PDP4 - Communist Manifesto
Author Bio: The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and edited by Friedrich Engels. Marx tends to be biased towards the working class and the upper class. He favors and justifies the lower classes, while he strongly condemns the upper class. This can be attributed to Marx being born during the Industrial Revolution in Germany. Marx observed the poor working conditions for the masses and saw workers being oppressed by factory owners. This allowed Marx to develop a bias towards the bourgeoisie. Likewise, Engels was also horrified at the working conditions of the poor which contributed to the bias against the upper class. Overall, it seems that Marx is not a particularly reliable source. His writing appears to be dominated by drawing conclusions and generalizations that are not supported by fact. For example, in the Communist Manifesto there are no statistics, data, or specific evidence to justify what he is identifying as a problem in society is actually an issue. This is not to say that both men were uneducated. In fact, they both had extensive secondary education making them qualified philosophers. Marx studied under G.W.F. Hegel, a philosopher, who states that history is a process to make the earth aware of itself. Marx’s views were influenced by this as he believed that as man became more conscious of himself, the material world blocked him from himself.Date/Context: The Communist Manifesto was written to state the philosophy of the Communist League in 1848. The document is a reflection of the social, political, and economical hardships that Europe was facing prior to 1850. In other words, the document was written to help the impoverished lower classes during the industrial revolution achieve a better life. The philosophical ideas presented in the Communist Manifesto had a lasting effect on society. The ideas influenced radicals to apply Marxist ideas and socialism in their own countries. For example, Vladimir Lenin of Russia applied Marx’s ideas to the Soviet Union, making it communist. This followed Marx calling for a powerful elite to implement communism in their own country.
Summary: The document begins by establishing the relationship between the bourgeois and proletarians. Marx states that all throughout history there has been a class of oppressors and oppressed. The heart of the passage is when Marx states the Communist goal to abolish private property. He explains that property is controlled by the bourgeoisie and represents a social power. Private property merely creates capital that exploits the worker. The theory is by removing private property this will eliminate people oppressing others through property. Next, Marx refutes that women are merely a implement of production and that communism introduces the community of women. Following, Marx discredits that the belief that the communists are trying to get rid of nationality and countries. He believes that there is no nation to take from the workingmen and that communism only creates a unified world market. Lastly, the passage concludes by saying that the Communist revolution is extremely radical and can only be accomplished through the use of force.
Key Quotation: “In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in a single sentence: abolition of private property.”
Your summary managed to cover the main areas of the excerpt and was very well written, especially when you summarized Bourgeois and Proletarians as "a class oppressors and oppressed." Also, your key quotation was perfect for this article because it supports Marx's argument and makes the reader understand the argument a bit better. The abolition of private property makes many think about what they have just read because it comes across pretty shocking. Finally, your summary was very efficient. You did not use fluff to make it seem longer, and instead managed to touch key topics throughout the entire excerpt.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I believe you could add to your summary to sharpen it up a bit would be to add Marx's opinion about the topic in the beginning. This way the reader understands Marx's viewpoint earlier. Second, I feel like your summary came to a bit of an abrupt finish. I think you could have used a better transition to close it out. Finally, you could have gone a bit more into depth on the idea of what capital is because I believe it had a bigger part in the excerpt than you mentioned.