The Communist Manifesto 
By Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
The classic political work The Communist Manifesto offers a great introduction into the considerations and plans of the early proletarian movement
KEY IDEAS: (1) Why nobody has a right to hold private property; (2) Why our lives aren’t much different than they were during feudalism;
(3) What you can do to fight against bourgeois oppression.
The class that controls the economy controls society
The wealthy always seem to inhabit positions of power while the rest of us are at their mercy. But how did this come to be? The answer lies in economics.
Historically, all societies have organized into complicated hierarchies of conflicting classes. The lines that separate these classes can be traced back to their degree of control over the modes of production.
In essence, the class that controls a society’s wealth controls that society by using its position to subjugate the other classes.
The relationship between these oppressive and oppressed classes, i.e., the class struggle, is what has driven history.
The bourgeoisie dominates the economy and therefore society
The rise of the bourgeoisie was revolutionary: feudalism was replaced with naked self-interest and the invisible hand of the free market.
However, the fundamental social hierarchy remained the same: workers were selling their labor for a wage that wasn’t equal to the amount of capital (or the total wealth) they were producing.
Bourgeoisie are constantly searching for more capital and more markets to exploit, which has turned capitalism into a global phenomenon.
Due to the growing power of the bourgeoisie, capitalism has become the defining economic doctrine of our time.
Although the working class is suppressed, it is becoming increasingly unified.
Since the birth of the proletarian class, workers have struggled against the bourgeoisie.
Soon, capitalists will realize that they’ve given birth to their own gravediggers.
Communists and the proletariat have a common aim: to abolish private property and claim political power.
International communists have pledged to represent the interests of the proletariat as a global class.
They come from working-class parties and organizations all over the world–a global proletarian movement that transcends national boundaries.
The ten demands of the International Communists:
1. The exclusive rights to land create and perpetuate class distinctions. Therefore, all property in land and all rents of land shall be expropriated for public purposes.
2. In order to ensure that wealth does not accumulate and concentrate at the top, a heavy progressive tax must be introduced.
3. Inheritance concentrates wealth into the hands of people who are already wealthy and thus cements class distinctions. Therefore, all right of inheritance should be abolished.
4. Emigrants abroad have no use for their property in their native country. Therefore, we shall confiscate that property, as well as the property of those who would undermine the rule of the proletariat.
5. Credit institutions exist merely by virtue of their capital without making contributions to production. Therefore, the State will have an exclusive monopoly on credit by means of a national bank with State capital.
6. Freedom of movement is a right every citizen should enjoy, and for which society is responsible. Thus, the centralization of transport will be put into the hands of the State.
7. Much of our land remains underused. We should extend the instruments of production now owned by the State and use them to cultivate the wastelands and improve the soil.
8. As it stands, the many work for the benefit of the few. Therefore, everyone should be required to work. In addition, industrial armies, especially for agriculture, should be established.
9. Promote the gradual elimination of the distinctions between town and countryside by more equitably distributing the population.
10. Our lives are determined in part by the quality of our childhood. Therefore, education will be free in public schools, and children’s factories shall be abolished in their current form.
Summary: The history of mankind is defined by a struggle between ruling classes and their subjects, which has peaked in the suppression of the working class by the capitalist bourgeoisie.
The communists will unite the global proletariat and take political control by revolutionizing the modes of production.
Workers all over the world, unite!
