Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto opens with strong words from its author Karl Marx, “The history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles.” To put it lightly, the reader knows at this point that this “book” will not be a walk in the park. In section, “Bourgeois and Proletarians”, Marx explains his view of history and the inevitable destruction of the bourgeoisie. As learned from the first sentence, Marx believes history is shaped by class struggles. These class struggles are driven by antagonism. Marx goes on to propose that feudalism has been “conquered” by bourgeois capitalism and that soon capitalism will fall to proletarian rule. Marx does not see history shaped by significant political, economic, or social events (Riots, Wars, Depression, etc), but rather he sees it as a logical progression. He sees himself predicting the future, a future without capitalism.
In section two Marx outlines his view of what will happen to capitalistic nations. The most important theses advanced in this section relate to Marx's response to bourgeois criticisms of communism. The first and most important charge Marx brings up is that the abolition of private property destroys the "ground work of all personal freedom, activity, and independence". Marx's first move is to then respond that the bourgeois system of property does not provide any property for the worker. It is hard to see how this directly bears on the criticism since its leaves open the obvious suggestion that workers should simply be paid more. Inequality in distribution does not, imply that private property need to be abolished.
There are three major criticisms that Marx offers against rival brands of socialism in section 3. First, they use the present misery of the working class as a reason to restore older methods of social organization, second, that many contemporaries of his look forward to a new society but do not appreciate the extent to which change is needed;...