Communist Manifesto: Historical and Societal Commentary

            Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto on the eve of the social upheaval that struck Europe in 1848. While his book did not necessarily spark the revolution, it came at the opportune time to spread his message about the struggles between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. Through his commentary, he sought to create a doctrine for the ideals of Communism in order to fight against the system of oppression that controlled the continent. In order to archive this goal, he attempted to convince the reader to his train of thought through an analysis on the current state of affairs in the mid-19th century and a historical analysis of how past societal changes brought Europe to this point in history.

            The very first line in the Communist Manifesto gives credence to the idea that this book is about historical class struggles and their relationship to today. “The history of all hithero existing society is the history of class struggles.”[1] Marx is commentating about how throughout all human history there has been a relationship in society between those who rule and the people they rule over. In the past it was between the lord of the land and the serfs they controlled. In Marx’s time, the power of the Aristocracy had been fading for many years. From the ruins of that old order there had sprouted a new form of oppression. The Bourgeoisie (middle class) now controlled the labored masses (the Proletariat) who must work in their factories in order to make a living.

            Marx believes that the Bourgeoisie was able to gain power in the early 19th century for several historical reasons. The first of these reasons is that the exploration and discovery of the New World and Far East opened up many opportunities for the middle class to exploit. The colonization of these new lands resulted in “… the increase of the means of exchange and in commerce generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulse never before known, and thereby, to the revolutionary element in the tottering feudal society, a rapid development.[2]”  The old feudal system of industry conducted within closed guilds controlled by the king could not keep up with this growing market. The manufacturing based Bourgeoisie capitalized on this growth and their industries and labor practices rapidly expanded throughout Europe. This destroyed the guilds and significantly weakened the aristocracy’s power to control the markets and the people. Without the expansion and colonization of new territories, the need for increased industry would have never surfaced and the Bourgeoisie would have remained a small class.