The Decline of Aristocracy in The Communist Manifesto

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The Decline of Aristocracy in The Communist Manifesto

The decline of aristocracy in The Communist Manifesto began with Karl Marx’s statement, “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.”1 Marx recognized the ideals of the social rank, which has influenced every society throughout history. The two social classes described by Marx were the Bourgeoisie, or the upper class, and the Proletariats, or the lower class. Before the Bourgeoisie came to social power, landowners and corporate organizations ran the society. Marx believed that the severe separation of the two classes greatly troubled society and that the two classes must coexist as one with each other.2

The Bourgeoisie were the landowners, employers, and those who received capital in the society. They had other people work under them and controlled labor in order to increase personal capital. “Marx delineates his vision of history, focusing on the development and eventual destruction of the bourgeoisie, the dominant class of his day.”3 The Bourgeoisie came up with the idea to create a new social class known as the Proletariats, which were the laborers for the production of Bourgeoisie industry.

The Proletariat was composed of the lower class of individuals as well as the lower region of the middle class; which eventually fell into the classification of Proletariat. This class is identified by hard individual efforts. The Proletariats lived to work, and the only way that they were hired was if the business owners believed they could increase capital. Marx described the worker as a sort of soldier or a slave for their labor.4 Similar to slaves, the working class was exploited by their superiors, or the Bou...

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1. Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party (Dayton: U Dayton

P, 1999), 38.

2. Smith, J.N. "ClassicNote on Communist Manifesto." ClassicNotes by Gradesaver. 2000.

Gradesaver. 22 March 2001

< http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/communist/ >.

3. Smith, J.N., ClassicNotes by GradeSaver

4. Lukacs, George. History and Class Consiousness (Massachusetts: The MIT Press,

1968), 46.

5. Smith, J.N., ClassicNotes by GradeSaver

6. McIntosh, Ian. Classical Sociological Theory (New York: New York University Press,

1997), 17.

7. Lukacs, George, 46.

8. Smith, J.N., ClassicNotes by GradeSaver

9. Hoselitz, Ben F. "Karl Marx on Secular and Social Development: A Study in the

Sociology of Nineteenth Century

10. Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party

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