Karl Marx The communist Manifesto Notes

Communism is a theory that states that society should own all property. There should be no private ownership and labor is organized so that all members of society will benefit. Communism is based on the theories of Karl Marx and writing.

Karl Marx was an idealist. He observed the cruelties and injustices that the poor working class endured during the period of industrial revolution, and was then inspired to write of a society in which no oppression existed for any social class of people. Marx believed in a revolution that would end socialism and capitalism, and focus on communist principles. The Manifesto describes the goals of the communist party for ending exploitation of the working class and creating a society in which there is equality in society without social classes.

Marx uses reason to explain what will happen to society due to the materialism of the Industrial Revolution. Marx reasons how society will become classless under the rule of communism. The proletariat, defined as the lower working class, will take over the bourgeoisie, defined as the upper class, because of the difference in capital between the two classes. The two classes clash because both are consumed with wants of material items and power but only the bourgeoisie has an abundance of these two items. The proletariat then revolts to gain equality and thus society becomes classless. Marx's manifesto was inspired by the emergence of the modern working class- he seems to developed a socialist outlook through the principle of socialism. Marx’s "scrutiny" illustrates his belief in the unless change that's occurring between the Bourgeois and the Proletariat. The class relationships are defined by an era's means of production.

One of Marx's arguments is that the society created by the bourgeois is so powerful and out of control that it can no longer be controlled. Thus the illusion to the Sorcerer. The modern bourgeois society, he explains "a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, [it] is like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world when he has called up by his spells." His remedy for this situation was an overthrow of the ruling bourgeois society and the beginning of the proletariat society.

Another argument that Marx brings out that is relevant in today's society is the distinct class differences. He mentions how 10% of the people have virtually all the property.