Communist Manifesto

The Bourgeoisie and Proletarians in the Communist Manifesto portrays the timeless struggle in society between the haves, those who own the land and the resources, and the have-nots-those who are the wage earners or workers and who do not control the resources. In this chapter, Marx talks about how the Bourgeoisie arose from previous masters of societies who ancient times relied on the lower classes as laborers, and even property to provide them with the means to produce their wealth. The lower classes toil daily to provide capital for the Bourgeoisie with no means to grow their own wealth and power in the closed class system. As societies became more and more technically evolved and industry became stronger, the ruling classes spread their tentacles out to the world enslaving any population that could become useful for its resources and labor. Marx theorizes that the system has grown out of control and he even compares it to a epidemic since overproduction has made the value of the laborer less and less worthy of compensation. Labor has become less skilled due to the ease in which machines manufacture goods. A laborer makes barely enough to live on and is in a trapped system with no resources to better his or her life. I found it interesting that he even states that the middle classes slowly begin to migrate towards the bottom since they will not be able to compete with the monopolies of production and lower prices of those who hold the majority of resources. Unions become the representatives of the collective lower classes who are dissatisfied with their condition and value as citizens. Eventually the proletarians will rise up in revolution and reclaim their fair share in a form of revolution. This cycle will repeat again and again. Proletarians and Communists show how Marx and Engels see themselves as united with the proletariat and want to find an equity position in society where the Bourgeoisie are no longer successful at dividing society into the small amount of haves and the mostly have-nots. They see the Communist party as the answer to unite the movement for a society against land ownership by the wealthy and they are against the dictatorship by industry and the means of production. They feel the state should control the resources and property should be owned only by those working class people who work hard for it. Religion only excuses competition and they see Communism and Freedom and Justice as the only real truths worth teaching. In summary, they wish to redistribute the wealth of the nation in a more equitable manner while the state will provide the structure that will force evenness and access to resources so that one group of people may not use resources to hold power over another. One group may not prosper while another group struggles to survive.

I found the entire concept of the working classes or the masses of lower class and their struggle for survival vs. the Bourgeoisie to be relative to today in many ways. Though I do not believe communism works as a system due to man's natural instincts, I do see the how Marx and Engel were on to something when they saw the great divide and noticed how their were little means for the workers to better there life and the ruling classes use many ways to keep them down. I'm not really sure the movement was as idealistic though since if often used less than moral means to achieve its agendas over time. Most of the time, more corruption followed each revolution.