Summary of The "Communist Manifesto" Chapter II "Proletariats and Communists" - By Karl Marx
Chapter II - "Proletariats and Communists"
There is no difference between the communists and the proletariat party as a whole, except for two things. One: the communist fight for the common interest of the entire proletariat regardless of what nation they're in; and two: they, again, represent more the interests of the movement as a whole rather than any localized group. 1The communists also have a better understanding of the whole historical conflict, but they're not unique or different from any of the other proletarian groups. "The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties, formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat." Also, they're not unique in wanting to abolish property relations, and the claim is made that when revolutions happen, this type of property shifting happens all throughout history. At the end of the day, private property is basically what one of the things that's enabling the bourgeois to take advantage of them. 2
The essence of communism is summed up here. "In this sense the theory of the communists may be summed up in the single sentence abolition of private property." Now what about the claim that private property that someone works hard for is kind of the source of all there freedoms and independence? Well, the land of the former skilled laborer has already been destroyed by the new capitalist industry, and the land of the new modern bourgeois only uses the land as a new means of exploitation of new workers. 3 [Marx uses this type of faux reasoning several times in the manifesto - you claim that we are taking away this or that - well you already didn't have this or that in some sense so what does it matter that we are.]
The wage laborer is only paid enough barely to survive and reproduce, but nothing more than that. And so a clarification is made that communists are not trying to take that away, but they don't want to take away the terrible suffering that goes with appropriating this small amount to live on. 4
Doing Away With Buying and Selling
Indeed, the communists want to do away with buying and selling all together, and in doing that, that will, of course, do away with free trade and free buying and selling that the bourgeois seemed to desire so much. Likewise, Marx says that if you're horrified at them doing away with private property, then realize that nine tenths the population are already doesn't have it. And the one tenth that does only has it on the backs of this nine tenths who do not. 5 [The second time he uses this faux style of argumentation.]
No Middle Class Allowed
Marx says that, as he's pointed out, the bourgeois turned a private property into capital, basically means of exploiting other laborers. And so when they want to abolish this, the bourgeois say you're taking away their individuality, and Mark says that is just their individuality, and yes, we're trying to take it away. And not only this, but the middle class owner must be "swept out of the way and made impossible," and there should be no acquiring of anything that means using other people Now, will this make society lazy that there is no private property? He claims it will not because those who work now don't get any private property and those who do have it don't work. 6
Destroy Everything of the Old Culture
Turning to culture; the culture of the bourgeois has to be destroyed just like their capitalist understanding of private property because this culture is a mere training of the worker to be like a pawn or a machine. "but don't wrangle with us so long as you apply to our intended abolition of bourgeois property, the standard of your bourgeois notions of freedom, culture, and law, your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class made into a law for all a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economical conditions of existence every class." And so all the things of upper class culture; they try to make into eternal laws of nature and rational, but Marx says are just simply the same arguments over property that have happened throughout history. 7
Abolish the Family, Marriage, and Private Education
Marx then turns to the communist desire to get rid of the family, and he claims that the present family, especially the bourgeois family is based on capital and on private gain. And so when capital is gotten rid of then the family too will disappear for them. And likewise, the Proletariat has a practical lack of family [probably given their long working hours]. [A third time of this faux reasoning. Well family never really existed anyway, so it's okay to abolish it.]
Now, what about replacing education at home with a social education? Well, Marx' claim is that one way or another the education at home is influenced by the social setting anyway, and the Communists haven't invented society intervening in education, they just rather seek to change it and to get rid of the influence of the bourgeois class that's influenced it so far. 8 [A fourth time here]
"The bourgeois clap-trap about the family and education about the hallowed correlation of parent and child becomes all the more disgusting, the more by the action of modern industry, all family ties among the proletarians are torn asunder, and their children transformed into simple articles commerce and instruments of labor." Basically, he's saying the bourgeois are upset about the proletariat tearing apart the family, yet they do that to the proletariat.
Now, turning to the abolition of marriage; it seems his claim of just creating a commune of women instead of marriage is not denied by Marx. [as he did before, he simply makes the comment, well, you seem upset about this, don't you do this anyway when you take the women of the proletariat when you enjoy common prostitutes and seduce each other's wives. So it never really existed to your ideal and thus it's okay to destroy. A fifth time of faux argumentation.] 9 Bourgeois marriage is in reality a system of wives in common, and thus at the most what the communist might possibly be reproached with is that they desire to introduce a substitution for a hypocritically concealed and openly legalized community prostitution of women.
