Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto: A Brilliant Display of a Compelling Argument for Communism

The name Karl Marx still strikes a certain note of fear or loathing in many American and even European minds. People hear the name and envision how much of a sadistic man he must have been for creating the ideas that tore the world in part for much of the 20^th century. However, these people do not understand who Karl Marx is or the ideas he truly presents in his book, The Communist Manifesto. What people do not realize is that many of his "radical" ideas are commonplace in our society today. A well versed rhetorician, Karl Marx presents what essentially amounts to a communist party platform and recruitment pamphlet, and his explanation and reasoning behind it. Regardless of personal opinion or prior "knowledge" of the man, in his Communist Manifesto, Marx weaves together historical, moral, revolutionary and prophetic strands, giving much attention to the upheaval of society from the bottom up and the alienation of the proletariat to convey his powerful messages and the ideas of communism.

Marx uses a large portion of the book to give a historical perspective of society. He looks at history from a perspective called historical materialism or dialectic materialism. Simply put, it means that all of history has been based on economic pursuits and the resulting conflicts. He says that "all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (33). He describes society as being separated into "oppressor and oppressed" or in his time, the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat (35). Still, Marx is an honest man, and he gives praise to the bourgeoisie for their accomplishments. Marx notes that in just over one hundred years, the bourgeoisie has been able to "create more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together" (40). However, these very forces are to be their own demise.