The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

Marx, Karl and Frederich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Modified from the Avalon Project. 1848. Yale University. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/mancont.asp(accessed September 18, 2013).

The Communist Manifesto was written by German philosopher and economic thinker, Karl Marx, in 1848, a time of revolution and change across Europe. Working conditions were terrible in factories and the working class got poorer by the second while the wealthy got richer. People were suffering and revolution was breaking out sporadically and being crushed by government. Capitalism was the economic method being used across Europe. People would work for themselves and earn money for their family. Marx saw and opportunity to call upon the working class to join together and demand a change in the economic system. He suggested communism. He wrote The Communist Manifesto to inform the public of what it was and to convince them of its worth. He latched on to how people would be afraid to lose personal belongings and countered that by saying that nine tenths of the population don't have personal belongings anyway. He talked about how communism would "even out" the economic "playing field" without harming anyone. Marx encourages the working class to unite and his words are empowering and encouraging towards the working class. This document teaches us about the different opinions on the economy of the time. Some people may not have liked being poor and having to struggle for every penny they earned. On the other hand, people like Marx wanted an equal chance at succeeding in life and being able to provide for their family. However, this document has a limited view. It was written by Marx, who was poor for his entire life. Four of his seven children died before they reached adulthood and his wife suffered nervous breakdown and illnesses. All of this was traced back to poverty. Marx was financially supported by Friedrich Engels for a portion of his life. This shows that Marx would have been biased towards a communist economy.  The Communist Manifesto was co-written by Friedrich Engels who was rich, however he was a philosopher just as Marx was. Therefore, it still lacks the point-of-view of a richer individual who was succeeding in the capitalist economy doing the labor of a higher-class individual. Despite the limitations of his writing, Marx is a trustworthy source. He was a well-known philosopher who worked closely with Friedrich Engels, another trustworthy and respected philosopher. A lot can be learned from reading The Communist Manifesto.

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