient Rome with its patricians,
knights, plebeians, and slaves), society is increasingly splitting into only two classes:
Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.
The new economic powers of the bourgeoisie led to their political empowerment.
In fact, as Marx famously notes, "the executive of the modern State is but a committee
for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie". With this political
empowerment came the destruction of the social fictions on which previous societies
were based. The proletariats are the workforce of bourgeois enterprise, "a class of
laborers who live only so long as they can find work, and who find work only so long as
their labor increases capital".
The proletarians are themselves commodities and are likewise subject; as slaves
to their bourgeois masters, the proletariat is in a constant state of antagonism with the
bourgeoisie. This antagonism, though, leads to the mass mobilization helped by ever

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improving communication technologies of the proletariat, increasingly aware of their
collective power to effect changes in wages and working conditions. Marx concludes
this chapter by stating that, "What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, is its
own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable".
Chapter 2: Proletarians and Communists
In Chapter two Marx begins by declaring that communists have no interests apart
from the interests of the working class as a whole. Communists are distinguished from
other socialist parties by focusing solely on the common interests of all workers and not
the interests of any single national movement. They appreciate the historical forces that
compel the progress of their class and help lead the proletariat to fulfill their destiny. As
Marx says, "The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other
proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois
supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat".
In this chapter too, Marx responds to a number of criticisms from an imaginary
bourgeois interlocutor. Marx thus predicted the Abolition of private property, the
abolition of bourgeoisie property, a revolution in all nations. While Marx acknowledges
that the revolution will be different in different countries, he includes an outline of its
likely course in advanced capitalistic nations.
Chapter 3: Socialist and Communist Literature
In this section Marx explores the evolution of European socialism up to his own
day. Not surprisingly, he charges all previous movements with theoretical and practical
inadequacy while hailing his own communist alternative as the best expression of a
shared concern with the working-class. Some of these earlier forms of socialism include
Reactionary Socialism (Feudal Socialism, Petty-Bourgeois Socialism, German or 'True'
Socialism), Conservative, or Bourgeois, Socialism, Critical-Utopian Socialism and
Communism. Basically, in this chapter there are three major criticisms that Marx offers
against rival brands of socialism.
First, they use the present misery of the working class as a reason to restore older
methods of social organization; that is, it is backward-looking rather than forward-
looking. It is notable that Marx not only thinks that moving backwards is not only
unwise, he thinks it impossible. Marx's second criticism is that many of his

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contemporaries look forward to a new society but do not appreciate the extent to which
change is needed. The common fault of these people is their reluctance to endorse
violence as a method of social change. They might believe that slow and steady reforms
are the best way to ameliorate proletariat anxiety, or they might believe that quicker,
more radical departures from the past are needed.
Finally, Marx's third criticism is that other forms of socialism do not appreciate
the truly classist character of the conflict. This is the problem with the philosophized
socialism which elevates the principles of freedom to the point of practical irrelevance
and with bourgeois socialism who beseech the powers that be on behalf of the lower
classes.
Chapter 4: Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing
Opposition Parties
In this final chapter Marx recapitulates the immediate political aims of
Communism. He identifies allied parties in various European states, noting that while
communists support all working-class parties, they always stay focused on the long-
term interests of the proletariat as a whole. Importantly, Marx claims that Germany is
the chief focus of Communist interest because while the bourgeoisie in Germany have
not yet achieved victory over the aristocracy, the proletariat there is more developed
than it was when either the French or English bourgeoisie won their independence. The
result of this is that the proletariat revolution will arrive first in Germany.
Despite this focus, Communists will support any and all revolutionary
movements which advocate the abolition of private property and advance the interests
of the proletariat. As Marx powerfully concludes, "Let the ruling classes tremble at a
Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They
have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite!"