GVPT 241 Chapter Notes - Chapter The Communist Manifesto & Capital: The Communist Manifesto, Westphalian Sovereignty, Labour Power
Document Summary
A spectre is haunting europe the spectre of communism : the purpose of the manifesto is for communists to make public their views, aims, and tendencies, as well as to dispel any misconceptions. The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles : conflict between oppressors and oppressed ones end either in revolutionary reconstruction of society or in the common ruin of both classes. In marx"s time, the bourgeoisie was in the process of turning on itself: commercial crises brought about by overproduction threatened the existence of bourgeois society. In attempting to remedy these crises, the bourgeoisie cause new, more extensive crises. Yearnings to reconstruct society, but it is ultimately a fantastical vision. The communists everywhere support every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.