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THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO. KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS. TITLE OF THE LITERARY WORK: THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO WRITER: KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS GENRE: PROPAGANDA: PHILOSOPHICAL LITERATURE LITERARY FORM: PROSE. [Getting to Know the Writer]. KARL MARX
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THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS
TITLE OF THE LITERARY WORK: THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO • WRITER: KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS • GENRE: PROPAGANDA: PHILOSOPHICAL LITERATURE • LITERARY FORM: PROSE
[Getting to Know the Writer] KARL MARX • Born on May 5, 1818 at Trier, Kingdom of Prussia and died aon March 14, 1883 at London, England. • A German philosopher, economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist. • He is described as one of the most influential figures in human history and his work has been both lauded and criticized. He is cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science. • He became stateless after 1845 and spent much of his life in London, where he continued to developed his thought in collaboration with German thinker Friedrich Engels and published various works. • His two well-known works are the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.
[Getting to Know the Writer] FRIEDRICH ENGELS • Born on November 28, 1820 at Barmen, Kingdom of Prussia and died n August 5, 1895 at London, England. • Founded Marxist theory together with Marx and in 1845 published The Condition of the Working Class in England. • In 1844, Engels co-authored The Communist Manifesto with Marx and also authored and co-authored many other works. • Engels supported Marx financially to do research and write Das Kapital. After Marx death, Engels edited the second and third volumes. He also organized Marx notes on the Theories of Surplus Value, which he later published as the fourth volume of Capital.
[The Context of the Literary Work] • The Communist Manifesto was published sometime on February 1848. Before its publication there were no communist states in the world and no revolutionary governments of any sort. The country was a monarchy of some sort. Every country at that time had over ninety percent of the population living a horrible and unendurable poverty. Working men were rampant and exploited by the Bourgeois.
[The Context of the Literary Work] • The late 18th and 19th century was the age of Romanticism. Marx absorb himself reading the books of Malthus, Ricardo, and other British economist of the earlier Romantic period. He adapted and accepted that industrial workingmen as the key to the future development of society. It was his great Romantic cause of his life. He together with Engels started to produce a number of works in which they depicted the ghastly condition of the growing working class.
[The Context of the Literary Work] • The Communist Manifesto was published anonymously but later on, the anonymous authors were revealed. • The Manifesto was lauded, criticized and suppressed. Marx was expelled from Germany and took refuge in London. • Despite being suppressed, many were influenced and a revolution started.
[SUMMARY / PLOT] • The Manifesto is divided into a preamble and four sections, the last of these is a short conclusion. • The first section of the Manifesto is “Bourgeois and Proletarians.” In this section it describes the history of all existing society and the history of class struggles. The proletarians engaged in class struggle against the bourgeoisie. The latter constantly exploits the proletariat, creating power for themselves.
[SUMMARY / PLOT] • The second section is “Proletarians and Communists.” It was stated in here that the communists’ party will not oppose other working-class parties. The communists will express the general will and defend the common interests of the world’s proletariat as a whole, independent of all nationalities. It defended communism from various objections. • The third section is “Socialist and Communist Literature.” In this section it distinguishes communism from other socialist doctrines prevalent at the time. It predicted a world revolution and calls for the unity of all workingmen of all countries.
[SETTING] The work of Marx focus on the rise of the Bourgeois in power. At that time, the industrial men were constantly being exploited by the former for their labor in order to increase their capital and power over society. Industrial workingmen at that time had no other means of existence but to offer their labor for a price. A price only sufficient to last themselves for a day.
[POINT OF VIEW] • The Manifesto is narrated in a THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW and little of a FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW. • It described the current struggles of the proletariats against the bourgeoisie, and their will and demands for a better society.
[CONFLICT] • The main conflicts of the Manifesto is between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie. • It tells of the will and ideals of the proletariats which would extinguished capital and the status and power of the bourgeoisie. • The bourgeoisie on the other hand, countered that if capital is to be extinguished it would result to world-wide laziness. It added that they practice free love that is started by the proletariat.
[EXCERPTS] • “A spectre is haunting Europe – the specter of communism. All the powers of the old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to hunt down and exorcise this spectre.” • At this time, the proletariat had grown tired of their social conditions and are willing to offer their lives for a revolution to free themselves from their prison. The Bourgeoisie fearing such revolution, will try with all their powers to stop it.
[EXCERPTS] • “Hitherto, philosophers have sought to understand the world; the point, however, is to change it.” • Thus, Marx forcefully lays out his ideas in hopes of persuading a mass readership to adopt them.
[EXCERPTS] • “But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has also called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons – the modern working class – the proletarians.” • As the bourgeoisie built its foundation on feudal society which they have overthrown, the same thing and in the same manner, they will be brought down by the proletarians.
[EXCERPTS] • “Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society; all that it does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labor of others by means of such appropriation.” • Communism will not prohibit man from acquiring the fruits of society. They can still freely use them. What is prohibited or enjoined is the power to use the labor of those men for their own benefit and to the prejudice of those men.
[EXCERPTS] • “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries unite!” • The industrial workingmen is prepared to start a revolution for they have nothing to lose but their chains. The chain symbolizes there horrible and unendurable status in life. An act for their benefit and for the chance of a better life.
[LITERARY WORK: THEMES] • Communism is the answer to do away against class struggles. • Communism is the ideal set-up for a better and fair society. • Communism is equality.
[WHAT MAKES THIS WORK “LITERATURE?” • The Manifesto is one of the greatest literary works in history. It is considered a literature as it contains philosophical and intellectual value. It was able to influence society creating a revolution that the world had ever seen. • Out of it arose other works base on its ideals and philosophy. • It was lauded and at the same time criticized by many. It created debates and up to this time, talked about.
