The Communist Manifesto

The Communist Manifesto was published in English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish languages.  The first section illustrates the history of class struggles between the oppressor and the oppressed. This is a constant fight which either results in the revolution of society or the ruin of the contending classes. It then focused upon the modern bourgeois society (capitalism) and the relationship between the Bourgeoisie (business and factory owners) and the Proletariat (working class). The current state of society is the product of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange, and through political advance.

There is then an extensive list given of the problems which a capitalist society causes. Capitalism has destroyed our relationships with other people, conflicts caused by our own self-interest and the family has been reduced into a merely monetary relation.  Capitalism draws all the nations into civilization and causes them to adopt their capitalist society through its cheap prices of commodities. It has made the country dependent upon the towns and cities. The Proletarians become just an appendage of the machine doing the most monotonous of jobs and as the repulsiveness of the work increases, their wage decreases. The workman is nothing more than a means to an end. Communists see the capitalist system as flawed, as it produces its own “grave diggers”, its fall is inevitable.

The second section goes on to explain the communist society and what that has to offer. Communists have no interests separate from those of the Proletariat as a whole and do not set up any principles of their own in an attempt to mould or shape the Proletarian movement.  The only factors which distinguish the communists from other working class parties is that in the instance of national struggles of the different countries, communists will point out the common interests of the whole Proletariat independent of their nationality. They will also always represent the interest of the movement as a whole.

The immediate aim of communists is to overthrow the capitalist society and gain political power. The Communist Manifesto outlines ten rules which would be generally applicable in a communist society:
1)Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2) A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3) Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4) Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5) Centralization of credit in the banks of the state by means of a national bank with a state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6) Centralization of the means of communication and of transport in the hands of the state.
7) Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state.
8) Equal obligation of all to work.
9) Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, abolition of the distinction between town and country with a more equal distribution of people across the country.
10) Free education to all children in public schools and the abolition of children’s factory labour.

In the third section of the manifesto there is the definition of socialism, which is where the state owns the means of production. This is described as the stepping stone to communism.