The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx PREFACE A spectre is haunting Europe -- the spectre of Communism.

All the Powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, etternich and !uizot,"rench #adicals and !erman police-spies. $here is the party in opposition that has not %een decried as Communistic %y its opponents in power& $here the 'pposition that has not hurled %ac( the %randing reproach of Communism,against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as againstits reactionary adversaries& )wo things result from this fact. *. Communism is already ac(nowledged %y all European Powers to %e itself a Power. **. *t is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, pu%lish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the +pectre of Communism with a anifesto of the party itself. )o this end, Communists of various nationalities have assem%led in ,ondon, and s(etched the following anifesto, to %e pu%lished in the English, "rench, !erman, *talian, "lemish and -anish languages. )he history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles. "reeman and slave, patrician and ple%eian, lord and serf,guild-master and .ourneyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed,stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes. *n the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere acomplicated arrangement of society into various orders, amanifold gradation of social ran(. *n ancient #ome we have patricians, (nights, ple%eians, slaves/ in the iddle Ages,feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, .ourneymen, apprentices,serfs/ in almost all of these classes, again, su%ordinate gradations. )he modern %ourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruinsof feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. *thas %ut esta%lished new classes, new conditions of oppression,new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. 'ur epoch, the epoch of the %ourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms: +ociety as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps,into two great classes, directly facing each other: 0ourgeoisie and Proletariat. "rom the serfs of the iddle Ages sprang the chartered %urghersof the earliest towns. "rom these %urgesses the first elements of the %ourgeoisie were developed. )he discovery of America, the rounding of the Cape, opened up fresh ground for the rising %ourgeoisie. )he East-*ndian and Chinese mar(ets, the colonisation of America, trade with the colonies, the increase in the means of exchange and incommodities generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulse never %efore (nown, and there%y, to the revolutionary element in the tottering feudal society, a rapid development. )he feudal system of industry, under which industrial production was monopolised %y closed guilds, now no longer sufficed for the growing wants of the new mar(ets. )he manufacturing system too(its place. )he guild-masters were pushed on one side %y the manufacturing middle

class/ division of la%our %etween the different corporate guilds vanished in the face of division ofla%our in each single wor(shop. eantime the mar(ets (ept ever growing, the demand ever rising.Even manufacture no longer sufficed. )hereupon, steam andmachinery revolutionised industrial production. )he place of manufacture was ta(en %y the giant, odern *ndustry, the place of the industrial middle class, %y industrial millionaires, the leaders of whole industrial armies, the modern %ourgeois. odern industry has esta%lished the world-mar(et, for which the discovery of America paved the way. )his mar(et has given animmense development to commerce, to navigation, to communication %y land. )his development has, in its time, reacted on the extension of industry/ and in proportion as industry, commerce,navigation, railways extended, in the same proportion the %ourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the %ac(ground every class handed down from the iddle Ages. $e see, therefore, how the modern %ourgeoisie is itself theproduct of a long course of development, of a series ofrevolutions in the modes of production and of exchange. Each step in the development of the %ourgeoisie was accompanied%y a corresponding political advance of that class. Anoppressed class under the sway of the feudal no%ility, an armedand selfgoverning association in the mediaeval commune/ hereindependent ur%an repu%lic 2as in *taly and !ermany3, theretaxa%le 4third estate4 of the monarchy 2as in "rance3,afterwards, in the period of manufacture proper, serving eitherthe semi-feudal or the a%solute monarchy as a counterpoiseagainst the no%ility, and, in fact, corner-stone of the greatmonarchies in general, the %ourgeoisie has at last, since theesta%lishment of odern *ndustry and of the worldmar(et,con5uered for itself, in the modern representative +tate,exclusive political sway. )he executive of the modern +tate is%ut a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole%ourgeoisie. )he %ourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionarypart. )he %ourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put anend to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. *t haspitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that %ound man tohis 4natural superiors, 4 and has left remaining no other nexus%etween man and man than na(ed self-interest, than callous 4cashpayment. 4 *t has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies ofreligious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistinesentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. *thas resolved personal worth into exchange value. And in place ofthe num%erless and feasi%le chartered freedoms, has set up thatsingle, unconsciona%le freedom -- "ree )rade. *n one word, forexploitation, veiled %y religious and political illusions, na(ed,shameless, direct, %rutal exploitation. )he %ourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupationhitherto honoured and loo(ed up to with reverent awe. *t hasconverted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, theman of science, into its paid wage la%ourers. )he %ourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimentalveil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere moneyrelation. )he %ourgeoisie has disclosed how it came to pass that the%rutal display of vigour in the iddle Ages, which #eactionistsso much admire, found its fitting complement in the most slothfulindolence. *t has %een the first to show what man6s activity can%ring a%out. *t has accomplished wonders far surpassing Egyptianpyramids, #oman a5ueducts, and !othic

cathedrals/ it hasconducted expeditions that put in the shade all former Exodusesof nations and crusades. )he %ourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionisingthe instruments of production, and there%y the relations ofproduction, and with them the whole relations of society.Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form,was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for allearlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionising ofproduction, uninterrupted distur%ance of all social conditions,everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the %ourgeoisepoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations,with their train of ancient and venera%le pre.udices andopinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones %ecome anti5uated%efore they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, allthat is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to facewith so%er senses, his real conditions of life, and hisrelations with his (ind. )he need of a constantly expanding mar(et for its productschases the %ourgeoisie over the whole surface of the glo%e. *tmust nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, esta%lish connexionseverywhere. )he %ourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world-mar(etgiven a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption inevery country. )o the great chagrin of #eactionists, it hasdrawn from under the feet of industry the national ground onwhich it stood. All old-esta%lished national industries have%een destroyed or are daily %eing destroyed. )hey are dislodged%y new industries, whose introduction %ecomes a life and death5uestion for all civilised nations, %y industries that no longerwor( up indigenous raw material, %ut raw material drawn from theremotest zones/ industries whose products are consumed, not onlyat home, %ut in every 5uarter of the glo%e. *n place of the oldwants, satisfied %y the productions of the country, we find newwants, re5uiring for their satisfaction the products of distantlands and climes. *n place of the old local and nationalseclusion and self-sufficiency, we have intercourse in everydirection, universal interdependence of nations. And as inmaterial, so also in intellectual production. )he intellectualcreations of individual nations %ecome common property. 