The Importance of "The Communist Manifesto" - Dan Rosu

 

              Controversial pieces of literature are as important to read now as they were when they were originally written—political writings in particular remain relevant despite the obvious changes in modern-day society compared to a couple decades or centuries ago. The Communist Manifesto, originally written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in German, brings up important aspects of the economic system most countries have employed, capitalism, and the problems associated with it.

The Communist Manifesto describes a form of society which prioritizes the worker over the “bourgeoisie” or upper class. The logic being that allowing the working majority to control the means of production will cause less exploitation of labor for profit related reasons—also giving workers room to specialize their crafts instead of doing what makes the most profit. The manifesto discusses how wages are determined and minimized to the largest possible extent to gain the most amount of profit or surplus, effectively paying the “proletariat” lower class less than their labor is worth. Marx argues that under capitalism, the bourgeoisie will always make the proletariat live under their conditions, because otherwise the lower class will have no way to get money to provide basic necessities for themselves and their family. He argues that these aspects of capitalism make the system a moral evil which doesn’t benefit the success of humanity.

Marx’s ideology, more commonly referred to as Marxism, utilizes a transitionary period called socialism to arrive to a system where private ownership and property is abolished more broadly described as communism. The definition of the terms “communism” and “socialism” have been greatly altered since The Communist Manifesto’s original release in 1848, and many different branches of the political ideologies have also formed. Many still associate communism and socialism with dictatorships and authoritarianism, despite Marx being a main advocate for economic and governmental democracy. This misinterpretation is harmful because it leads to future generations remaining miseducated, and never analyzing for themselves controversial literature.

If one were to only look at the way Marx defines capitalism, they’d realize the flaws in our current system. Especially in a time when multiple multi-billion-dollar corporations increasingly prosper, it’s important to analyze power dynamics in the economy. Dismissing historical literature like The Communist Manifesto because self-proclaimed communist or socialist regimes of the past failed leads to a failure to recognize the faults in our current society—it leads to the idea that because the other proposed system failed, there is no better alternative to capitalism. Philosophical literature as a whole is vital towards the development of society. Sometimes when things go wrong, like in the case of mass economic unrest during COVID-19’s spread, it’s important to see what critical-thinkers of the past believed, to create new solutions for the present.