TheGodlessUtopian
21st August 2012, 04:37
When newcomers to the revolutionary left think of important texts to read the most iconic piece is undoubtedly that of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels The Communist Manifesto (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm).It is for this reason that this study guide now exists; though the text may be somewhat convoluted, especially in regards to the fluidity of reading found within Engels's The Principals of Communism (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm) and A Communist's Confession of Faith (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/06/09.htm) (both of which are essentially texts for further reading), I believe that it is not long overdue that such a guide exist on RevLeft.
This study guide was created from questions taken from the Marxists Internet Archive (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/guide.htm)as well as Workers Liberty (http://www.workersliberty.org/system/files/fscache/CE/01/CE01FB54).The answers have been provided from myself.If comrades find any mistakes in the answers please feel free to post them below.
~
Chapter One: Bourgeois and Proletarians
Q1: What is Class and why is it the driving force of human history?
A1: In Marxian terms class is socio-economic class, I.E a person’s relationship to the Means of Production. This is the driving force behind human history because it is only through class struggle that society evolves beyond its current state and into something better.
Q2: What is the nature of the capitalist state?
A2: The nature of the capitalist state is oppressive. It is a state which protects the interests of the capitalist class while attacking those of the working class.
Q3: Why is the working class the revolutionary class?
A3: The working class is the revolutionary class because they are the ones who hold the potential to transform society along lines which represent their class interests. Being oppressed by the current capitalist ruling class they are the ones who are capable of carrying out revolutionary struggle against the bourgeois regime and implementing change which is oppositional towards capitalist rule.
Q4: Why and how do Marx and Engels praise capitalism in this chapter?
A4: Marx and Engels praise capitalism in this chapter by explaining how the bourgeois mode of production has brought all civilizations into contact with one another while sweeping away the old feudal society. They said, “The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors.’” And that, ”It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image.” Both of these are the necessary precursors to socialist modes of productions. In this sense capitalism is performing tasks which, had the bourgeoisie be compelled to perform, would force socialists to do themselves.
Q5: The word “commodification” was not invented until recently, but do you think that this chapter is talking about commodification?
A5: When Marx and Engels are talking about “commodification” in this chapter they are referring to the process in which wage-laborers are forced to sell their labor power. As Explained in their other works when this happens the process in which this occurs is known as commodification; other words, when a laborer only has his wage-power to sell that becomes a commodity in itself. Taking this concept further we can find that they also refer to commodification within the world market with the big capitalists (the bourgeoisie) producing products from raw materials that, under previous forms of production, would have never be produced.
Q6: What does the Manifesto tell us about the how the proletariat changes as capitalism develops and in making the revolution?
A6: As capitalism develops and floods the world the growth of capital occasionally reaches a point in which it must expand into new markets or destroy the surplus means of subsistence. These moments are called crisis points. During each new crisis point, whether it is destroying the surplus means of subsistence or expanding into new markets, the ruling bourgeois class recruits members of the working proletarian class to assist them in the resolution of their crisis. However, as these crisis points consume more and more of society the bourgeoisie effectively arms the workers with the very weapons in which they can use to overthrow their position.
As capitalism develops so does the working class grows in proportion to capital. With the bourgeoisie concentrating ever more power in their hands they gradually push aside all other classes. In turn, the working class seeks, at first, due to lack of coherent vision, seeks to restore the old means of living (status) through the destruction of the machinery which stole their position. Later, when they have realized a level of class consciousness which enables them to attain their desires, they rebel not against the machines but against the bourgeoisie themselves by formulating labor unions.
Q7: What are Marx and Engels saying about “globalisation” in this chapter?
A7: As in the first question Marx and Engels talk about globisation as in the capitalist centralization process binding and affecting all nations equally…
“It has agglomerated population, centralised the means of production, and has concentrated property in a few hands. The necessary consequence of this was political centralisation. Independent, or but loosely connected provinces, with separate interests, laws, governments, and systems of taxation, became lumped together into one nation, with one government, one code of laws, one national class-interest, one frontier, and one customs-tariff.”
Capitalism has created and brought all nations into contact with one another; this is simply another word for globalization, the beginning of large industries crusade to unite all businesses, large and small, into a single exchange market.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Two: Proletarians and Communists
Q 1: What do Marx and Engels mean by the Communists not forming a separate party?
A1: Marx means this as a statement against sectarian bickering. He explains that communists have “have no interests separate and apart from the proletariat as a whole.” This means that communists “do not set up any sectarian principles of their own, by which to shape and mould the proletarian movement.” They work to lead the proletariat by pointing out the fallacies of nationalism and by educating them on the seizure of the Means of Production. This cannot be done if a party is formed on a basis of opposition to the proletariat.