8ationalone-sidedness and narrow-mindedness %ecome more and moreimpossi%le, and from the numerous national and local literatures,there arises a world literature. )he %ourgeoisie, %y the rapid improvement of all instruments ofproduction, %y the immensely facilitated means of communication,draws all, even the most %ar%arian, nations into civilisation.)he cheap prices of its commodities are the heavy artillery withwhich it %atters down all Chinese walls, with which it forces the%ar%arians6 intensely o%stinate hatred of foreigners tocapitulate. *t compels all nations, on pain of extinction, toadopt the %ourgeois mode of production/ it compels them tointroduce what it calls civilisation into their midst, i. e. , to%ecome %ourgeois themselves. *n one word, it creates a worldafter its own image. )he %ourgeoisie has su%.ected the country to the rule of thetowns. *t has created enormous cities, has greatly increased theur%an population as compared with the rural, and has thus rescueda considera%le part of the population from the idiocy of rurallife. 9ust as it has made the country dependent on the towns, soit has made %ar%arian and semi-%ar%arian countries dependent onthe civilised ones, nations of peasants on nations of %ourgeois,the East on the $est. )he %ourgeoisie (eeps more and more doing away with thescattered state of the population, of the means of production,and of property. *t has agglomerated production, and hasconcentrated property in a few hands. )he necessary conse5uenceof this was political centralisation. *ndependent, or %utloosely connected provinces, with separate interests, laws,governments and
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systems of taxation, %ecame lumped together intoone nation, with one government, one code of laws, one nationalclass-interest, one frontier and one customs-tariff. )he%ourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, hascreated more massive and more colossal productive forces thanhave all preceding generations together. +u%.ection of 8ature6sforces to man, machinery, application of chemistry to industryand agriculture, steam-navigation, railways, electric telegraphs,clearing of whole continents for cultivation, canalisation ofrivers, whole populations con.ured out of the ground -- whatearlier century had even a presentiment that such productiveforces slum%ered in the lap of social la%our& $e see then: the means of production and of exchange, on whosefoundation the %ourgeoisie %uilt itself up, were generated infeudal society. At a certain stage in the development of thesemeans of production and of exchange, the conditions under whichfeudal society produced and exchanged, the feudal organisation ofagriculture and manufacturing industry, in one word, the feudalrelations of property %ecame no longer compati%le with thealready developed productive forces/ they %ecame so many fetters.)hey had to %e %urst asunder/ they were %urst asunder. *nto their place stepped free competition, accompanied %y asocial and political constitution adapted to it, and %y theeconomical and political sway of the %ourgeois class. mere moneyrelation. %ourgeoisie/ every victory so o%tained is avictory for the %ourgeoisie.political illusions, na(ed,shameless, direct, %rutal exploitation.its. A similar movement is going on %efore our own eyes. odern%ourgeois society with its relations of production, of exchangeand of property, a society that has con.ured up such giganticmeans of production and of exchange, is li(e the sorcerer, who isno longer a%le to control the powers of the nether world whom hehas called up %y his spells. "or many a decade past the historyof industry and commerce is %ut the history of the revolt ofmodern productive forces against modern conditions of production,against the property relations that are the conditions for theexistence of the %ourgeoisie and of its rule. *t is enough tomention the commercial crises that %y their periodical return puton its trial, each time more threateningly, the existence of theentire %ourgeois society. *n these crises a great part not onlyof the existing products, %ut also of the previously createdproductive forces, are periodically destroyed. *n these crisesthere %rea(s out an epidemic that, in all earlier epochs, wouldhave seemed an a%surdity -- the epidemic of overproduction.+ociety suddenly finds itself put %ac( into a state of momentary%ar%arism/ it appears as if a famine, a universal war ofdevastation had cut off the supply of every means of su%sistence/industry and commerce seem to %e destroyed/ and why& 0ecausethere is too much civilisation, too much means of su%sistence,too much industry, too much commerce. )he productive forces atthe disposal of society no longer tend to further the developmentof the conditions of %ourgeois property/ on the contrary, theyhave %ecome too powerful for these conditions, %y which they arefettered, and so soon as they overcome these fetters, they %ringdisorder into the whole of %ourgeois society, endanger theexistence of %ourgeois property. )he conditions of %ourgeoissociety are too narrow to comprise the wealth created %y them.And how does the %ourgeoisie get over these crises& 'n the onehand inforced destruction of a mass of productive forces/ on theother, %y the con5uest of new mar(ets, and %y the more thoroughexploitation of the old ones. )hat is to say, %y paving the wayfor more extensive and more destructive crises, and %ydiminishing the means where%y crises are prevented. )he weapons with which the %ourgeoisie felled feudalism to theground are now turned against the %ourgeoisie itself.
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0ut not only has the %ourgeoisie forged the weapons that %ringdeath to itself/ it has also called into existence the men whoare to wield those weapons -- the modern wor(ing class -- theproletarians. *n proportion as the %ourgeoisie, i. e. , capital, is developed,in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modern wor(ingclass, developed -- a class of la%ourers, who live only so longas they find wor(, and who find wor( only so long as their la%ourincreases capital. )hese la%ourers, who must sell themselvespiece-meal, are a commodity, li(e every other article ofcommerce, and are conse5uently exposed to all the vicissitudes ofcompetition, to all the fluctuations of the mar(et. history of all hitherto existing societies is the historyof class struggles. in the icy water of egotistical calculation. *thas resolved& 'wing to the extensive use of machinery and to division ofla%our, the wor( of the proletarians has lost all individualcharacter, and conse5uently, all charm for the wor(man. <e%ecomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the mostsimple, most monotonous, and most easily ac5uired (nac(, that isre5uired of him. <ence, the cost of production of a wor(man isrestricted, almost entirely, to the means of su%sistence that here5uires for his maintenance, and for the propagation of hisrace. 0ut the price of a commodity, and therefore also ofla%our, is e5ual to its cost of production. *n proportiontherefore, as the repulsiveness of the wor( increases, the wagedecreases. 8ay more, in proportion as the use of machinery anddivision of la%our increases, in the same proportion the %urdenof toil also increases, whether %y prolongation of the wor(inghours, %y increase of the wor( exacted in a given time or %yincreased speed of the machinery, etc. odern industry has converted the little wor(shop of thepatriarchal master into the great factory of the industrialcapitalist. asses of la%ourers, crowded into the factory, areorganised li(e soldiers. As privates of the industrial army theyare placed under the command of a perfect hierarchy of officersand sergeants. 8ot only are they slaves of the %ourgeois class,and of the %ourgeois +tate/ they are daily and hourly enslaved %ythe machine, %y the over-loo(er, and, a%ove all, %y theindividual %ourgeois manufacturer himself. )he more openly thisdespotism proclaims gain to %e its end and aim, the more petty,the more hateful and the more em%ittering it is. )he less the s(ill and exertion of strength implied in manualla%our, in other words, the more modern industry %ecomesdeveloped, the more is the la%our of men superseded %y that ofwomen. -ifferences of age and sex have no longer any distinctivesocial validity for the wor(ing class. All are instruments ofla%our, more or less expensive to use, according to their ageand sex. 8o sooner is the exploitation of the la%ourer %y themanufacturer, so far at an end, that he receives his wages incash, than he is set upon %y the other portions of the%ourgeoisie, the landlord, the shop(eeper, the pawn%ro(er, etc. )he lower strata of the middle class -- the small tradespeople,shop(eepers, retired tradesmen generally, the handicraftsmen andpeasants -- all these sin( gradually into the proletariat, partly%ecause their diminutive capital does not suffice for the scaleon which odern *ndustry is carried on, and is swamped in thecompetition with the large capitalists, partly %ecause theirspecialized s(ill is rendered worthless %y the new methods ofproduction. )hus the proletariat is recruited from all classesof the population. )he proletariat goes through various stages of development.$ith its %irth %egins its struggle with the %ourgeoisie. Atfirst the contest is carried on %y individual la%ourers, then %ythe wor(people of a factory, then %y the operatives of one trade,in one locality, against the individual %ourgeois who
