Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

the Communist Manifesto is a fiery political text written by marks and angles in 1848 it's significant in the study of politics in IR for at least three reasons first the ideas it espouses have had a major impact on real world developments inspiring political leaders and social revolutionaries across the globe from the mid 1800s till today second it was one of the first political texts to focus squarely on economic exploitation and inequality its insights into how capitalism might create and perpetuate these problems are as relevant today as they were in the 1800's third the manifesto offered a new kind of theory that was inherently political Marx and Engels wanted to do more than explain the social world they wanted to intervene in it to challenge and transform existing power relations and change the world for the better the belief that theorizing is a revolutionary act informs all of the critical theories of today from feminism to post colonialism and Beyond the manifesto provided an entirely new theory of social relations and social progress the theory of historical materialism the theory posits that since ancient times societies have been divided into opposing classes that exist in perpetual conflict with one another conflict between these classes between the oppressors and the oppressed drives history relentlessly towards its ultimate destination a social system finally liberated from exploitation and class conflict that destination is communism for historical materialists like marx and engels class relations reflect production relations or how people organize to produce material things the things that humans need and want the theory holds that throughout history control over the means of production the things that we use to make stuff from land and raw materials to tools technology and human knowledge and skills has been a highly unequal affair in every mode of production from the ancient times of slavery to feudalism and then to capitalism some social classes have controlled the means of production while others have been forced into positions of subordination and exploitation what drives history forward from slavery to feudalism to capitalism and eventually to socialism and communism is conflict between the classes that control the means of production and those that don't in this sense the manifesto offers a scientific theory of historical development it purports to identify a set of general laws that underpin social dynamics and evolution this was a really revolutionary way of thinking about the social world at the time in keeping with this scientific theme the manifesto also identified a set of conditions and contradictions within capitalism that will ensure its inevitable demise for example it argues that capitalism has simplified class antagonisms and split society into two great and hostile camps the bourgeoisie who privately are in the means of production and the proletariat who must sell their labor for a wage to survive moreover the wages paid to workers are always less than the value of the goods that they produce this is the great exploitation that sits at the heart of capitalism the profits at the capitalists enjoy come from them extracting the surplus value created by workers and because they are profit driven capitalists are constantly seeking to minimize wages to increase their profit margins technological advancement including the use of machines in production further drives wages down and displaces labor driving the working class into poverty finally ever-increasing productive capacity combined with falling wages and employment leads to over production and under consumption tending capitalism towards crisis so is capitalism develops get a smaller and smaller richer and richer capitalist class and a bigger and better poorer and poorer working-class sewing the conditions ripe for conflict and revolution in these ways the manifesto speaks directly and powerfully to the core questions of the discipline of international relations and international political economy in particular what is the relationship between wealth and power and who gets what where when and how people also find the manifesto so relevant today because it represents the first systematic response to and critique of liberal ideas about capitalism and its winners and losers in the liberal view the global spread of free-market capitalism is an overwhelmingly positive development this is because capitalism is a win-win game in which free individuals enter into mutually beneficial relations of production and exchange so the spread of capitalism through free trade and the globalisation of production will lift all boats over the past 30 years liberal ideas have powerfully shaped political discourses and policy practices across the globe but for many people's capitalist transformation has not been associated with positive economic or social outcomes as liberalism promised the manifesto is helpful because it provides an entry point into interrogating liberal assumptions it represents the first systematic attempt to explain how and why capitalism might produce and reproduce inequality and exploitation rather than mutual gains and liberation you don't have to agree with all of the manifestos assumptions and conclusions to appreciate the value of its message the importance of questioning dominant understandings of who gets what and of the relationship between economic and political power in a capitalist society which brings us to the ideas of power order and justice in the manifesto Marx Engels clearly believed that under capitalism the capitalist class holds economic power which translates into political power including control of the state itself but if that was the end of their story there would have been little point in writing a book like the Communist Manifesto or in calling for the workers of the world to unite in fact for marx and engels both classes have power resources and these resources exist in different spheres not just in the economic arena but also in the political social cultural and legal arenas and in the various spheres of knowledge production these are all venues where class conflict can manifest and where power resources can be mustered and deployed so while Marx and Engels explain why capital and labor are in conflict they don't try to predict how these conflicts will play out it's always social power the ability of each class to mobilize and deploy different power resources that determines how conflict will unfold when it comes to social order this is shaped by the mode of production under capitalism the key dynamic shaping social order is capitalist ownership of the means of production and their relentless pursuit of profit through the exploitation of wage labor but again this is just the starting point for their examination of order because Marx and Engels see a constant back-and-forth between the economic the ideational and the political spheres of social life for example through ideas class consciousness becomes possible and by consciously identifying and unifying as a class workers can go on strike and demand better pay building their economic power with that economic power the working class can shape ideas and political outcomes so Marx and Engels present a very fluid image of social order we're challenged and change is possible on justice Marx and Engels saw history is marked by inherently exploitative human relations yet they believed that this state of Phares was not insurmountable social justice could be achieved and adjust society free of exploitation could exist while they made no predictions or guarantees they gave good reasons to believe that history tended towards justice in a long and sweeping sense for them the key to change was to encourage the working class to become conscious of itself and through revolution to create a just society you

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Keywords: Communist Manifesto

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Length: 9min 43sec (583 seconds)

Published: Fri May 18 2018