The Communist Manifesto ( or, more properly, "Manifesto of the Communist Party" ) was originally published in 1848, the year that revolution was sweeping across many parts of mainland europe. It would provide the philoophical underpinning to the theory of class struggle over the coming century. Unlike "Das Kapital" ( their other seminal work, which even a trained economist would struggle to finish ), this book is mercifully brief and quite readable.
The central thesis of The Communist Manifesto - that, in 1948, the working class was being exploited - is not in question. What is highly debatable, however, are the methods to be adopted to bring about their emancipation ( often by the use of violence ).
The public ownership of the
means of
production ( land, capital and factories ) is no doubt a laudable idea, if and only if the means of production rest in the hands of the public.
The central failure of The Revolution was to concentrate the means of production in the hands of the state leading to a perverse and perverted offspring - "State Socialism".
Of the 10 principles to be followed, only three have stood the test of time ( in some form or the other ) : a graduated income tax, centralised means of transportation and free education of children. The rest have, rightly, been thrown into the "dustbin of
history", so it is no
longer relevant to list them here.
Ironically, to quote none other than K. Marx, by 1872 "it had become a
historical document which he no longer had any right to alter" ! Not to otherwise detract from the historical importance of the document, but the The Communist Manifesto is marred by the over-fondness ( some would go as far as to call it an obsession ) of its authors to classify human beings into water-tight compatments with labels attached to them such as "Bourgeois", "Petty Bourgeois", "Proletarian" or "Communist"; a form of classification better suited to Taxonomic Nomenclature in a Natural History Museum. Over the years, this would give birth to a new caste system in supposedly "Socialist" Nations...
The original Communist Manifesto began with an exhortation (
Workers of all Countries, Unite ! ), but in the twenty-first century, in an era of "blue-collar", "white-collar", "trade-union", "self-employed" and "unorganised" workers ( each with their own interests ), in an era of out-sourcing and shareholder democracy and in an era of rapid technological change ( inclding robots an automated mchines ), who exactly constitutes these mythical "workers" is open to question.
More reviews about the The Communist Manifesto