The Communist Manifesto

The Manifesto, a platform for the Communist League, was commissioned by Marx and Engels in 1847. Initially suppressed after the 1848 Parisian insurrection, it later resurged with the International Workingmen's Association. Marx's inclusive program for the International helped transform workers, leading to the Manifesto's widespread acceptance by 1874. The authors chose "Communist" to distinguish from "Socialists" who were either utopian or middle-class reformers.

A "specter of Communism" was reported haunting Europe, demonstrating its recognition as a significant power by European authorities. This widespread fear prompted Communists of various nationalities to assemble in London. Their objective was to publish an open manifesto, clearly stating their views and aims to counter the prevailing negative narrative and inform the public.

The core idea is that history is a record of class struggles. Modern society simplifies these antagonisms into two main hostile classes: the Bourgeoisie—modern capitalists owning production means—and the Proletariat—wage-laborers forced to sell their labor-power. This ongoing conflict will culminate in revolutionary reconstitution or mutual ruin.

The bourgeoisie played a profoundly revolutionary role, dissolving old relations based on sentiment and replacing them with "naked self-interest" and cash payment. It constantly revolutionizes production, expands the global market, and centralizes capital and political power. This class created unprecedented productive forces, drawing all nations into its image.

The proletariat, the modern working class, grows with capital but faces increasing exploitation and dehumanization. Workers, reduced to machine appendages, form Trades' Unions and develop into a national political class. The bourgeoisie inadvertently creates its own demise by fostering this revolutionary class. The proletariat is the only truly revolutionary force, destined to overthrow existing society.

Communists are the most advanced section of the working class, united by common interests across nationalities. Their immediate aim is the formation of the proletariat into a ruling class, overthrowing bourgeois supremacy. The core theory is the abolition of modern bourgeois private property, which is based on class exploitation, not the abolition of property generally.

Communists critique bourgeois concepts of freedom (defined as free trade) and individuality, arguing they are rooted in capitalist exploitation. They also criticize the bourgeois family, based on capital, predicting its disappearance with the abolition of capital. National differences are seen as vanishing due to bourgeois globalization, and will further diminish under proletarian rule.

The first step is for the proletariat to become the ruling class and achieve democracy. This involves despotic measures to centralize production in the State, including abolishing land property, progressive income tax, and free public education. Ultimately, a future classless society will emerge where "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all."

Reactionary Socialism included Feudal Socialism (aristocratic attacks on the bourgeoisie, masking true reactionary aims), Petty Bourgeois Socialism (seeking to restore outdated systems), and German "True" Socialism (philosophical emasculation of French ideas, serving absolute governments). All these forms either opposed genuine working-class interests or were ultimately utopian and impractical.

Conservative (Bourgeois) Socialism seeks to address social grievances to preserve bourgeois society, advocating only administrative reforms without altering capital-labor relations. Critical-Utopian Socialism, while recognizing class struggle, proposed idealistic, peaceful, and small-scale experiments, appealing to all society. These systems, though containing valuable critiques, lacked practical justification as class struggles developed.

Communists strategically ally with various opposition parties (e.g., Social-Democrats in France, Radicals in Switzerland, agrarian revolutionaries in Poland, bourgeoisie against feudalism in Germany). However, they consistently instill class consciousness in workers, preparing them to turn the bourgeois system into a weapon against the bourgeoisie itself, always prioritizing the property question and future proletarian revolution.

Communists openly declare their aims: the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. They urge the ruling classes to fear the Communistic revolution, asserting that proletarians have "nothing to lose but their chains" and "a world to win." The Manifesto concludes with a powerful call for the union of the workingmen of all countries.