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directlyexploits them. )hey direct their attac(s not against the%ourgeois conditions of production, %ut against the instrumentsof production themselves/ they destroy imported wares thatcompete with their la%our, they smash to pieces machinery, theyset factories a%laze, they see( to restore %y force the vanishedstatus of the wor(man of the iddle Ages. At this stage the la%ourers still form an incoherent massscattered over the whole country, and %ro(en up %y their mutualcompetition. *f anywhere they unite to form more compact %odies,this is not yet the conse5uence of their own active union, %ut ofthe union of the %ourgeoisie, which class, in order to attain itsown political ends, is compelled to set the whole proletariat inmotion, and is moreover yet, for a time, a%le to do so. At thisstage, therefore, the proletarians do not fight their enemies,%ut the enemies of their enemies, the remnants of a%solutemonarchy, the landowners, the non-industrial %ourgeois, the petty%ourgeoisie. )hus the whole historical movement is concentratedin the hands of the %ourgeoisie/ every victory so o%tained is avictory for the %ourgeoisie. 0ut with the development of industry the proletariat not onlyincreases in num%er/ it %ecomes concentrated in greater masses,its strength grows, and it feels that strength more. )he variousinterests and conditions of life within the ran(s of theproletariat are more and more e5ualised, in proportion asmachinery o%literates all distinctions of la%our, and nearlyeverywhere reduces wages to the same low level. )he growingcompetition among the %ourgeois, and the resulting commercialcrises, ma(e the wages of the wor(ers ever more fluctuating. )heunceasing improvement of machinery, ever more rapidly developing,ma(es their livelihood more and more precarious/ the collisions%etween individual wor(men and individual %ourgeois ta(e more andmore the character of collisions %etween two classes. )hereuponthe wor(ers %egin to form com%inations 2)rades >nions3 againstthe %ourgeois/ they clu% together in order to (eep up the rate ofwages/ they found permanent associations in order to ma(eprovision %eforehand for these occasional revolts. <ere andthere the contest %rea(s out into riots. 8ow and then the wor(ers are victorious, %ut only for a time.)he real fruit of their %attles lies, not in the immediateresult, %ut in the ever-expanding union of the wor(ers. )hisunion is helped on %y the improved means of communication thatare created %y modern industry and that place the wor(ers ofdifferent localities in contact with one another. *t was .ustthis contact that was needed to centralise the numerous localstruggles, all of the same character, into one national struggle%etween classes. 0ut every class struggle is a politicalstruggle. And that union, to attain which the %urghers of the iddle Ages, with their misera%le highways, re5uired centuries,the modern proletarians, than(s to railways, achieve in a fewyears. )his organisation of the proletarians into a class, andconse5uently into a political party, is continually %eing upsetagain %y the competition %etween the wor(ers themselves. 0ut itever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier. *t compelslegislative recognition of particular interests of the wor(ers,%y ta(ing advantage of the divisions among the %ourgeoisieitself. )hus the ten-hours6 %ill in England was carried. Altogether collisions %etween the classes of the old societyfurther, in many ways, the course of development of theproletariat. )he %ourgeoisie finds itself involved in a constant%attle. At first with the aristocracy/ later on, with thoseportions of the %ourgeoisie itself, whose interests have %ecomeantagonistic to the progress of industry/ at all times, with the%ourgeoisie of foreign countries. *n all these %attles it seesitself compelled to appeal to the proletariat, to as( for itshelp,
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and thus, to drag it into the political arena. )he%ourgeoisie itself, therefore, supplies the proletariat with itsown instruments of political and general education, in otherwords, it furnishes the proletariat with weapons for fightingthe %ourgeoisie. "urther, as we have already seen, entire sections of the rulingclasses are, %y the advance of industry, precipitated into theproletariat, or are at least threatened in their conditions ofexistence. )hese also supply the proletariat with fresh elementsof enlightenment and progress. "inally, in times when the class struggle nears the decisivehour, the process of dissolution going on within the rulingclass, in fact within the whole range of society, assumes such aviolent, glaring character, that a small section of the rulingclass cuts itself adrift, and .oins the revolutionary class, theclass that holds the future in its hands. 9ust as, therefore, atan earlier period, a section of the no%ility went over to the%ourgeoisie, so now a portion of the %ourgeoisie goes over to theproletariat, and in particular, a portion of the %ourgeoisideologists, who have raised themselves to the level ofcomprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole. 'f all the classes that stand face to face with the %ourgeoisietoday, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class.)he other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of odern *ndustry/ the proletariat is its special and essentialproduct. )he lower middle class, the small manufacturer, theshop(eeper, the artisan, the peasant, all these fight against the%ourgeoisie, to save from extinction their existence as fractionsof the middle class. )hey are therefore not revolutionary, %utconservative. 8ay more, they are reactionary, for they try toroll %ac( the wheel of history. *f %y chance they arerevolutionary, they are so only in view of their impendingtransfer into the proletariat, they thus defend not theirpresent, %ut their future interests, they desert their ownstandpoint to place themselves at that of the proletariat. )he 4dangerous class, 4 the social scum, that passively rottingmass thrown off %y the lowest layers of old society, may, hereand there, %e swept into the movement %y a proletarianrevolution/ its conditions of life, however, prepare it far morefor the part of a %ri%ed tool of reactionary intrigue. *n the conditions of the proletariat, those of old society atlarge are already virtually swamped. )he proletarian is withoutproperty/ his relation to his wife and children has no longeranything in common with the %ourgeois family-relations/ modernindustrial la%our, modern su%.ection to capital, the same inEngland as in "rance, in America as in !ermany, has stripped himof every trace of national character. ,aw, morality, religion,are to him so many %ourgeois pre.udices, %ehind which lur( inam%ush .ust as many %ourgeois interests. All the preceding classes that got the upper hand, sought tofortify their already ac5uired status %y su%.ecting society atlarge to their conditions of appropriation. )he proletarianscannot %ecome masters of the productive forces of society, except%y a%olishing their own previous mode of appropriation, andthere%y also every other previous mode of appropriation. )heyhave nothing of their own to secure and to fortify/ their missionis to destroy all previous securities for, and insurances of,individual property. All previous historical movements were movements of minorities,or in the interests of minorities. )he proletarian movement isthe self-conscious, independent movement of the immense ma.ority,in the interests of the immense ma.ority. )he proletariat, thelowest stratum of our present society, cannot stir, cannot raiseitself up, without the whole superincum%ent strata of officialsociety %eing sprung into the air.

