The Communist Manifesto

The Communist Manifesto is a book written by Karl Marx and his good friend Friedrich Engels.

It was originally released in Russia in February 1848 but is now distributed worldwide. You could

find it in your local bookstore today. Marx and Engels wrote it to explain their idea of the perfect

economic and political model for the common man.

A large focus of the manifesto is about removing the divide between the lower class and the upper class of people.  “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.” [1]  Karl Marx believed that the proletariat masses, the poor people, we’re being oppressed by the bourgeoisie, the upper class.  “The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.” [2]  It is from this line of thought that Karl Marx believed that all systems that were political were simply the upper class oppressing the lower class.  Karl Marx’s idea of a perfect political system would eliminate the class system. All would be equal. Every man would be equal to every other man without any social classes.  This idea has been label communism.  

Marx and Engels

The Communist Manifesto puts forth an economic model for the new communist society.  This model would focus around workers having control of produced goods. “The free development of each is the condition for the free development of all. [3]  In this system, no man would have any rights to property. “The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property. [4]  All land would be for public use.  The land where people now live on would not be owned by them or anyone.  All forms of private property where null and void in the communist system.  The communist system also set out to destroy the family structure. Karl Marx thought that the parents would abuse their children for labor and other goods.  “Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents?  To this crime we plead guilty.” [5]  Man was without a father and a mother as well as property.  Man was alone in the communist system and must rely on the government.

A Russian poster of Stalin and Mao shaking hands

What has The Communist Manifesto done for humanity in the present time? It has only brought a great evil upon man. The two biggest examples of communism since Karl Marx wrote down his thoughts in 1848 are Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and China. These communist governments were examples of a tyrannical state that would kill their citizens. The body count totals were approximately 20 million Russians and 40 million Chinese. This occurred because the manifesto deemed every man as equally valuable but could not guarantee it. The end result was that equal value concept ended up with man not being valued at all. Tyrannical governments were born under the communist system that freely destroy people since they were not valuable.  

What has this book meant to man? Reflecting upon this question, one can find that the ideas laid out in The Communist Manifesto are only a delusion. Only evil has sprung forth from its teachings. The thoughts proposed by the manifesto only brings about evil by disguising itself as good. Many people would see that making all men equal to one another is a very good and just idea. However, the manifesto does not make men equal but actually unequal. Man is not valued as God’s values us but as man does. Man see others as a commodity. The only good one could get from studying The Communist Manifesto is to prevent further tyrannical systems from emerging. The best use of this manifesto is to burn it to warm a person during a cold winter’s night. It is a very evil book filled with very evil ideas that leads men away from God and towards self. Man left alone tends towards evil pursuits. This reason is why it is not surprising that communism has not produced much fruit since its inception. Communism is barren. For this reason, I find this book not to be worth reading. 

[1] Marx, Karl, 1818-1883. The Communist Manifesto. London ; Chicago, Ill. :Pluto Press, 1996

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