The Communist Manifesto
Friedrich Engles was a rich man who explored the downfalls of capitalism with Karl Marx, although the communist manifesto is an exploration of an idealistic and utopian world; there is a sense of reality which Friedrich Engles tries to bring into the picture. The heading is stated as “The Principles Of Communism” and this has prompted him to write and answer tough questions which enable him to deflect any notions that people might have had about communism. The reason behind being so definite about the answers shows a glimpse of the problems related to the time it was written in, contextually there was an industrial revolution that showed the downfall of the working class and its use in the society. Friedrich Engles and Karl Marx were writing as an idealist, he hoped to see a world in the correct ideologies of communism and the way it would help the working class. Proletariat is a term used to describe a person who holds no capital value and is paid only for the labour they provide at the moment. They are differentiated in the society because they hold no skills and work on a job to job basis to earn their sustenance. Proletariats are treated as though they are slaves but differ in terms of their ever changing value which is related to a task; “The slave is sold once and for all; the proletarian must sell himself daily and hourly”1. The industrial revolution divided the society into two classes; one were the bourgeoisie and the others were the proletariats. The system needed the latter, the Proletariats worked for the Bourgeoisie, by which they increased their wealth and the proletariats on the contrary, albeit the working class population and the majority, had no control over or access to private acquisition of wealth. These class struggles is what led to the key ideas developed in the Communist Manifesto where its stated that class struggles or the exploitation of one is the motivating force behind all key historical developments.
The Principles Of Communism was written by Friedrich Engles and was written as code of conduct with several progressive thoughts and also served as a draft for the communist manifesto. One of the reasons Friedrich Engles was writing with so much certainty because Karl Marx had collaborated to include it in the Communist Manifesto.
Engles described three necessary phases toward achieving his idea of utopia.
• Phase 1: A revolution must take place in order to overthrow the existing government. Marx emphasized the need for total destruction of the existing system in order to move on to Phase 2.
• Phase 2: A dictator or elite leader (or leaders) must gain absolute control over the proletariat. During this phase, the new government exerts absolute control over the common citizen's personal choices -- including his or her education, religion, employment and even marriage. Collectivization of property and wealth must also take place.
• Phase 3: Achievement of utopia. This phase has never been attained because it requires that all non-communists be destroyed in order for the Communist Party to achieve supreme equality. In a Marxist utopia, everyone would happily share property and wealth, free from the restrictions that class-based systems require. The government would control all means of production so that the one-class system would remain constant, with no possibility of any middle class citizens rising back to the top.
The main point of discussion in the manifesto is based upon the aspect of abolishing private property. In context to the time, capital wealth or personal wealth is what defined a persons stature and restricted them from being a proletariat. Abolishing private property means that everything becomes state owned; Marx describes the consequences and the need for a global revolution in order to achieve the mindset at the given time to abolish private property. In our current time, abolishing private property isn’t a regime that any country or even person follows. Friedrich Engles answers these self made questions as a person who lacks the courage to act upon his words. In the 19th century there weren’t many methods of communication, this means that a global revolution was a task which would be extremely difficult to achieve. The Principles Of Communism leans into such idealism at the time that it portrays itself as a dream journal.
With the fall in wealth, there isn’t a basis for nationalities and religion, the positives are far fetched and as future proved for Marx and Engles through Stalin, the ability to achieve this utopian lifestyle had a few political hiccups. Engles talk about the disappearance of religion and class distinction, but also only achieved through abolishing private property. The basis of achieving the state mentioned requires simultaneous revolutions in the world, and he doesn’t shy away from stating the truth. One of the negatives of the industrial revolution is over production and wastage of resources, this was one of the problems that communism tackles; as resources are distributed in accordance to only need and not desire.
Stalin was an example of the real world communism, he portrayed ultimate power and the functioning of a country in the communist manner, although as he progressed in his agendas you could see that rather than benefiting the country it lead to personal agendas. This is the greatest downfall of communism, one of the main reasons why communism has failed in our present history is because leaders lacked the right intent in their agendas. Friedrich Engles and Karl Marx wanted to create a support system for all of society rather than a method of gaining complete power. They clearly mention in their intent that this was to help the proletariats and the common working class, and the whole idealistic system was to built to help the people rather than those of power. Over the years many people stole communistic ideas, using them for their own systems; greatest examples of this were Hitler and China. A monarch is different from a communist state as a communist state is about the people and a monarch is about the royal family. The aim of such idealistic communism was so that people could control the economy, the growth of people only collectively lead to an overall growth in the economy. Although the passage was written by Engles, you can see the inputs and the certainty that Marx brings into this.
Communism differs from socialism, though the two have similarities. Both philosophies advocate economic equality and state ownership of various goods and services. However, socialism usually works through the existing democratic structures of capitalist countries. Almost
all capitalist countries, in fact, have some socialist characteristics, like the public schools and Social Security program in the United States.
Historically, such communist revolutions have never yielded their intended utopias of equality. Communist theory predicts that, after the proletariat revolution, special leaders must temporarily take control of the state, leading it toward an eventual "true" communist society. Thus, the governments of the Soviet Union, communist China, Cuba and others were intended to be provisional. In practice, these "temporary" governments have held on to power, often subjecting their citizens to authoritarian control.
Communist ideology also states that these revolutions should spread across the globe, rather than be limited to individual countries. This helps explain the historical antagonism between capitalist and communist nations — particularly the long Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
To conclude, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels turned the world upside down. Until the publication of their 1848 Communist Manifesto, much of the western world followed a course where individuals owned private property, business enterprises, and the profits that resulted from wise investments. Marx and Engels pointed out the uneven distribution of wealth in the capitalist world and predicted a worldwide popular uprising to distribute wealth evenly. Ever since, nations have wrestled with which direction to turn their economies. The most important principle of communism is that no private ownership of property should be allowed. Marx believed that private ownership encouraged greed and motivated people to knock out the competition, no matter what the consequences. Property should be shared, and the people should ultimately control the economy. The government should exercise the control in the name of the people, at least in the transition between capitalism and communism. The goals are to eliminate the gap between the rich and poor and bring about economic equality.