)hough not in su%stance, yet in form, the struggle of theproletariat with the %ourgeoisie is at first a national struggle.)he proletariat of each country must, of course, first of allsettle matters with its own %ourgeoisie. *n depicting the most general phases of the development of theproletariat, we traced the more or less veiled civil war, ragingwithin existing society, up to the point where that war %rea(sout into open revolution, and where the violent overthrow of the%ourgeoisie lays the foundation for the sway of the proletariat. <itherto, every form of society has %een %ased, as we havealready seen, on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressedclasses. 0ut in order to oppress a class, certain conditionsmust %e assured to it under which it can, at least, continue itsslavish existence. )he serf, in the period of serfdom, raisedhimself to mem%ership in the commune, .ust as the petty%ourgeois, under the yo(e of feudal a%solutism, managed todevelop into a %ourgeois. )he modern la%orer, on the contrary,instead of rising with the progress of industry, sin(s deeper anddeeper %elow the conditions of existence of his own class. <e%ecomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly thanpopulation and wealth. And here it %ecomes evident, that the%ourgeoisie is unfit any longer to %e the ruling class insociety, and to impose its conditions of existence upon societyas an over-riding law. *t is unfit to rule %ecause it isincompetent to assure an existence to its slave within hisslavery, %ecause it cannot help letting him sin( into such astate, that it has to feed him, instead of %eing fed %y him.+ociety can no longer live under this %ourgeoisie, in otherwords, its existence is no longer compati%le with society. )he essential condition for the existence, and for the sway ofthe %ourgeois class, is the formation and augmentation ofcapital/ the condition for capital is wage-la%our. $age-la%ourrests exclusively on competition %etween the la%orers. )headvance of industry, whose involuntary promoter is the%ourgeoisie, replaces the isolation of the la%ourers, due tocompetition, %y their revolutionary com%ination, due toassociation. )he development of odern *ndustry, therefore, cutsfrom under its feet the very foundation on which the %ourgeoisieproduces and appropriates products. $hat the %ourgeoisie,therefore, produces, a%ove all, is its own grave-diggers. *tsfall and the victory of the proletariat are e5ually inevita%le. *n what relation do the Communists stand to the proletarians as awhole& )he Communists do not form a separate party opposed to otherwor(ing-class parties. )hey have no interests separate and apart from those of theproletariat as a whole. )hey do not set up any sectarian principles of their own,%y which to shape and mould the proletarian movement. )he Communists are distinguished from the other wor(ing-classparties is only: 213 *n the national struggles of theproletarians of the different countries, they point out and %ringto the front the common interests of entire proletariat,independently of nationality. 273 *n the various stages ofdevelopment which the struggle of the wor(ing class against the%ourgeoisie has to pass through, they always and everywhererepresent the interests of the movement as a whole. )he Communists, therefore, are on the one hand, practically,the most advanced and resolute section of the wor(ing-classparties of every country, that section which pushes forward allothers/ on the other hand, theoretically, they have over thegreat mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearlyunderstanding the line of march, the conditions, and the ultimategeneral results of the proletarian movement.

)he immediate aim of the Communist is the same as that of allthe other proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat intoa class, overthrow of the %ourgeois supremacy, con5uest ofpolitical power %y the proletariat. )he theoretical conclusions of the Communists are in no way%ased on ideas or principles that have %een invented, ordiscovered, %y this or that would-%e universal reformer. )heymerely express, in general terms, actual relations springing froman existing class struggle, from a historical movement going onunder our very eyes. )he a%olition of existing propertyrelations is not at all a distinctive feature of Communism. All property relations in the past have continually %een su%.ectto historical change conse5uent upon the change in historicalconditions. )he "rench #evolution, for example, a%olished feudal property infavour of %ourgeois property. )he distinguishing feature of Communism is not the a%olition ofproperty generally, %ut the a%olition of %ourgeois property. 0utmodern %ourgeois private property is the final and most completeexpression of the system of producing and appropriating products,that is %ased on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of themany %y the few. *n this sense, the theory of the Communists may %e summed up inthe single sentence: A%olition of private property. $e Communists have %een reproached with the desire of a%olishingthe right of personally ac5uiring property as the fruit of aman6s own la%our, which property is alleged to %e the groundwor(of all personal freedom, activity and independence. <ard-won, self-ac5uired, self-earned propertyB -o you mean theproperty of the petty artisan and of the small peasant, a form ofproperty that preceded the %ourgeois form& )here is no need toa%olish that/ the development of industry has to a great extentalready destroyed it, and is still destroying it daily. 'r do you mean modern %ourgeois private property& 0ut does wage-la%our create any property for the la%ourer& 8ota %it. *t creates capital, i. e. , that (ind of property whichexploits wage-la%our, and which cannot increase except uponcondition of %egetting a new supply of wage-la%our for freshexploitation. Property, in its present form, is %ased on theantagonism of capital and wage-la%our. ,et us examine %oth sidesof this antagonism. )o %e a capitalist, is to have not only a purely personal, %ut asocial status in production. Capital is a collective product,and only %y the united action of many mem%ers, nay, in the lastresort, only %y the united action of all mem%ers of society,can it %e set in motion. Capital is, therefore, not a personal, it is a social power. $hen, therefore, capital is converted into common property, intothe property of all mem%ers of society, personal property is notthere%y transformed into social property. *t is only the socialcharacter of the property that is changed. *t loses itsclass-character. ,et us now ta(e wage-la%our. )he average price of wage-la%our is the minimum wage, i. e. ,that 5uantum of the means of su%sistence, which is a%solutelyre5uisite in %are existence as a la%ourer. $hat, therefore, thewagela%ourer appropriates %y means of his la%our, merelysuffices to prolong and reproduce a %are existence. $e %y nomeans intend to a%olish this personal appropriation of theproducts of la%our, an appropriation that is made for themaintenance and reproduction of human life, and that leaves nosurplus wherewith to command the la%our of others. All that wewant to do away with, is the

misera%le character of thisappropriation, under which the la%ourer lives merely to increasecapital, and is allowed to live only in so far as the interest ofthe ruling class re5uires it. *n %ourgeois society, living la%our is %ut a means to increaseaccumulated la%our. *n Communist society, accumulated la%ouris %ut a means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existenceof the la%ourer. *n %ourgeois society, therefore, the past dominates the present/in Communist society, the present dominates the past. *n%ourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality,while the living person is dependent and has no individuality. And the a%olition of this state of things is called %y the%ourgeois, a%olition of individuality and freedomB And rightlyso. )he a%olition of %ourgeois individuality, %ourgeoisindependence, and %ourgeois freedom is undou%tedly aimed at. 0y freedom is meant, under the present %ourgeois conditions ofproduction, free trade, free selling and %uying.0ut if selling and %uying disappears, free selling and %uyingdisappears also. )his tal( a%out free selling and %uying, andall the other 4%rave words4 of our %ourgeoisie a%out freedom ingeneral, have a meaning, if any, only in contrast with restrictedselling and %uying, with the fettered traders of the iddle Ages,%ut have no meaning when opposed to the Communistic a%olition of%uying and selling, of the %ourgeois conditions of production,and of the %ourgeoisie itself. Dou are horrified at our intending to do away with privateproperty. 