Marx and Engels did a great thing when they wrote the Communist Manifesto. They tried to liberate the proletariat by educating him.
This was and still is an enormous task that they took on. I will try to take a closer look at the Communist Manifesto and its main ideas. Here are some of the things that Marx and Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto. They believed these are some of the main issues that should be looked at for the communist revolution to take place. 1.
Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in he hands of the state. 7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country. 10.
Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc (Communist Manifesto Online version). At the time this was written by Marx, these were very important issues to deal with. The capitalist countries such as England and America, where private property was the basis of the entire economy, rejected this notion of throwing out the class structures.
Marx looked at England as a model and leader of capitalism and industry and if he were alive today he would consider America to be a super-model. One of the main reasons for these countries rejecting Marxs view is that they regarded him as a German philosopher who was educated in the field of German metaphysics. This was unappealing to the minds of capitalists (Capital vii). Marxs theory of alienation has to do with the relationship of the worker to the means of production.
It outlines four main aspects in which workers are alienated in todays society: the workers are alienated from the products of their labor, alienated from the process of their work, are denied the chance to be creative, and physically alienated from other people. Although Marx developed this theory in 1844, I believe it is more applicable in todays developed society. An honest assessment would be that I do exercise a degree of creativity, but I do not have any authority on aspects of all of my work. In fact, the only area in which I feel relatively content is the paycheck itself. I do often look for other jobs and contemplate switching career objectives slightly, remaining in the general field of computers, but changing my role.
Alienation, to a large extent, is probably the most depressing part even in todays post-industrial society. Alienation is an accepted part of work; people focus mainly on satisfying their immediate material desires. In Maslows hierarchy of needs, we are still trying to fulfill the first three levels while accepting alienation as our payment. Society looks highly upon those few lucky individuals who have jobs that not only takes care of their need for material objects, security, belonging, and esteem, but also help them to develop their highest level of potential. One could argue that alienation is self-inflicted by each and every one of us.
Perhaps the perfect job is out there for everyone. I think most people have thought about quitting their jobs and opening some sort of business so they can be their own bosss. My parents and older adults that I know speak of it often. Perhaps we allow our materialism to control our dreams.
Caught up in the new morals and values of the post-industrial, consumer-oriented society, we place higher emphasis on fitting in with society than we do on fulfilling our
