Hon 172
Marx & Engels, The Communist Manifesto


Section I: Bourgeois & Proletarians:

The Main Claims:
1.    Introduction: class struggle and increasing polarization; and the terms, B & P

2.    The emergence of bourgeois civilization or capitalism; its rise to economic power; its conquest of political power.

3.    The character of capitalist civilization—a world of permanent revolution and creative destruction.

4.    The repetition of the pattern: the birth of the proletariat; polarization and the crises of overproduction; the prediction of proletarian revolution, under "communist" leadership.

Section II: Proletarians and Communists:
The Main Claims:
1.    Introduction: offers us the "communists" as the natural leaders of proletarian parties.

2.    And then you get the centerpiece of the section: Marx's and Engels' brilliant handling of the counter-argument that communism poses a threat to property, individual freedom, the family, work itself, and even the "nation."

3.    The radicalism of that section forms quite a contrast with the ten startlingly familiar immediate demands of the communists, don't they?

4.    But the notion of "an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all" pretty much speaks for itself, rather like "from each according to her ability, to each according to her needs."

The most glaring weakness of Marx's predictions has to do with "nations."  Socialism has yet to master nationalism – to date, it is Capital that has had the truly effective "International" reach.