0ut in your existing society, private property isalready done away with for nine-tenths of the population/ itsexistence for the few is solely due to its non-existence in thehands of those nine-tenths. Dou reproach us, therefore, withintending to do away with a form of property, the necessarycondition for whose existence is the non-existence of anyproperty for the immense ma.ority of society. *n one word, you reproach us with intending to do away with yourproperty. Precisely so/ that is .ust what we intend. "rom the moment when la%our can no longer %e converted intocapital, money, or rent, into a social power capa%le of %eingmonopolised, i. e. , from the moment when individual property canno longer %e transformed into %ourgeois property, into capital,from that moment, you say individuality vanishes. Dou must, therefore, confess that %y 4individual4 you mean noother person than the %ourgeois, than the middle-class owner ofproperty. )his person must, indeed, %e swept out of the way, andmade impossi%le. Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate theproducts of society/ all that it does is to deprive him of thepower to su%.ugate the la%our of others %y means of suchappropriation. *t has %een o%.ected that upon the a%olition of private propertyall wor( will cease, and universal laziness will overta(e us. According to this, %ourgeois society ought long ago to have goneto the dogs through sheer idleness/ for those of its mem%ers whowor(, ac5uire nothing, and those who ac5uire anything, do notwor(. )he whole of this o%.ection is %ut another expression ofthe tautology: that there can no longer %e any wage-la%our whenthere is no longer any capital. All o%.ections urged against the Communistic mode of producingand appropriating material products, have, in the same way, %eenurged against the Communistic modes of producing andappropriating intellectual products. 9ust as, to the %ourgeois,the disappearance of class

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property is the disappearance ofproduction itself, so the disappearance of class culture is tohim identical with the disappearance of all culture. )hat culture, the loss of which he laments, is, for the enormousma.ority, a mere training to act as a machine. 0ut don6t wrangle with us so long as you apply, to our intendeda%olition of %ourgeois property, the standard of your %ourgeoisnotions of freedom, culture, law, etc. Dour very ideas are %utthe outgrowth of the conditions of your %ourgeois production and%ourgeois property, .ust as your .urisprudence is %ut the will ofyour class made into a law for all, a will, whose essentialcharacter and direction are determined %y the economicalconditions of existence of your class. )he selfish misconception that induces you to transform intoeternal laws of nature and of reason, the social forms springingfrom your present mode of production and form ofproperty-historical relations that rise and disappear in theprogress of production -- this misconception you share with everyruling class that has preceded you. $hat you see clearly in thecase of ancient property, what you admit in the case of feudalproperty, you are of course for%idden to admit in the case ofyour own %ourgeois form of property. A%olition of the familyB Even the most radical flare up at thisinfamous proposal of the Communists. 'n what foundation is the present family, the %ourgeois family,%ased& 'n capital, on private gain. *n its completely developedform this family exists only among the %ourgeoisie. 0ut thisstate of things finds its complement in the practical a%sence ofthe family among the proletarians, and in pu%lic prostitution. )he %ourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when itscomplement vanishes, and %oth will vanish with the vanishing ofcapital. Com%ination of agriculture with manufacturing industries. -o you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation ofchildren %y their parents& )o this crime we plead guilty. 0ut, you will say, we destroy the most hallowed of relations,when we replace home education %y social. And your educationB *s not that also social, and determined %ythe social conditions under which you educate, %y theintervention, direct or indirect, of society, %y means ofschools, etc. & )he Communists have not invented theintervention of society in education/ they do %ut see( to alterthe character of that intervention, and to rescue education fromthe influence of the ruling class. )he %ourgeois clap-trap a%out the family and education, a%outthe hallowed co-relation of parent and child, %ecomes all themore disgusting, the more, %y the action of odern *ndustry, allfamily ties among the proletarians are torn asunder, and theirchildren transformed into simple articles of commerce andinstruments of la%our. 0ut you Communists would introduce community of women, screamsthe whole %ourgeoisie in chorus. )he %ourgeois sees in his wife a mere instrument of production.<e hears that the instruments of production are to %e exploitedin common, and, naturally, can come to no other conclusion thanthat the lot of %eing common to all will li(ewise fall to thewomen. <e has not even a suspicion that the real point is to do awaywith the status of women as mere instruments of production.

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"or the rest, nothing is more ridiculous than thevirtuous indignation of our %ourgeois at the community of womenwhich, they pretend, is to %e openly and officially esta%lished%y the Communists. )he Communists have no need to introducecommunity of women/ it has existed almost from time immemorial. 'ur %ourgeois, not content with having the wives and daughtersof their proletarians at their disposal, not to spea( of commonprostitutes, ta(e the greatest pleasure in seducing each other6swives. 0ourgeois marriage is in reality a system of wives in common andthus, at the most, what the Communists might possi%ly %ereproached with, is that they desire to introduce, insu%stitution for a hypocritically concealed, an openly legalisedcommunity of women. "or the rest, it is self-evident that thea%olition of the present system of production must %ring with itthe a%olition of the community of women springing from thatsystem, i. e. , of prostitution %oth pu%lic and private. )he Communists are further reproached with desiring to a%olishcountries and nationality. )he wor(ing men have no country. $e cannot ta(e from them whatthey have not got. +ince the proletariat must first of allac5uire political supremacy, must rise to %e the leading class ofthe nation, must constitute itself the nation, it is, so far,itself national, though not in the %ourgeois sense of the word. 8ational differences and antagonisms %etween peoples are dailymore and more vanishing, owing to the development of the%ourgeoisie, to freedom of commerce, to the world-mar(et, touniformity in the mode of production and in the conditions oflife corresponding thereto. )he supremacy of the proletariat will cause them to vanish stillfaster. >nited action, of the leading civilised countries atleast, is one of the first conditions for the emancipation ofthe proletariat. *n proportion as the exploitation of one individual %y anotheris put an end to, the exploitation of one nation %y another willalso %e put an end to. *n proportion as the antagonism %etweenclasses within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nationto another will come to an end. )he charges against Communism made from a religious, aphilosophical, and, generally, from an ideological standpoint,are not deserving of serious examination. -oes it re5uire deep intuition to comprehend that man6s ideas,views and conceptions, in one word, man6s consciousness, changeswith every change in the conditions of his material existence, inhis social relations and in his social life& $hat else does the history of ideas prove, than thatintellectual production changes its character in proportion asmaterial production is changed& )he ruling ideas of each agehave ever %een the ideas of its ruling class. $hen people spea( of ideas that revolutionise society, they do%ut express the fact, that within the old society, the elementsof a new one have %een created, and that the dissolution of theold ideas (eeps even pace with the dissolution of the oldconditions of existence. $hen the ancient world was in its last throes, the ancientreligions were overcome %y Christianity. $hen Christian ideassuccum%ed in the 1Ath century to rationalist ideas, feudalsociety fought its death %attle with the then revolutionary%ourgeoisie. )he ideas of religious li%erty and freedom ofconscience merely gave expression to the sway of free competitionwithin the domain of (nowledge. 4>ndou%tedly, 4 it will %e said, 4religious, moral, philosophicaland .uridical ideas have %een modified in the course ofhistorical development. 0ut religion, morality philosophy,political science, and law, constantly survived this change. 4