Q2: What do Marx and Engels mean by abolition of private property and how do they answer the various refutations of this program?
A2: In this section Marx and Engels explain how during each great societal upheaval in which one class overthrows another, the victorious class imposes upon the defeated class a new form of property relations; “The French Revolution, for example, abolished feudal property in favour of bourgeois property.” Just as feudalism brought an end to feudal relations and ushered in bourgeois relations (exploitation, Means of Production, etc) the communist revolution will replace bourgeois property with commonly owned property.
The authors of the Manifesto therefore go into great detail in ascribing to capital how it is a social power since capital itself is a shared phenomenon only realized when all members of society work towards its creation. They use this train of thought to refute the numerous attacks against them by their bourgeois opponents who bellow outlandish claims in regards to personal freedom and property relations.
Q3: What does the Manifesto mean by “winning the battle of democracy”?
A3: When the manifesto says “winning the battle of democracy” the authors are referring to when the working class (proletariat) smashes the old state machine and concentrates everything- credit, capital, means of production, property, conquest of political power, etc-into their hands. Under the bourgeois regimes with property rights in the hands of a few hardly any working class persons have the ability to participate in working democracy. When the working class is able to participate, however, and has conquered political power for them, the social relations will cease to be oppressive for working class persons and begin to be liberating. In this sense the battle for democracy becomes the battle for socialism.
Q4: What do you think an anarchist or a reformist would make of the last part of this chapter? Do you think they would agree, and if not why not?
A4: Since in this section the authors talk extensively of a transitional state, and since Anarchists are opposed to all forms of state control, they would reject such proposals. Reformists would also reject such actions as they believe not in revolution, which is an authoritarian act, but of gradual reform. For this reason reformists of all stripes would not uphold the final sections.
Q5: How would you describe the concept of Freedom put forward in this chapter?
A5: The concept of freedom put forward in this chapter is a concept that humanity will only be truly free when the working class has organized itself as the one and only ruling class; when class antagonisms have been eradicated and nationalism, militarism, reformism, imperialism, capital (and the “money form”), and other vices have vanished from society. Freedom in this context means freedom from exploiting property and concentration of all property for the collective betterment.
Q6: Do communists wish to take away an individual’s personal possessions?
A6: No, communists do not want to take away a person’s personal property. Contrary to what capitalists shout communists are only interested in expropriating an individual’s private property (their land and means of production). While eventually the goal is to have all objects shared in communion in the immediate aftermath of a successful communist revolution everyone will still be able to hold exclusive “rights” to their personal property.
Q7: Do communists want to abolish the family?
A7: Yes. Communists wish to abolish what we know understand to be the family because it is a cornerstone of capitalist hegemony. Under the nuclear bourgeois family capital finds a home as it uses the patriarchy relations within this construct to maintain an exploitive edge (especially in relation to young people).
Q8: What demands are made within the 10 point program?
A8:
· “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. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
· 6. Centralisation 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 work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
· 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
· 10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c.”
Q9: How does Marx describe the final goal of communism?
A9: In Marx’s own words, “In 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.”
~ ~ ~
Chapter Three: Socialist and Communist Literature
Q1: What sort of criticism were "feudal socialists" making of capitalism?
A1: Desperate to combat the rising national bourgeoisie, the declining feudal aristocracy quizzically went against their own interests and tried to organize a branch of opposition which became known as “feudal socialism.” Under this form of organization the feudal socialists attempted to organize the proletariat under communistic slogans so as to restore and strengthen the feudal and patriarchal ruling class.
Q2: What sort of "socialism" is envisaged by "petty bourgeois socialists"?
A2: Petty-bourgeois socialists seek to eliminate threats to their own power-base by conducting a series of reforms. Their vision of “socialism” is of a welfare state where the working class is suppressed and led into believing that significant re-organization is underway. These petty-bourgeois socialists do this for fear of their own survival and are enemies of the working class.
Q3: What is wrong with "true socialism"?
A3: With German “True Socialism” the problem inherent within the construct was that it was entirely unscientific and speculative. As Marx says near the middle of the third chapter…
“It proclaimed the German nation to be the model nation, and the German petty Philistine to be the typical man. To every villainous meanness of this model man, it gave a hidden, higher, Socialistic interpretation, the exact contrary of its real character. It went to the extreme length of directly opposing the “brutally destructive” tendency of Communism, and of proclaiming its supreme and impartial contempt of all class struggles. With very few exceptions, all the so-called Socialist and Communist publications that now (1847) circulate in Germany belong to the domain of this foul and enervating [ideology].”
