The Communist Manifesto was first published in London on 21 February 1848. It was written by German-born philosopher, economist, and political theorist Karl Marx and his lifelong collaborator Friedrich Engels. The pamphlet was commissioned by a group of German-born revolutionary socialists known as the Communist League.
The work, which was revolutionary for its time, rather bombastically proclaimed that “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” and predicted the eventual but inevitable victory of the proletariat or working class in this class struggle, which, according to Marx and Engels, would lead to a classless society.
The Communist Manifesto is perhaps the first text to scientifically and comprehensively construct a purely materialistic conception of history. It covers primitive communism, slavery-based society, feudalism, capitalism, and future communism within its broad ambit. Marx’s theory of history is termed historical materialism, and class struggle is the focal element of his thesis.
According to the Marxian evolution of society, humanity initially was living in primitive communist societies, then came the ancient societies as manifested in Greek, Roman, and other ancient civilisations, which were based on a ruling class of citizens and the thoroughly exploited slaves, which evolved to feudalism where the nobles ruled. The serfs served with nobles exploiting the serfs. This, in turn, evolved to capitalism with the capitalist class or bourgeoisie and the working class or proletariat holding the edifices of capitalist society.
One may not agree with his theories, but there is no denying that his scientific assessment of society’s evolution is difficult to fault. Marx was perhaps the first political thinker to view history as a form of continuous class struggle. In Marx’s vision of an ideal communist society of the future, he envisions the absence of social classes, thereby eliminating the potential to exploit one class by another in such a utopian community.
As per Britannica, Marx and Engels argued that the poverty, disease, and premature mortality experienced by the proletariat (the industrial working class) were inherent to capitalism: they were systemic and structural issues that could only be addressed by replacing capitalism with communism.
In this historical work, Marx and Engels visualised a future communist society where means of production would be communally owned.
The Communist Manifesto’s significant political influence became evident in the next century, long after Marx and Engels’ demise in 1883 and 1895, respectively.
There is no denying the fact that The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital(written by Karl Marx) are perhaps the most significant writings that give momentum to the history of the socialist movement.
The potent ideas of The Communist Manifesto have provided guidance and inspiration to several socialist movements throughout the world and contributed to the establishment of socialism in Russia (in 1917), China (in 1949), and many other countries. Marxism’s influence on four of the mighty socialist leaders of the twentieth century—Lenin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and Ho Chi Minh—can not be discounted.
History has proved time and again that Marx’s theory of the ideal state of communism is thoroughly impractical to achieve, and the adoption of socialism and communism in real-life governance has led to ruthless dictatorship and continuous misery and oppression of citizens of the states that adopted socialism or communism, but there is no denying the fact the influence of Marx’s socialist ideas even in democratic countries like India, especially in the pre-liberalised era (through mixed economy) and in welfare economics(which can be easily described as the best synthesis of socialism and capitalism till now) adhered to by the Scandinavian states.
So even after the pathetic dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Stalin’s inhuman oppression, which resulted in millions of deaths, took a huge toll on human lives in Mao’s Great Leap Forward (it is estimated that about 15 to 45 million Chinese citizens died as a result of famine, execution, and forced labour during Great Leap Forward), and North Korea’s continually throttling rule, one cannot altogether kick the idea of socialism and communism back to history books and imprison it there.
These above-mentioned examples are largely the misuse of socialism and communism as envisaged by Marx, and we should not forget that many great ideas are prone to blatant misuse in the wrong hands.
In fact, watered-down versions of Marxist views of socialism can be very well integrated into liberal democracies to uplift, empower, and safeguard disadvantaged sections of society (for example, through the provision of state-sponsored free health and education for all citizens).
It is time we embrace the humane side and egalitarian ideas behind Marx’s theories as presented in The Communist Manifesto and discard his utopian ideas and rigid stance. Marxism as a whole is a rigid, inflexible doctrine. Still, some elements of it can be intelligently applied for the economic benefits of a thoroughly liberal society like that of the UK too.