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4)here are, %esides, eternal truths, such as "reedom, 9ustice,etc. that are common to all states of society. 0ut Communisma%olishes eternal truths, it a%olishes all religion, and allmorality, instead of constituting them on a new %asis/ ittherefore acts in contradiction to all past historicalexperience. 4 $hat does this accusation reduce itself to& )he history of allpast society has consisted in the development of classantagonisms, antagonisms that assumed different forms atdifferent epochs. 0ut whatever form they may have ta(en, one fact is common to allpast ages, viz. , the exploitation of one part of society %y theother. 8o wonder, then, that the social consciousness of pastages, despite all the multiplicity and variety it displays,moves within certain common forms, or general ideas, whichcannot completely vanish except with the total disappearance ofclass antagonisms. )he Communist revolution is the most radical rupture withtraditional property relations/ no wonder that its developmentinvolves the most radical rupture with traditional ideas. 0ut let us have done with the %ourgeois o%.ections to Communism. $e have seen a%ove, that the first step in the revolution %y thewor(ing class, is to raise the proletariat to the position ofruling as to win the %attle of democracy. )he proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, %ydegrees, all capital from the %ourgeoisie, to centralise allinstruments of production in the hands of the +tate, i. e. , of theproletariat organised as the ruling class/ and to increase thetotal of productive forces as rapidly as possi%le. 'f course, in the %eginning, this cannot %e effected except %ymeans of despotic inroads on the rights of property, and on theconditions of %ourgeois production/ %y means of measures,therefore,which appear economically insufficient and untena%le, %ut which,in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitatefurther inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoida%leas a means of entirely revolutionising the mode of production. )hese measures will of course %e different in differentcountries. 8evertheless in the most advanced countries, the following will%e pretty generally applica%le. 1. A%olition of property in land and application of all rentsof land to pu%lic purposes. 7. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. :. A%olition of all right of inheritance. ;. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and re%els. =. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the +tate, %y meansof a national %an( with +tate capital and an exclusivemonopoly. ?. Centralisation of the means of communication and transportin the hands of the +tate. @. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned %ythe +tate/ the %ringing into cultivation of waste-lands, andthe improvement of the soil generally in accordance with acommon plan. A. E5ual lia%ility of all to la%our. Esta%lishment ofindustrial armies, especially for agriculture. C. Com%ination of agriculture with manufacturing industries/gradual a%olition of the distinction %etween town andcountry, %y a more e5ua%le distri%ution of the populationover the country. 1E. "ree education for all children in pu%lic schools.A%olition of children6s factory la%our in its present form.Com%ination of education with industrial production, Fc. , Fc. $hen, in the course of development, class distinctions havedisappeared, and all production has %een concentrated in thehands of a vast association of the whole nation, the pu%lic powerwill lose its political character. Political power, properly socalled, is merely the organised power of one
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class for oppressinganother. *f the proletariat during its contest with the%ourgeoisie is compelled, %y the force of circumstances, toorganise itself as a class, if, %y means of a revolution, itma(es itself the ruling class, and, as such, sweeps away %y forcethe old conditions of production, then it will, along with theseconditions, have swept away the conditions for the existence ofclass antagonisms and of classes generally, and will there%y havea%olished its own supremacy as a class. *n place of the old %ourgeois society, with its classes andclass antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which thefree development of each is the condition for the freedevelopment of all. 1. #EAC)*'8A#D +'C*A,*+ A. "eudal +ocialism 'wing to their historical position, it %ecame the vocation ofthe aristocracies of "rance and England to write pamphletsagainst modern %ourgeois society. *n the "rench revolution of9uly 1A:E, and in the English reform agitation, thesearistocracies again succum%ed to the hateful upstart.)henceforth, a serious political contest was altogether out ofthe 5uestion. A literary %attle alone remained possi%le. 0uteven in the domain of literature the old cries of the restorationperiod had %ecome impossi%le. *n order to arouse sympathy, the aristocracy were o%liged tolose sight, apparently, of their own interests, and to formulatetheir indictment against the %ourgeoisie in the interest of theexploited wor(ing class alone. )hus the aristocracy too( theirrevenge %y singing lampoons on their new master, and whisperingin his ears sinister prophecies of coming catastrophe. *n this way arose "eudal +ocialism: half lamentation, halflampoon/ half echo of the past, half menace of the future/ attimes, %y its %itter, witty and incisive criticism, stri(ing the%ourgeoisie to the very heart6s core/ %ut always ludicrous inits effect, through total incapacity to comprehend the march ofmodern history. )he aristocracy, in order to rally the people to them, waved theproletarian alms-%ag in front for a %anner. 0ut the people, sooften as it .oined them, saw on their hind5uarters the old feudalcoats of arms, and deserted with loud and irreverent laughter. 'ne section of the "rench ,egitimists and 4Doung England4exhi%ited this spectacle. *n pointing out that their mode of exploitation was different tothat of the %ourgeoisie, the feudalists forget that theyexploited under circumstances and conditions that were 5uitedifferent, and that are now anti5uated. *n showing that, undertheir rule, the modern proletariat never existed, they forgetthat the modern %ourgeoisie is the necessary offspring of theirown form of society. "or the rest, so little do they conceal the reactionarycharacter of their criticism that their chief accusation againstthe %ourgeoisie amounts to this, that under the %ourgeois regimea class is %eing developed, which is destined to cut up root and%ranch the old order of society. $hat they up%raid the %ourgeoisie with is not so much that itcreates a proletariat, as that it creates a revolutionaryproletariat. *n political practice, therefore, they .oin in all coercivemeasures against the wor(ing class/ and in ordinary life,despite their high falutin phrases, they stoop to pic( up thegolden apples dropped from the tree of industry, and to %artertruth, love, and honour for traffic in wool, %eetroot-sugar, andpotato spirits. As the parson has ever gone hand in hand with the landlord,so has Clerical +ocialism with "eudal +ocialism.

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8othing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a +ocialisttinge. <as not Christianity declaimed against private property,against marriage, against the +tate& <as it not preached in theplace of these, charity and poverty, celi%acy and mortificationof the flesh, monastic life and other Church& Christian+ocialism is %ut the holy, water with which the priestconsecrates the heart%urnings of the aristocrat. 0. Petty-0ourgeois +ocialism )he feudal aristocracy was not the only class that has ruined %ythe %ourgeoisie, not the only class whose conditions of existencepined and perished in the atmosphere of modern %ourgeois society.)he mediaeval %urgesses and the small peasant proprietors werethe precursors of the modern %ourgeoisie. *n those countrieswhich are %ut little developed, industrially and commercially,these two classes still vegetate side %y side with the rising%ourgeoisie. *n countries where modern civilisation has %ecome fullydeveloped, a new class of petty %ourgeois has %een formed,fluctuating %etween proletariat and %ourgeoisie and ever renewingitself as a supplementary part of %ourgeois society. )heindividual mem%ers of this class, however, are %eing constantlyhurled down into the proletariat %y the action of competition,and, as modern industry develops, they even see the momentapproaching when they will completely disappear as an independentsection of modern society, to %e replaced, in manufactures,agriculture and commerce, %y overloo(ers, %ailiffs and shopmen. *n countries li(e "rance, where the peasants constitute far morethan half of the population, it was natural that writers whosided with the proletariat against the %ourgeoisie, should use,in their criticism of the %ourgeois regime, the standard of thepeasant and petty %ourgeois, and from the standpoint of theseintermediate classes should ta(e up the cudgels for the wor(ingclass. )hus arose petty-%ourgeois +ocialism. +ismondi was thehead of this school, not only in "rance %ut also in England. )his school of +ocialism dissected with great acuteness thecontradictions in the conditions of modern production. *t laid%are the hypocritical apologies of economists. *t proved,incontroverti%ly, the disastrous effects of machinery anddivision of la%our/ the concentration of capital and land in afew hands/ overproduction and crises/ it pointed out theinevita%le ruin of the petty %ourgeois and peasant, the misery ofthe proletariat, the anarchy in production, the cryingine5ualities in the distri%ution of wealth, the industrial war ofextermination %etween nations, the dissolution of old moral%onds, of the old family relations, of the old nationalities. *n its positive aims, however, this form of +ocialism aspireseither to restoring the old means of production and of exchange,and with them the old property relations, and the old society, orto cramping the modern means of production and of exchange,within the framewor( of the old property relations that have%een, and were %ound to %e, exploded %y those means. *n eithercase, it is %oth reactionary and >topian. *ts last words are: corporate guilds for manufacture,patriarchal relations in agriculture. >ltimately, when stu%%orn historical facts had dispersed allintoxicating effects of self-deception, this form of +ocialismended in a misera%le fit of the %lues. C. !erman, or 4)rue, 4 +ocialism )he +ocialist and Communist literature of "rance, a literaturethat originated under the pressure of a %ourgeoisie in power, andthat was the expression of the struggle against this power,

