The Communist Manifesto Simplified on Superphysics

Preface

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History of the Manifesto

The Communist League is an international association of workers. It could only be secret one, under conditions at the time.

It has commissioned us, at the Congress held in London in November 1847, to publish a detailed theoretical and practical programme for the Party.

Preface

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Marx died on March 14, 1883.

The basic thought running through the Manifesto — that economic production, and the structure of society of every historical epoch necessarily arising therefrom, constitute the foundation for the political and intellectual history of that epoch/

Preface

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Since the first German preface was written in 1883, a new German edition of the Manifesto has again become necessary. Much has happened to the Manifesto.

A second Russian translation — by Vera Zasulich — appeared in Geneva in 1882.

Preface

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The new Polish edition of the Communist Manifesto has shown that it has become an index of the development of large-scale industry in Europe.

Bourgeois and Proletarians

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Introduction

The spectre of communism is haunting Europe.

All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre:

Pope and Tsar
Metternich and Guizot
French Radicals and German police-spies.

The ruling parties have labeled all opposition parties as communistic.

Modern Industry

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The capitalist focuses on centralization. It has:

agglomerated population
centralised the means of production
concentrated property in a few hands.

This necessarily led to political centralisation.

Class Struggle Between Proletariat and Bourgeoisie

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Of all the classes that stand face to face with the capitalists today, the proletariat alone is revolutionary.

The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of Modern Industry
The proletariat is its special and essential product.

The lower middle class is made up the small manufacturer, the shopkeeper, the artisan, the peasant.

Proletarians and Communists

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Communist Party Versus Labor Parties

What is the relationship between Communists and the proletarians?

The Communist Party is not opposed to the other working-class parties.

Its interest is that of the proletariat as a whole.
It has no sectarian principles of its own, by which to shape and mould the proletarian movement.

The Communists are distinguished from the other working-class parties only in:

Abolition of the Family and Nations

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Even the most radical flare up at our call to abolish the family.

The capitalist family:

is based on capital and private gain.
will vanish with the vanishing of capital.

We want to stop the exploitation of children by their parents.

Socialist and Communist Literature

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1. Reactionary Socialism

A. Feudal Socialism

The French and English aristocracies wrote pamphlets against modern capitalist society. They fell to capitalism in the:

French Revolution of July 1830, and
the English reform agitation[A]

This ended any hope of serious political struggle. Only a literary battle remained possible.

German or 'True' Socialism

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Superphysics Note!

We replace ‘bourgeoisie’ with capitalist. We define capitalist as someone who uses outside ownership to amass private profits. This is common in cities or burghs, where the word bourgeoisie comes from. For example, a rich urbanite acts as a middle-man between rural farmers and urban consumers.

C. German or “True” Socialism

The Socialist and Communist literature of France began as a fight against the capitalists in power.

Critical-Utopian Socialism and Communism

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The first direct attempts of the proletariat to attain its own ends was during the overthrow of feudal society. It failed because of the:

The Communists and Various Opposition Parties

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The Communists: