Overview
This lecture covers the key ideas and structure of the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels, focusing on class struggle, the rise of the bourgeoisie and proletariat, the aims of communism, and critiques of socialist literature.
Historical Context and Structure
- The Manifesto was written in 1847 as a program for the Communist League.
- It was published in 1848, shortly before widespread European revolutions.
- The Manifesto is divided into sections addressing historical materialism, class struggle, communist aims, and responses to objections.
The Rise of the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat
- All history is the history of class struggles between oppressor and oppressed groups.
- Modern society is split into two main classes: the bourgeoisie (capital owners) and the proletariat (wage laborers).
- The bourgeoisie arose from the ruins of feudalism, driven by new markets and industrial production.
- Industrialization centralized production, wealth, and political power in the hands of the bourgeoisie.
- The expansion of industry inevitably creates and concentrates a proletarian class with only their labor to sell.
The Role and Goals of Communists
- Communists represent the interests of all workers but do not form a separate party.
- The primary aim is to abolish bourgeois private property and class exploitation.
- Communists seek to unite workers internationally for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie and establishment of collective ownership.
Critique of Existing Socialism
- Feudal Socialism: Reactionary, defends old aristocratic privileges.
- Petty-Bourgeois Socialism: Seeks to restore outdated social forms, ultimately utopian.
- Conservative/Bourgeois Socialism: Wants to alleviate worker grievances without changing the capitalist system.
- Critical-Utopian Socialism: Imagines ideal societies without addressing the need for revolutionary class struggle.
Immediate Measures Proposed
- Abolition of private property in land and inheritance rights.
- Progressive income tax and state control of credit and transport.
- Free public education and abolition of child labor in factories.
- Centralization of means of production and combination of industry with agriculture.
The Paris Commune and Its Lessons
- The Paris Commune demonstrated the need to dismantle existing state machinery rather than seize it unchanged.
- Commune principles: direct, revocable representation, abolition of standing army, universal suffrage, and separation of church and state.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Bourgeoisie — the capitalist class owning means of production.
- Proletariat — wage laborers who have no property and sell their labor to survive.
- Means of Production — factories, land, resources used to produce goods.
- Class Struggle — conflict between social classes over control of resources.
- Communism — a classless, stateless society with collective ownership of production.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review the ten immediate demands from Section II of the Manifesto.
- Consider how class struggle concepts relate to modern society.
- Prepare notes on the Paris Commune’s influence on later socialist theory.