The Communist Manifesto

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The Communist Manifesto (Template:LangWithName) was first published on February 21, 1848, and is one of the world's most influential political tracts. Commissioned by the Communist League and written by communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it laid out the League's purposes and program. The Manifesto suggested a course of action for a proletarian revolution to overthrow capitalism and, eventually, to bring about a classless society. This was most spectacularly attempted in Russia by Vladimir Lenin in the early twentieth century.

Although the names of both Marx and Engels appear on the title page alongside the "persistent assumption of joint-authorship", David McLellan (a Marx biographer) states that "Engels said later that the Manifesto was 'essentially Marx's work' and that 'the basic thought... belongs solely and exclusively to Marx'." McLellan, among an ever growing number of scholars, believes that "the actual drafting of The Communist Manifesto was done exclusively by Marx."

The introduction begins with a call to arms:

A spectre is haunting Europe -- the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.

Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?

The introduction also drew on a sense of historical necessity, in the phrase The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.

Image:Cmmalayalam.JPG The program described in the Manifesto -- that is to say, the policies the communists of its day sought to implement -- is termed socialism. These policies included, among others, the abolition of land ownership and the right to inheritance, a progressive income tax, universal education, and the nationalization of the means of production and transport. These policies, which would be implemented by a revolutionary government, would (the authors believed) be a precursor to the stateless and classless society known as communism. The term "communism" is also used to refer to the beliefs and practices of 20th century Communist Parties, including that of the Soviet Union.

The Manifesto also briefly mentions more controversial policies, including abolition of the "bourgeois" family and the introduction of "community of women" (presumably a reference to free love), which were not (and are not) endorsed by the majority of communists, but which have attracted criticism from anti-communists nonetheless.

One particularly important passage deals with the transition from socialism to communism:

When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated in 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, and, 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, and will thereby have abolished its own supremacy as a class.

It is this concept of the transition from socialism to communism which many critics of the Manifesto, particularly during and after the Soviet era, have highlighted. Anarchists, liberals, and conservatives have all asked how an organization such as the revolutionary state could ever (as Marx put it elsewhere) "wither away".

The Manifesto went through a number of editions from 1872 to 1890. It was written partially aimed at a lay audience, when addressing the common workers, and partially at the ruling class, when it attacked the reader as the bourgeoisie. Historically speaking, it provides a foundation for understanding the motives and policies of the communists at the beginning of their movement.

The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

The Communists do not form a separate party opposed to other working-class parties. They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole. They do not set up any sectarian principles of their own, by which to shape and mould the proletariat movement.

Working men of all countries, unite!

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Effect on modern countries

Some measures recommended by the Manifesto at the time, are now not unique to socialism or communism. Indeed, a number are currently widespread in developed capitalist countries. In particular, most western capitalist nations adhere to the following Manifesto measures:

A progressive tax system.
Centralization of credit in the banks of the state.
A universal free public education system and the abolition of child labor(in the form practiced in Marx's time).

Some commentators, especially Libertarians, have described parallels between each of the Ten Planks listed in the Manifesto and the current policies and infrastructure of the government of the United States.[1] For example, Michael Badnarik's book It's Good to be King contains a lengthy discussion.

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