No More Countries
Communists also want to do away with countries and nationality. But again, like Marx says, they don't have it anyway. [Sixth time of faux reasoning] He doesn't deny that they want to do away with it. Just that they didn't have it before, so to speak. "The working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got." Marx makes the point that since the proletariat have to take over everything anyway, it will, so to speak, become national again, but with a different meaning to the word than in the bourgeois sense. Likewise, united action is the goal of the proletariat, and so transcending these country's borders will be one of the necessary conditions for the proletariat emancipation. 10
Material Conditions Create Man's Higher Beliefs
Then Marx gives a key principle of his that ideas of man, his view and outlook on the world and his own existence are always a result of the conditions of his material or his physical life. And so if the physical conditions change, then man himself will change in these more abstract ways. Present in each age is the conditions for a revolution, practically speaking, and thus a condition for revolution of man's view of himself. "Does it require deep intuition to comprehend that man's ideas, views and conceptions in one word a man's consciousness changes with every change in the conditions of his material existence and his social relations and in his social life. What else does the history of ideas prove than the intellectual production changes its character in proportion as material production is changed? The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class." 11
Marx basically says that to anyone who would say religion, morality, philosophy, political science at law have survived the changing seasons and centuries ... well, we're going to do away with all those things, and that all of history is just reduced to the antagonism of these different classes with each other. And so if we do away with private property, that's going to lead to the doing away with every other idea related to the past. "There are besides eternal truths, such as freedom, justice, etc., that are common to all states of society, That's what the people of the past would say, quote, but communism abolishes eternal truths. It abolishes all religion and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis. It therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience. What does this accusation reduce itself to? The history of all past society has consisted in the development of class antagonisms, antagonisms that assume different forms, in different epochs. But whatever form they have taken, one fact is common to all past ages the exploitation of one society part of society by another."12
Going Forward
Marx stops with the "bourgeoisie objections," and moves to talking about what must happen going forward. So the proletariat has to become the dominant ruling class and take total control of the state. To do this, though, they must use "despotic inroads" to take property away from everyone and to take the means of production away from everyone and give it to the estate. Any other means is not going to work, and so it should look something like this: "1: abolition of property and land 2: application of all rents of land to public purposes to a heavy progressive or graduate income tax three 3: abolition of all right of inheritance 4: confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 13 5: centralization of credit in the hands of the state by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. six centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. 7 extension of factories and instruments of production, owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 8 equal liability of all to labor, establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture, 9 combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country, 10 free education for all children in public schools abolition of children's factory labor in its present form combination of education with industrial production."
Material Conditions Create Man's Higher Beliefs
Then Marx gives a key principle of his that ideas of man, his view and outlook on the world and his own existence are always a result of the conditions of his material or his physical life. And so if the physical conditions change, then man himself will change in these more abstract ways. Present in each age is the conditions for a revolution, practically speaking, and thus a condition for revolution of man's view of himself. "Does it require deep intuition to comprehend that man's ideas, views and conceptions in one word a man's consciousness changes with every change in the conditions of his material existence and his social relations and in his social life. What else does the history of ideas prove than the intellectual production changes its character in proportion as material production is changed? The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class." 11
Marx basically says that to anyone who would say religion, morality, philosophy, political science at law have survived the changing seasons and centuries ... well, we're going to do away with all those things, and that all of history is just reduced to the antagonism of these different classes with each other. And so if we do away with private property, that's going to lead to the doing away with every other idea related to the past. "There are besides eternal truths, such as freedom, justice, etc., that are common to all states of society, That's what the people of the past would say, quote, but communism abolishes eternal truths. It abolishes all religion and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis. It therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience. What does this accusation reduce itself to? The history of all past society has consisted in the development of class antagonisms, antagonisms that assume different forms, in different epochs. But whatever form they have taken, one fact is common to all past ages the exploitation of one society part of society by another."12
Going Forward
Marx stops with the "bourgeoisie objections," and moves to talking about what must happen going forward. So the proletariat has to become the dominant ruling class and take total control of the state. To do this, though, they must use "despotic inroads" to take property away from everyone and to take the means of production away from everyone and give it to the estate. Any other means is not going to work, and so it should look something like this: "1: abolition of property and land 2: application of all rents of land to public purposes to a heavy progressive or graduate income tax three 3: abolition of all right of inheritance 4: confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 13 5: centralization of credit in the hands of the state by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. six centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. 7 extension of factories and instruments of production, owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 8 equal liability of all to labor, establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture, 9 combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country, 10 free education for all children in public schools abolition of children's factory labor in its present form combination of education with industrial production."
Justifying Despotism
Then marks goes on to give a rather unbelievable justification of why this complete despotic takeover is okay. He says, "When in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated into the hands of a vast association of the whole nation. The public power will lose its political character, political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of one class for oppressing another, if the proletariat during its contest with the bourgeoisie is compelled by the force of circumstances, to organize itself as a class, if, by means of a revolution, it makes itself the ruling class in as such sweeps away by force the old conditions of production, then it will, along with these conditions, have swept away the conditions for the existence of class antagonisms, and of classes generally will thereby have abolished its own supremacy as a class and place of the old bourgeois society with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." 14
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1 - Marx, Karl and Frederick Engles. The Communist Manifesto. New York: Cosmo Classics, 2006. Pg. 60
2 - 61
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1 - Marx, Karl and Frederick Engles. The Communist Manifesto. New York: Cosmo Classics, 2006. Pg. 60
2 - 61
3 - 62
4 - 63
5 - 64
6 - 65
7 - 66
8 - 67
9 - 68
10 - 70
11 - 71
12 - 72
13 - 73
14 - 74
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