This reactionary brand of socialism failed to serve the working class and instead promoted “human nature” along with philosophical fantasy in relation to there being no class among the masses of humanity. In proclaiming this absurd statement German “True Socialism” thus revealed to the world its worthless content.
This study guide was created from questions taken from the Marxists Internet Archive (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/guide.htm)as well as Workers Liberty (http://www.workersliberty.org/system/files/fscache/CE/01/CE01FB54).The answers have been provided from myself.If comrades find any mistakes in the answers please feel free to post them below.
~
Chapter One: Bourgeois and Proletarians
Q1: What is Class and why is it the driving force of human history?
A1: In Marxian terms class is socio-economic class, I.E a person’s relationship to the Means of Production. This is the driving force behind human history because it is only through class struggle that society evolves beyond its current state and into something better.
Q2: What is the nature of the capitalist state?
A2: The nature of the capitalist state is oppressive. It is a state which protects the interests of the capitalist class while attacking those of the working class.
Q3: Why is the working class the revolutionary class?
A3: The working class is the revolutionary class because they are the ones who hold the potential to transform society along lines which represent their class interests. Being oppressed by the current capitalist ruling class they are the ones who are capable of carrying out revolutionary struggle against the bourgeois regime and implementing change which is oppositional towards capitalist rule.
Q4: Why and how do Marx and Engels praise capitalism in this chapter?
A4: Marx and Engels praise capitalism in this chapter by explaining how the bourgeois mode of production has brought all civilizations into contact with one another while sweeping away the old feudal society. They said, “The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors.’” And that, ”It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image.” Both of these are the necessary precursors to socialist modes of productions. In this sense capitalism is performing tasks which, had the bourgeoisie be compelled to perform, would force socialists to do themselves.
Q5: The word “commodification” was not invented until recently, but do you think that this chapter is talking about commodification?
A5: When Marx and Engels are talking about “commodification” in this chapter they are referring to the process in which wage-laborers are forced to sell their labor power. As Explained in their other works when this happens the process in which this occurs is known as commodification; other words, when a laborer only has his wage-power to sell that becomes a commodity in itself. Taking this concept further we can find that they also refer to commodification within the world market with the big capitalists (the bourgeoisie) producing products from raw materials that, under previous forms of production, would have never be produced.
Q6: What does the Manifesto tell us about the how the proletariat changes as capitalism develops and in making the revolution?
A6: As capitalism develops and floods the world the growth of capital occasionally reaches a point in which it must expand into new markets or destroy the surplus means of subsistence. These moments are called crisis points. During each new crisis point, whether it is destroying the surplus means of subsistence or expanding into new markets, the ruling bourgeois class recruits members of the working proletarian class to assist them in the resolution of their crisis. However, as these crisis points consume more and more of society the bourgeoisie effectively arms the workers with the very weapons in which they can use to overthrow their position.
As capitalism develops so does the working class grows in proportion to capital. With the bourgeoisie concentrating ever more power in their hands they gradually push aside all other classes. In turn, the working class seeks, at first, due to lack of coherent vision, seeks to restore the old means of living (status) through the destruction of the machinery which stole their position. Later, when they have realized a level of class consciousness which enables them to attain their desires, they rebel not against the machines but against the bourgeoisie themselves by formulating labor unions.
Q7: What are Marx and Engels saying about “globalisation” in this chapter?
A7: As in the first question Marx and Engels talk about globisation as in the capitalist centralization process binding and affecting all nations equally…
“It has agglomerated population, centralised the means of production, and has concentrated property in a few hands. The necessary consequence of this was political centralisation. Independent, or but loosely connected provinces, with separate interests, laws, governments, and systems of taxation, became lumped together into one nation, with one government, one code of laws, one national class-interest, one frontier, and one customs-tariff.”
Capitalism has created and brought all nations into contact with one another; this is simply another word for globalization, the beginning of large industries crusade to unite all businesses, large and small, into a single exchange market.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Two: Proletarians and Communists
Q 1: What do Marx and Engels mean by the Communists not forming a separate party?
A1: Marx means this as a statement against sectarian bickering. He explains that communists have “have no interests separate and apart from the proletariat as a whole.” This means that communists “do not set up any sectarian principles of their own, by which to shape and mould the proletarian movement.” They work to lead the proletariat by pointing out the fallacies of nationalism and by educating them on the seizure of the Means of Production. This cannot be done if a party is formed on a basis of opposition to the proletariat.
Q2: What do Marx and Engels mean by abolition of private property and how do they answer the various refutations of this program?
