The Communist Manifesto

Chapter 1 - The two social classes: the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat

First chapter

The first chapter starts talking about the two social classes, the bourgeoisie, and the proletariat. They state that all history has been a constant battle between these two classes. In simpler words, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat are the rich and the poor or working class. In the lecture, they give us a few examples like, in ancient Rome we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves; in the Middle Ages, feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, journeymen, apprentices, serfs; in almost all of these classes, again, subordinate gradations.

Bourgeois

By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labor.

The bourgeoisie has

name the things the bourgeoisie have done (7)

Family/ Relationships (1)

Torn away from the family its sentimental veil and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation. Turned all relationships into a matter of material wealth and nothing else, exchange value \= personal worth.

Capitalism (2)

Cannot exist without revolutionizing production(capitalism). If you can't make production, you'll be replaced by someone who can give them profit. Can't grow \= you'll be replaced by someone else who can.

Cosmopolitan character (3)

Given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption.

Borders/ Ship it (4)

Torn down borders between countries, ship from here to there without problem (Specially in China).

Centralization (5) Created enormous cities

Population (6)

Concentrated population in very few places.

All about production (7)

Has focused on production so much that they have a problem with *over-production. They can no longer control all the production. So, in order to subsist, they must conquer new markets and exploit old ones.

Proletariat

By proletariat, the class of modern wage laborers who, having no means of production of their own, are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live.

Characteristics (7)

name the (7) characteristics

Machine (1)

He becomes an appendage of the machine.

enemy (2)

Their main enemy is the bourgeoisie and the development of industry.

furture problem/ revolts (3)

The future problem with this class is that when they revolt, they turn into bourgeois themselves and they turn from being the oppressed to the oppressors. They turn into what they most feared.

Quote (4)

"La revolución se come a sus hijos" or in my words, they forget the reason they started.

Charm? Special skill?/ fed up (5)

They have lost their "charm", personality or simply love for their work because the modern bourgeoisie society has forced them into works where they just repeat the same jobs over and over. They're like robots repeating the same things over and over until their demise.

Jobs/ replace (6)

Jobs became simpler and simpler, making proletariats easier to replace because the labor is easy and repetitive.

Unions (7)

They begin to form trade unions and incidentally the bourgeoisie made them stronger by forcing centralization, proletariats increase in number, and they all share the same enemy/ struggle. Local struggles turn to national struggles. Eventually, a political party is formed.

Modern Bourgeoisie society characteristics

name the 4 characteristics

"Modern" (1)

Note that it was "modern" for their perspective (1848).

Class struggle (2)

Hasn't eliminated the difference between classes/ class struggle, (from the Old Regime) instead of changing their ways they've simply "re-modeled" it. They have established new classes and split society into two camps, bourgeoisie, and proletariat.

Origin (3)

This "modern" society came from the feudalism society.

Why do they exist? (4)

The bourgeoisie only exist because of the capital which only exists because of wage labor which relies on competition between laborers.

Elements from which the bourgeoisie developed

list the 3 elements

Discovery (1)

The discovery of America - commerce to navigation to industry

Feudal (2)

The feudal system of industry - closed guilds were industrialized and industrial production came to arise.

Modern Industry (3)

replaced manufacture, manufacture was no longer sufficient for the demand, then steam and vapor revolutionized industrial production. This modern industry established the world market. This market gave huge developments to commerce, navigation, and communication by land.

Communists (3)

The most advanced section of the working-class parties of every country. They "clearly understood the line of march, the conditions and the ultimate general results of proletarian movement."

What do communists believe in?

They believe the collectivization of property must be accomplished swiftly and violently, by revolution and direct seizure.

Socialism

Marx's socialism wants to eliminate private property. If private property is eliminated, we will have social equality. He wants to abolish social classes. If he eliminates private property, capitalism falls. If capitalism falls, overproduction dies and the miserable people working in factories with poor working conditions and for a poor salary ends. Marx wants to eliminate social class and make the public government become a part of the society. Make that take charge of the production system, to eliminate social classes (No class struggle).

What does socialism denote?

Socialism denotes any philosophy that advocates the vesting of production in the hands of society and not in those of private individuals. Means that the state controls the big industries like coal, railroads and steel. Involves public ownership of almost all the instruments of production

What do socialists believe in?

They believe the collectivization of property must be accomplished peacefully and gradually through democratic political procedures and with compensation to private owners.

What's the difference between socialism and communism?

socialists want to eliminate private property in a peaceful manner, meanwhile communists want to eliminate private property in an aggressive manner.

Utopians

Derived their inspiration/ knowledge from The Enlightenment. Revolutionaries that wanted to take down the feudal system.

What do the Utopians propose?

Propose ideas to help the proletariat, find benefits for the working class.

Capitalism

Nature of capitalism - PLUSVALOR/ SURPLUS VALUE

Surplus value

something created by labor but appropriated by the capital as profit. Simply, how much a company is making off something or someone and how much they are paying the employee.

Feudal

A system in which people were given land. And protection by people of higher rank and worked and fought for them in return. In short, land in return for services.

From when does the feudal system originate?

Originated from the Old Regime.

Political authority

The organized power of one class for oppressing another.

Concluding point of Chapter 1

"The essential conditions for the existence and for the sway of the bourgeois class is the formation and augmentation of capital; the condition for capital is wage-labor. Wage-labor rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. The advance of industry, whose involuntary promoter is the bourgeoisie, replaces the isolation of the laborers, due to competition, by the revolutionary combination, due to association. The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable."

How do the bourgeoisie society resemble the "old" forms and how does it differ from them?

The "old" forms are everywhere a total division of society into different classes. It is distinguished by the simplification of class antagonisms. The bourgeois still have beliefs from the "old regime" because they still believe in class division and they often oppress the uneducated class, they use them for their own riches and to maintain their economic supremacy. Most importantly they believe in the capital, most of them have high positions in it. According to Marx, they purchase and exploit labor power, they use the surplus or profit from their businesses to expand the capital. Also, like previously mentioned, the bourgeois profit off the working class, its similar to the old regime because the proletariat basically becomes slaves because of the poor working conditions, barely any norms or laws in their favor, often overworked and with a poor salary. The high prices didn't help, it would force them to keep working for a mere salary that wasn't enough to provide for their family. Therefore, everyone in the family was forced to work, no matter the age or gender.

Describe the beginnings of the bourgeoisie. What enabled its development?

It arose from the serfs of the Middle Ages. The discovery of America and the circumnavigation of Africa opened a new field for the nascent bourgeoisie. The markets of India and China, the colonization of America, barter with the colonies, the increase in the means of exchange and merchandise, gave trade, navigation, and industry an unprecedented boom, favoring a rapid development of the revolutionary element within the decomposing feudal society.

What was the situation with the bourgeoisie in feudal society?

The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his "natural superiors" and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous "cash payment". It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom - Free Trade. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.

What historical processes are based on the emergence of the bourgeoisie society?

1. The Enlightenment
A. New ideas
B. Reading and knowledge
2. French Revolution
A. Three estates
3. Overproduction
4. Capitalism
5. Communism