The Communist Manifesto [Feb 01, 2018] Marx, Karl Paperback – December 20, 2017

I started reading this book along with others to try and understand alternative methods of living as employed in other nations. I enjoyed this read and it really tickled my brain. I took my time and took notes for nearly every page— there were so many interesting ideas and observations that I’ve never thought of before. While I don’t agree with Marxists solutions to the very real problems he has listed, I still enjoyed his perspective.

“The Communist Manifesto originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party is a short 1848 publication written by the political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It has since been recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts.’’Of course, I’ve heard about this document since youth. Never read it. But, seems so influential, especially recently, decided to examine it.“Commissioned by the Communist League, it laid out the League's purposes and program. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and present) and the problems of capitalism, rather than a prediction of communism's potential future forms. The book contains Marx and Engels' theories about the nature of society and politics, that in their own words, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles".It also briefly features their ideas for how the capitalist society of the time would eventually be replaced by socialism, and then eventually communism.’’This from preface. Marx penned this in 1848. This English translation by Engels in 1888.Some highlights . . .These measures will of course be different in different countries. Nevertheless in the most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable.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 right 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 labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population 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.’’Fascinating that most of these programs have been implemented in many western societies.Another is this rejection of history.“There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, Justice, etc. that are common to all states of society. But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience."Recalls Daniel’s prophecy about the king of the north . . .“He will show no regard for the God of his fathers; nor will he show regard for the desire of women or for any other god.’’Marx . . .“Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare up at this infamous proposal of the Communists. On what foundation is the present family, the bourgeois family, based? On capital, on private gain. In its completely developed form this family exists only among the bourgeoisie.’’How abolish family? Forbid private property.“The proletarians cannot become masters of the productive forces of society, except by abolishing their own previous mode of appropriation, and thereby also every other previous mode of appropriation. They have nothing of their own to secure and to fortify; their mission is to destroy all previous securities for, and insurances of, individual property.’’‘Destruction of all property’ seems to be now coming to pass.“ All previous historical movements were movements of minorities, or in the interests of minorities. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interests of the immense majority. The proletariat, the lowest stratum of our present society, cannot stir, cannot raise itself up, without the whole superincumbent strata of official society being sprung into the air.’’‘Official society cut loose’ from its world.“Though not in substance, yet in form, the struggle of the proletariat with the bourgeoisie is at first a national struggle. The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie. In depicting the most general phases of the development of the proletariat, we traced the more or less veiled civil war, raging within existing society, up to the point where that war breaks out into open revolution, and where the violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie lays the foundation for the sway of the proletariat.’’‘Violent overthrow’ and ‘veiled civil war’. Well . . .Another heartfelt cry of anguish . . .““ The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones.’’Note Marx complaining about ‘everlasting uncertainty’. Marx’ personal life was just that - uncertain, troubled, turbulent. His family eventually refused to support him. He was furious. He is really demanding that someone else guarantees him a comfortable life. In fact, Engels (rich factory owner) did eventually support Marx.“All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.’’And this unique facet of capitalism, its turbulent, uncertain, constant change to unknown directions obviously disturbs many. Marx nailed it!Last paragraph —“The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims.They openly declare that their ends can be attained only bythe forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions.Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution.The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.They have a world to win.’’Lots of familiar ideas that seem current. I wonder how many recognize the influence of this German philosopher on modernity. I didn’t realize how much of his thought still remains.One thing which has not endured is his analysis of economics. The labor theory of value which he borrowed from Adam Smith is now known to be completely wrong. Capitalism has not self-destructed. In fact, world dozens of times richer than when Marx lived.Nevertheless, this goal, desire to destroy is stronger than ever in the mind of many.

This is a review for the free kindle edition. Given that it is a free edition, it has no table of contents or hyperlinks, but given that this is basically a pamphlet, it is not really that important. I was easy to use the `search this book' option to find the 4 different sections the start with the roman numerals I through IV. I also like the `popular highlights' feature on the kindle, of which 3 or 4 sentences were highlighted that people thought were interesting. They were quotes that we worth noting.Marx' pamphlet was clearly written and did a good job of presenting his ideas. I summarize the main sections below.The first section is a summary of the class struggles between the proletariats and the bourgeois, or the oppressed and the oppressors. He actually does a good job pointing out many actual problems.The second section describes the relationship between proletarians and communists. He makes it clear that the aim of communists is to overthrow the bourgeois class to be replaced with the proletariat class.The third section describes the socialist and communist literature and describes each type of socialism. He clearly dislikes socialists almost as much as he does capitalists.The fourth section was a summary of the differences between communism and various other opposition parties, mostly socialists. He dislikes most of them because they do not go far enough in overthrowing the existing systems of government.I was struck by his belief that swapping the two classes would result in a permanent fix to the problem. History has born out that empowering the oppressed class just turns them eventually into oppressors. Communists eventually become an elite class and there still becomes a less privileged class. The incentive to excel becomes stifled and overall prosperity suffers.This was worth reading and is a good reminder to all of us to do everything we can to prevent a class of people from feeling oppressed. Many ideas of communism were very bad, but some of their solutions were good, including universal free education. I'm still convinced that the US system of government is the best there is, though it is not perfect.