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wasintroduced into !ermany at a time when the %ourgeoisie, in thatcountry, had .ust %egun its contest with feudal a%solutism. !erman philosophers, would-%e philosophers, and %eaux esprits,eagerly seized on this literature, only forgetting, that whenthese writings immigrated from "rance into !ermany, "rench socialconditions had not immigrated along with them. *n contact with!erman social conditions, this "rench literature lost all itsimmediate practical significance, and assumed a purely literaryaspect. )hus, to the !erman philosophers of the eighteenthcentury, the demands of the first "rench #evolution were nothingmore than the demands of 4Practical #eason4 in general, and theutterance of the will of the revolutionary "rench %ourgeoisiesignified in their eyes the law of pure $ill, of $ill as it was%ound to %e, of true human $ill generally. )he world of the !erman literate consisted solely in %ringingthe new "rench ideas into harmony with their ancientphilosophical conscience, or rather, in annexing the "rench ideaswithout deserting their own philosophic point of view. )his annexation too( place in the same way in which a foreignlanguage is appropriated, namely, %y translation. *t is well (nown how the mon(s wrote silly lives of Catholic+aints over the manuscripts on which the classical wor(s ofancient heathendom had %een written. )he !erman literatereversed this process with the profane "rench literature. )heywrote their philosophical nonsense %eneath the "rench original."or instance, %eneath the "rench criticism of the economicfunctions of money, they wrote 4Alienation of <umanity, 4 and%eneath the "rench criticism of the %ourgeois +tate they wrote4dethronement of the Category of the !eneral, 4 and so forth. )he introduction of these philosophical phrases at the %ac( ofthe "rench historical criticisms they du%%ed 4Philosophy ofAction, 4 4)rue +ocialism, 4 4!erman +cience of +ocialism, 44Philosophical "oundation of +ocialism, 4 and so on. )he "rench +ocialist and Communist literature was thus completelyemasculated. And, since it ceased in the hands of the !erman to expressthe struggle of one class with the other, he felt conscious of havingovercome 4"rench one-sidedness4 and of representing, not truere5uirements, %ut the re5uirements of truth/ not the interests of theproletariat, %ut the interests of <uman 8ature, of an in general, who%elongs to no class, has no reality, who exists only in the misty realmof philosophical fantasy. )his !erman +ocialism, which too( its school%oy tas( so seriouslyand solemnly, and extolled its poor stoc(-in-trade in suchmounte%an( fashion, meanwhile gradually lost its pedanticinnocence. )he fight of the !erman, and especially, of the Prussian %ourgeoisie,against feudal aristocracy and a%solute monarchy, in other words, theli%eral movement, %ecame more earnest. 0y this, the long wished-for opportunity was offered to 4)rue4+ocialism of confronting the political movement with the+ocialist demands, of hurling the traditional anathemas againstli%eralism, against representative government, against %ourgeoiscompetition, %ourgeois freedom of the press, %ourgeoislegislation, %ourgeois li%erty and e5uality, and of preaching tothe masses that they had nothing to gain, and everything to lose,%y this %ourgeois movement. !erman +ocialism forgot, in the nic(of time, that the "rench criticism, whose silly echo it was,presupposed the existence of modern %ourgeois society, with itscorresponding economic conditions of existence, and the politicalconstitution adapted thereto, the very things whose attainmentwas the o%.ect of the pending struggle in !ermany.

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)o the a%solute governments, with their following of parsons,professors, country s5uires and officials, it served as a welcomescarecrow against the threatening %ourgeoisie. *t was a sweet finish after the %itter pills of floggings and%ullets with which these same governments, .ust at that time,dosed the !erman wor(ing-class risings. $hile this 4)rue4 +ocialism thus served the governments as aweapon for fighting the !erman %ourgeoisie, it, at the same time,directly represented a reactionary interest, the interest of the!erman Philistines. *n !ermany the petty-%ourgeois class, arelic of the sixteenth century, and since then constantlycropping up again under various forms, is the real social %asisof the existing state of things. )o preserve this class is to preserve the existing state ofthings in !ermany. )he industrial and political supremacy of the%ourgeoisie threatens it with certain destruction/ on the onehand, from the concentration of capital/ on the other, from therise of a revolutionary proletariat. 4)rue4 +ocialism appearedto(ill these two %irds with one stone. *t spread li(e an epidemic. )he ro%e of speculative co%we%s, em%roidered with flowers ofrhetoric, steeped in the dew of sic(ly sentiment, thistranscendental ro%e in which the !erman +ocialists wrapped theirsorry 4eternal truths, 4 all s(in and %one, served to wonderfullyincrease the sale of their goods amongst such a pu%lic. And on its part, !erman +ocialism recognised, more and more, itsown calling as the %om%astic representative of the petty-%ourgeois Philistine. *t proclaimed the !erman nation to %e the model nation, and the!erman petty Philistine to %e the typical man. )o everyvillainous meanness of this model man it gave a hidden, higher,+ocialistic interpretation, the exact contrary of its realcharacter. *t went to the extreme length of directly opposingthe 4%rutally destructive4 tendency of Communism, and ofproclaiming its supreme and impartial contempt of all classstruggles. $ith very few exceptions, all the so-called +ocialistand Communist pu%lications that now 21A;@3 circulate in !ermany%elong to the domain of this foul and enervating literature. 7. C'8+E#GA)*GE, '# 0'>#!E'*+, +'C*A,*+ A part of the %ourgeoisie is desirous of redressing socialgrievances, in order to secure the continued existence of%ourgeois society. )o this section %elong economists, philanthropists,humanitarians, improvers of the condition of the wor(ing class,organisers of charity, mem%ers of societies for the prevention ofcruelty to animals, temperance fanatics, hole-and-cornerreformers of every imagina%le (ind. )his form of +ocialism has,moreover, %een wor(ed out into complete systems. $e may site Proudhon6s Philosophie de la isere as an example ofthis form. )he +ocialistic %ourgeois want all the advantages of modernsocial conditions without the struggles and dangers necessarilyresulting therefrom. )hey desire the existing state of societyminus its revolutionary and disintegrating elements. )hey wishfor a %ourgeoisie without a proletariat. )he %ourgeoisienaturally conceives the world in which it is supreme to %e the%est/ and %ourgeois +ocialism develops this comforta%leconception into various more or less complete systems. *nre5uiring the proletariat to carry out such a system, and there%yto march straightway into the social 8ew 9erusalem, it %utre5uires in reality, that the proletariat should remain withinthe %ounds of existing society, %ut should cast away all itshateful ideas concerning the %ourgeoisie. A second and more practical, %ut less systematic, form of this+ocialism sought to depreciate every revolutionary movement inthe eyes of the wor(ing class, %y showing that no mere politicalreform,
