The Historical Mission of the Proletariat: How the Bourgeoisie "produces its own gravedigger" - Interpreting the core conclusion of the Communist Manifesto

The core proposition of the Communist Manifesto is that while the bourgeoisie develops itself, it will inevitably create a class that ends itself - the proletariat. This article will explore in-depth how capitalism concentrates, organizes and educates the proletariat so that it has the class ability and political awareness to overthrow the old system.

The Communist Manifesto was a program drafted by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels for the Communist League in February 1848 and was first published in London in a single book. This document is one of the most widely read political documents in human history and laid the theoretical foundation for the modern socialist and communist movements.

The core idea of ​​the Communist Manifesto is Historical Materialism. This theory holds that the main modes of economic production and exchange in each historical era and the social structure that inevitably arise from it are the basis on which the political and spiritual history of the era depend . Based on this, since the disintegration of the public ownership of the original commune land, all history has been the history of class struggle .

In modern society, class opposition has been simplified, and the entire society is increasingly split into two hostile camps : the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie refers to the modern capitalist class, the owner of the social means of production and the employer of the wage-labourers; while the proletariat refers to the modern working class, who do not have their own means of production and can only survive by selling labor.

This article will explore in-depth the core proposition of the Proletariat in The Communist Manifesto on how the bourgeoisie creates its "grave digger" through its own development.

Bourgeoisie: The revolutionary force that starts the process of globalization

The Communist Manifesto highly praised the creativity of the bourgeoisie when discussing the historical role of the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie "played a very revolutionary role" in history, which broke the old feudal, patriarchal and "idyllic" relationship.

In this new social relationship, the bourgeoisie has left no other connection between people except "naked stakes" and "ruthless 'cash transactions'" . It dissolves the value of an individual into exchange value, turning doctors, lawyers, pastors, poets and scientists into "hired workers." The bourgeoisie replaced the exploitative relationship that was previously covered up by religious and political fantasies with "naked, shameless, direct, and cruel exploitation."

The productivity created by the bourgeoisie's rule for less than a hundred years is greater and more than the sum created by all eras in the past. Steam, machines, chemistry applications, railways and telegraphs are all technological progress promoted by the bourgeoisie.

The Inner Contradiction of Capitalism: From Development Momentum to Self-Constraint

Although the bourgeoisie has huge revolutionary power, the capitalist system itself has irreconcilable internal contradictions. These contradictions stem from the conflict between the huge development of productivity and the rigid production relations (i.e., the private possession of means of production).

This contradiction mainly erupts periodically through the form of a business crisis . During the crisis, it seems that society suddenly falls into a "temporary barbarism" because industry and commerce seem to be destroyed. The bourgeoisie had to use "heavy artillery" to continuously innovate production tools and production relations in order to survive.

It is through this continuous and revolutionary development that the bourgeoisie "forged the weapons that killed themselves."

Proletariat: Birth and Capacity

The proletariat is the modern working class who is a commodity of capital and is influenced by market fluctuations. Their labor does not create any property for the workers, but creates capital - the property that exploits wage labor. The average price of the proletariat is the total amount of information necessary to maintain the minimum survival of workers .

The proletariat is the only truly revolutionary class under the rule of the bourgeoisie.

The Communist Manifesto clearly states that the foundation on which the bourgeoisie relies on to produce and possess products has been dug up, so what the bourgeoisie produces is first of all its own gravediggers . The demise of the bourgeoisie and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable .

Capital centralization and the awakening of the proletariat (Class Awakening)

The development process of capitalism is also the process of the proletariat moving from dispersion to concentration, from blind to consciousness, which is the key to the proletariat's ultimate overthrow of capitalist rule.

1. Production centralization: the power of the organization

The development of large-scale industry uses union to replace the isolation caused by competition among workers. The proletariat were concentrated in a huge labor force and became an accessory to the machine .

• Urbanization and Concentration: The expansion of industry gathers proletarians into big cities in the center of large industrial industries , which allows them to not only concentrate geographically but also recognize their own power in society.
• Organized: As the factory system expanded, workers began to form alliances (such as trade unions) and organized against the bourgeoisie. While such an organization will continue to collapse due to competition among workers, it will always stand up again and be "stronger than once" . With the convenience of means of communication, this struggle gradually transformed into a national class struggle .

2. Class Education: The Weapon of Enlightenment

In the process of the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie involuntarily provided the proletariat with tools to oppose the bourgeoisie's political and cultural education .

• Political tools: The victory of each struggle, even if temporary, is an opportunity for the working class to organize and educate themselves. Through the struggle with capital, whether it is victory or failure, the workers can increasingly realize that their previous plans were inadequate , paving the way for them to gain a more complete understanding of the conditions for the liberation of the working class.
• The formation of class consciousness: With the advancement of industry, certain classes of the entire ruling class were thrown into the proletarian ranks, or at least their living conditions were threatened. These people brought "new enlightenment and progressive factors" to the proletariat. Especially some of theorists in the bourgeoisie, who were able to understand the entire historical movement theoretically, and they also turned to the proletariat.
• The ultimate revolutionary class: only the proletariat is the "only real revolutionary class" . They cannot be liberated by preserving the old social system. They have no private property to protect and consolidate, and their mission is to destroy all existing personal property security .

3. The end of exploitation: the elimination of bourgeois private ownership

The Communist Party’s theory can be summarized in one sentence: eliminate private ownership . But this does not mean the elimination of property from personal labor, but the elimination of bourgeois private property . Bourgeois private property is the last and most complete manifestation of the production and possession of products "based on class opposition and exploitation of the majority by a few" .

The primary step of the proletarian revolution is to "elevate the proletariat to a ruling class and strive for democracy." The proletariat will use its political rule to gradually seize all the capital of the bourgeoisie.

This profound analysis of the economic foundation and class relationship is the key to understanding the structure of modern society and political conflicts. To further explore different political ideologies and their perspectives on social governance, you can try 8Values ​​political values ​​oriented tests to understand the fit between your values ​​and these core ideologies and how your position is reflected in all the results ideologies of diversified ideologies.

The World to Win

The Communist Manifesto firmly believes that their victory is inevitable as the proletariat is organized through the contradictions of capitalism itself and gains class awareness.

When class differences disappear in the process of development and all production is concentrated in the hands of united individuals, public power loses its political nature . Because "political power is nothing more than organized violence by one class to oppress another."

Ultimately, what replaces the old bourgeois society and its class opposition will be such a "combination" : where "the free development of everyone is the condition for the free development of all people."

As declared in the Communist Manifesto, communists “openly declare that their purpose can only be achieved by violent overthrow of all existing social systems.” In the face of the upcoming communist revolution, "Let the ruling class tremble in the face of the communist revolution."

Because: "What the proletariat have lost in this revolution is only chains. What they will gain will be the whole world."

Conclusion

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