A2: In this section Marx and Engels explain how during each great societal upheaval in which one class overthrows another, the victorious class imposes upon the defeated class a new form of property relations; “The French Revolution, for example, abolished feudal property in favour of bourgeois property.” Just as feudalism brought an end to feudal relations and ushered in bourgeois relations (exploitation, Means of Production, etc) the communist revolution will replace bourgeois property with commonly owned property.
The authors of the Manifesto therefore go into great detail in ascribing to capital how it is a social power since capital itself is a shared phenomenon only realized when all members of society work towards its creation. They use this train of thought to refute the numerous attacks against them by their bourgeois opponents who bellow outlandish claims in regards to personal freedom and property relations.
Q3: What does the Manifesto mean by “winning the battle of democracy”?
A3: When the manifesto says “winning the battle of democracy” the authors are referring to when the working class (proletariat) smashes the old state machine and concentrates everything- credit, capital, means of production, property, conquest of political power, etc-into their hands. Under the bourgeois regimes with property rights in the hands of a few hardly any working class persons have the ability to participate in working democracy. When the working class is able to participate, however, and has conquered political power for them, the social relations will cease to be oppressive for working class persons and begin to be liberating. In this sense the battle for democracy becomes the battle for socialism.
Q4: What do you think an anarchist or a reformist would make of the last part of this chapter? Do you think they would agree, and if not why not?
A4: Since in this section the authors talk extensively of a transitional state, and since Anarchists are opposed to all forms of state control, they would reject such proposals. Reformists would also reject such actions as they believe not in revolution, which is an authoritarian act, but of gradual reform. For this reason reformists of all stripes would not uphold the final sections.
Q5: How would you describe the concept of Freedom put forward in this chapter?
A5: The concept of freedom put forward in this chapter is a concept that humanity will only be truly free when the working class has organized itself as the one and only ruling class; when class antagonisms have been eradicated and nationalism, militarism, reformism, imperialism, capital (and the “money form”), and other vices have vanished from society. Freedom in this context means freedom from exploiting property and concentration of all property for the collective betterment.
Q6: Do communists wish to take away an individual’s personal possessions?
A6: No, communists do not want to take away a person’s personal property. Contrary to what capitalists shout communists are only interested in expropriating an individual’s private property (their land and means of production). While eventually the goal is to have all objects shared in communion in the immediate aftermath of a successful communist revolution everyone will still be able to hold exclusive “rights” to their personal property.
Q7: Do communists want to abolish the family?
A7: Yes. Communists wish to abolish what we know understand to be the family because it is a cornerstone of capitalist hegemony. Under the nuclear bourgeois family capital finds a home as it uses the patriarchy relations within this construct to maintain an exploitive edge (especially in relation to young people).
Q8: What demands are made within the 10 point program?
A8:
· “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. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
· 6. Centralisation 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 work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
· 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
· 10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c.”
Q9: How does Marx describe the final goal of communism?
A9: In Marx’s own words, “In 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.”
~ ~ ~
Chapter Three: Socialist and Communist Literature
Q1: What sort of criticism were "feudal socialists" making of capitalism?
A1: Desperate to combat the rising national bourgeoisie, the declining feudal aristocracy quizzically went against their own interests and tried to organize a branch of opposition which became known as “feudal socialism.” Under this form of organization the feudal socialists attempted to organize the proletariat under communistic slogans so as to restore and strengthen the feudal and patriarchal ruling class.
Q2: What sort of "socialism" is envisaged by "petty bourgeois socialists"?
A2: Petty-bourgeois socialists seek to eliminate threats to their own power-base by conducting a series of reforms. Their vision of “socialism” is of a welfare state where the working class is suppressed and led into believing that significant re-organization is underway. These petty-bourgeois socialists do this for fear of their own survival and are enemies of the working class.
Q3: What is wrong with "true socialism"?
A3: With German “True Socialism” the problem inherent within the construct was that it was entirely unscientific and speculative. As Marx says near the middle of the third chapter…
“It proclaimed the German nation to be the model nation, and the German petty Philistine to be the typical man. To every villainous meanness of this model man, it gave a hidden, higher, Socialistic interpretation, the exact contrary of its real character. It went to the extreme length of directly opposing the “brutally destructive” tendency of Communism, and of proclaiming its supreme and impartial contempt of all class struggles. With very few exceptions, all the so-called Socialist and Communist publications that now (1847) circulate in Germany belong to the domain of this foul and enervating [ideology].”
This reactionary brand of socialism failed to serve the working class and instead promoted “human nature” along with philosophical fantasy in relation to there being no class among the masses of humanity. In proclaiming this absurd statement German “True Socialism” thus revealed to the world its worthless content.