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%ut only a change in the material conditions ofexistence, in economic relations, could %e of any advantage tothem. 0y changes in the material conditions of existence, thisform of +ocialism, however, %y no means understands a%olition ofthe %ourgeois relations of production, an a%olition that can %eeffected only %y a revolution, %ut administrative reforms, %asedon the continued existence of these relations/ reforms,therefore, that in no respect affect the relations %etweencapital and la%our, %ut, at the %est, lessen the cost, andsimplify the administrative wor(, of %ourgeois government. 0ourgeois +ocialism attains ade5uate expression, when, and onlywhen, it %ecomes a mere figure of speech. "ree trade: for the %enefit of the wor(ing class. Protectiveduties: for the %enefit of the wor(ing class. Prison #eform: forthe %enefit of the wor(ing class. )his is the last word and theonly seriously meant word of %ourgeois +ocialism. *t is summed up in the phrase: the %ourgeois is a %ourgeois --for the %enefit of the wor(ing class. :. C#*)*CA,->)'P*A8 +'C*A,*+ A8- C' >8*+ $e do not here refer to that literature which, in every greatmodern revolution, has always given voice to the demands of theproletariat, such as the writings of 0a%euf and others. )he first direct attempts of the proletariat to attain its ownends, made in times of universal excitement, when feudal societywas %eing overthrown, these attempts necessarily failed, owingto the then undeveloped state of the proletariat, as well as tothe a%sence of the economic conditions for its emancipation,conditions that had yet to %e produced, and could %e produced %ythe impending %ourgeois epoch alone. )he revolutionaryliterature that accompanied these first movements of theproletariat had necessarily a reactionary character. *tinculcated universal asceticism and social levelling in itscrudest form. )he +ocialist and Communist systems properly so called, those of+aint-+imon, "ourier, 'wen and others, spring into existence inthe early undeveloped period, descri%ed a%ove, of the struggle%etween proletariat and %ourgeoisie 2see +ection 1. 0ourgeoisand Proletarians3. )he founders of these systems see, indeed, the class antagonisms, aswell as the action of the decomposing elements, in the prevailing formof society. 0ut the proletariat, as yet in its infancy, offers to themthe spectacle of a class without any historical initiative or anyindependent political movement. +ince the development of class antagonism (eeps even pace withthe development of industry, the economic situation, as they findit, does not as yet offer to them the material conditions for theemancipation of the proletariat. )hey therefore search after anew social science, after new social laws, that are to createthese conditions. <istorical action is to yield to their personal inventiveaction, historically created conditions of emancipation tofantastic ones, and the gradual, spontaneous class-organisationof the proletariat to the organisation of society speciallycontrived %y these inventors. "uture history resolves itself, intheir eyes, into the propaganda and the practical carrying out oftheir social plans. *n the formation of their plans they are conscious of caringchiefly for the interests of the wor(ing class, as %eing the mostsuffering class. 'nly from the point of view of %eing the mostsuffering class does the proletariat exist for them. )he undeveloped state of the class struggle, as well as theirown surroundings, causes +ocialists of this (ind to considerthemselves far superior to all class antagonisms. )hey want toimprove the condition of every mem%er of society, even that ofthe most favoured. <ence, they ha%itually
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appeal to society atlarge, without distinction of class/ nay, %y preference, to theruling class. "or how can people, when once they understandtheir system, fail to see in it the %est possi%le plan of the%est possi%le state of society& +'C*A,*+ C' >8*+ society. *n the "rench& <ence, they re.ect all political, and especially allrevolutionary, action/ they wish to attain their ends %ypeaceful means, and endeavour, %y small experiments, necessarilydoomed to failure, and %y the force of example, to pave the wayfor the new social !ospel. +uch fantastic pictures of future society, painted at a timewhen the proletariat is still in a very undeveloped state and has%ut a fantastic conception of its own position correspond withthe first instinctive yearnings of that class for a generalreconstruction of society. 0ut these +ocialist and Communist pu%lications contain also acritical element. )hey attac( every principle of existing society.<ence they are full of the most valua%le materials for theenlightenment of the wor(ing class. )he practical measuresproposed in them -- such as the a%olition of the distinction%etween town and country, of the family, of the carrying on ofindustries for the account of private individuals, and of the wagesystem, the proclamation of social harmony, the conversion of thefunctions of the +tate into a mere superintendence of production,all these proposals, point solely to the disappearance of classantagonisms which were, at that time, only .ust cropping up, andwhich, in these pu%lications, are recognised in their earliest,indistinct and undefined forms only. )hese proposals, therefore,are of a purely >topian character. )he significance of Critical->topian +ocialism and Communism%ears an inverse relation to historical development. *nproportion as the modern class struggle develops and ta(esdefinite shape, this fantastic standing apart from the contest,these fantastic attac(s on it, lose all practical value and alltheoretical .ustification. )herefore, although the originatorsof these systems were, in many respects, revolutionary, theirdisciples have, in every case, formed mere reactionary sects.)hey hold fast %y the original views of their masters, inopposition to the progressive historical development of theproletariat. )hey, therefore, endeavour, and that consistently,to deaden the class struggle and to reconcile the classantagonisms. )hey still dream of experimental realisation oftheir social >topias, of founding isolated 4phalansteres, 4 ofesta%lishing 4<ome Colonies, 4 of setting up a 4,ittle *caria4 --duodecimo editions of the 8ew 9erusalem -- and to realise allthese castles in the air, they are compelled to appeal to thefeelings and purses of the %ourgeois. 0y degrees they sin( intothe category of the reactionary conservative +ocialists depicteda%ove, differing from these only %y more systematic pedantry, and%y their fanatical and superstitious %elief in the miraculouseffects of their social science. )hey, therefore, violently oppose all political action on thepart of the wor(ing class/ such action, according to them, canonly result from %lind un%elief in the new !ospel. )he 'wenites in England, and the "ourierists in "rance,respectively, oppose the Chartists and the #eformistes. +ection ** has made clear the relations of the Communists to theexisting wor(ing-class parties, such as the Chartists in Englandand the Agrarian #eformers in America. )he Communists fight for the attainment of the immediate aims,for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the wor(ingclass/ %ut in the movement of the present, they also representand ta(e care of the future of that movement. *n "rance theCommunists ally themselves with the +ocial--emocrats, against theconservative and radical %ourgeoisie, reserving, however,

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theright to ta(e up a critical position in regard to phrases andillusions traditionally handed down from the great #evolution. *n +witzerland they support the #adicals, without losing sightof the fact that this party consists of antagonistic elements,partly of -emocratic +ocialists, in the "rench sense, partly ofradical %ourgeois. *n Poland they support the party that insists on an agrarianrevolution as the prime condition for national emancipation, thatparty which fomented the insurrection of Cracow in 1A;?. *n !ermany they fight with the %ourgeoisie whenever it acts in arevolutionary way, against the a%solute monarchy, the feudals5uirearchy, and the petty %ourgeoisie. 0ut they never cease, for a single instant, to instil into thewor(ing class the clearest possi%le recognition of the hostileantagonism %etween %ourgeoisie and proletariat, in order that the!erman wor(ers may straightaway use, as so many weapons againstthe %ourgeoisie, the social and political conditions that the%ourgeoisie must necessarily introduce along with its supremacy,and in order that, after the fall of the reactionary classes in!ermany, the fight against the %ourgeoisie itself may immediately%egin. )he Communists turn their attention chiefly to !ermany, %ecausethat country is on the eve of a %ourgeois revolution that is%ound to %e carried out under more advanced conditions ofEuropean civilisation, and with a much more developedproletariat, than that of England was in the seventeenth, and of"rance in the eighteenth century, and %ecause the %ourgeoisrevolution in !ermany will %e %ut the prelude to an immediatelyfollowing proletarian revolution. *n short, the Communists everywhere support every revolutionarymovement against the existing social and political order ofthings. *n all these movements they %ring to the front, as the leading5uestion in each, the property 5uestion, no matter what itsdegree of development at the time. "inally, they la%our everywhere for the union and agreement ofthe democratic parties of all countries. )he Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims.)hey openly declare that their ends can %e attained only %ythe forci%le overthrow of all existing social conditions.,et the ruling classes trem%le at a Communistic revolution.)he proletarians have nothing to lose %ut their chains.)hey have a world to win. $'#H*8! E8 '" A,, C'>8)#*E+, >8*)EB

7E