Marx & Engels (4) Manifesto of the Communist Party, Selections from Ch.4 ‘Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties’, summary

by Corry Shores

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[The following is summary. All underlining, boldface, and bracketed commentary are my own.]

[The following also has not been sufficiently proofread, so please forgive the typos and other distracting mistakes.]

Karl Marx & Frederick Engels

Manifesto of the Communist Party

Selections from
Ch.4
Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties

Summary

 

 

Brief Summary:
The communist revolution will rectify the injustices of capitalism. The wealthy and powerful have deprived the working class so much that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain in uniting to overthrow the current system to install a more equitable one.

Summary

[This summary skips pages 242b-243c]

The revolutionary communist movement brings to the forefront the question of property (243c).

Communists also fight “for the union and agreement of the democratic parties of all countries” (243c).

The communists do not hide the fact they call for a revolution that radically changes the economic system. The wealthy and powerful should fear the might of the proletariat, whom they have given nothing else to lose in the fight and everything to gain. Thus all workers are called to unite in this common cause to benefit all society.

The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

WORKINGMEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!
(243d)

Works Cited

Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party. In Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Trans. Martin Milligan. pp.203-243. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1988 [1844].

Available online: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm