turkishXstyle
14th June 2005, 17:04
The Communist Manifesto, written by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, is probably one of the most important books in the history of human race. If you are interested in any kinds of politics, history, or philosophy, it’s a must read for you. It was the first book which gave the working class moral to step out of their slave positions, if this book wouldn’t be written, we would probably still live in a world of slavery and oppression.
This short book is the easiest way to take a look into the socialist theories of the 19th century.
In the first Chapter, “Bourgeois and Proletarians”, Marx explains that the biggest conflicts in the history have always been fought between upper and lower classes: Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed.
The same conflict was also in the 19th century: After the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the poor craftsmen couldn’t compete against the factories of the rich men, which could produce much more and much faster than the craftsmen hands. From this it follows that the craftsmen would have to stop their business, and start to work in the factories, because it was their only way to earn money. The Factory Owners, the so called Bourgeois, knew that the workers HAD TO work for them, with this fact at their minds; the Bourgeois oppressed their workers as much as they could:
1- There were no insurances – when a worker became ill or hurt himself in the factory, the owner had the right to kick him out of the company
2- No minimum wage was set – while market crisis, the first things that were cut off were the wages of the workers
3- There were no retirement pension – the workers had to work till death, their children couldn’t provide for them, because they just earned enough for their selves
Marx compares the situation of the European workers with the situation of the American slaves; he even argues that American slaves had even better lives than the European workers, because the American law said that the slave-owner has to provide a home and enough food for their slaves. There was no rule in Europe in which forbid the Bourgeois to oppress the Proletarians
Engels Solution: Revolutions over Europe. For Marx and Engels, the only possible way out of the misery was a change of the economic system and new balance of power.
Firstly, he wanted to nationalise every factory and farm, just like the socialists. But communism goes a step further. Karl Marx doesn’t want to stop here, he wants to nationalise EVERYTHING, and this means that every factory, farm etc. would be owned by the whole populations, not just the Bourgeois. No rich oppressors, no poor workers anymore – everyone would just own everything.
How it should work?
for Example: The factories and farms should just keep doing their work and produce food and products. These products will be collected in so called “collectives”. From these collectives, everyone was allowed to help himself. Families disabled persons, old persons and of course the working persons were allowed to take as much food as they need.
As more the population worked, as more they were allowed to consume.
In the end of the book, Friedrich Engels answers to some questions related to the communist-dream-state, for example about education, religion or organization.
i would be happy if you could correct some of my grammar and spelling mistakes :D
This short book is the easiest way to take a look into the socialist theories of the 19th century.
In the first Chapter, “Bourgeois and Proletarians”, Marx explains that the biggest conflicts in the history have always been fought between upper and lower classes: Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed.
The same conflict was also in the 19th century: After the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the poor craftsmen couldn’t compete against the factories of the rich men, which could produce much more and much faster than the craftsmen hands. From this it follows that the craftsmen would have to stop their business, and start to work in the factories, because it was their only way to earn money. The Factory Owners, the so called Bourgeois, knew that the workers HAD TO work for them, with this fact at their minds; the Bourgeois oppressed their workers as much as they could:
1- There were no insurances – when a worker became ill or hurt himself in the factory, the owner had the right to kick him out of the company
2- No minimum wage was set – while market crisis, the first things that were cut off were the wages of the workers
3- There were no retirement pension – the workers had to work till death, their children couldn’t provide for them, because they just earned enough for their selves
Marx compares the situation of the European workers with the situation of the American slaves; he even argues that American slaves had even better lives than the European workers, because the American law said that the slave-owner has to provide a home and enough food for their slaves. There was no rule in Europe in which forbid the Bourgeois to oppress the Proletarians
Engels Solution: Revolutions over Europe. For Marx and Engels, the only possible way out of the misery was a change of the economic system and new balance of power.
Firstly, he wanted to nationalise every factory and farm, just like the socialists. But communism goes a step further. Karl Marx doesn’t want to stop here, he wants to nationalise EVERYTHING, and this means that every factory, farm etc. would be owned by the whole populations, not just the Bourgeois. No rich oppressors, no poor workers anymore – everyone would just own everything.
How it should work?
for Example: The factories and farms should just keep doing their work and produce food and products. These products will be collected in so called “collectives”. From these collectives, everyone was allowed to help himself. Families disabled persons, old persons and of course the working persons were allowed to take as much food as they need.
As more the population worked, as more they were allowed to consume.
In the end of the book, Friedrich Engels answers to some questions related to the communist-dream-state, for example about education, religion or organization.
i would be happy if you could correct some of my grammar and spelling mistakes :D