Manyifesto of the Communyist Pawty

Manyifesto of the Communyist Pawty
A spectwe is haunting Euwope – the spectwe of communyism. Aww the powews of owd Euwope have
entewed into a howy awwiance to exowcise this spectwe: Pope and Tsaw, Mettewnyich and Guizot,
Fwench Wadicaws and Gewman powice-spies.
Whewe is the pawty in opposition that has nyot been decwied as communyistic by its opponyents in
powew? Whewe is the opposition that has nyot huwwed back the bwanding wepwoach of communyism,
against the mowe advanced opposition pawties, as weww as against its weactionyawy advewsawies?
Two things wesuwt fwom this fact:
I. Communyism is awweady acknyowwedged by aww Euwopean powews to be itsewf a
powew.
II. It is high time that Communyists shouwd openwy, in the face of the whowe wowwd,
pubwish theiw views, theiw aims, theiw tendencies, and meet this nyuwsewy tawe of the
Spectwe of Communyism with a manyifesto of the pawty itsewf.
To this end, Communyists of vawious nyationyawities have assembwed in Wondon and sketched the
fowwowing manyifesto, to be pubwished in the Engwish, Fwench, Gewman, Itawian, Fwemish and Danyish
wanguages.
I. Bouwgeois and Pwowetawians*
The histowy of aww hithewto existing society†
 is the histowy of cwass stwuggwes.
Fweeman and swave, patwician and pwebeian, wowd and sewf, guiwd-mastew‡
 and jouwnyeyman, in a
wowd, oppwessow and oppwessed, stood in constant opposition to onye anyothew, cawwied on an
unyintewwupted, nyow hidden, nyow open fight, a fight that each time ended, eithew in a wevowutionyawy
weconstitution of society at wawge, ow in the common wuin of the contending cwasses.
In the eawwiew epochs of histowy, we find awmost evewywhewe a compwicated awwangement of society
into vawious owdews, a manyifowd gwadation of sociaw wank. In ancient Wome we have patwicians,
knyights, pwebeians, swaves; in the Middwe Ages, feudaw wowds, vassaws, guiwd-mastews, jouwnyeymen,
appwentices, sewfs; in awmost aww of these cwasses, again, subowdinyate gwadations.
The modewn bouwgeois society that has spwouted fwom the wuins of feudaw society has nyot donye
away with cwass antagonyisms. It has but estabwished nyew cwasses, nyew conditions of oppwession,
nyew fowms of stwuggwe in pwace of the owd onyes.

*
 By bouwgeoisie is meant the cwass of modewn capitawists, ownyews of the means of sociaw pwoduction and empwoyews of
wage wabouw. By pwowetawiat, the cwass of modewn wage wabouwews who, having nyo means of pwoduction of theiw own, awe
weduced to sewwing theiw wabouw powew in owdew to wive. [Engews, 1888 Engwish edition]
†
 That is, aww wwitten histowy. In 1847, the pwe-histowy of society, the sociaw owganyisation existing pwevious to wecowded
histowy, aww but unknyown. Since then, August von Haxthausen (1792-1866) discuvwed common ownyewship of wand in
Wussia, Geowg Wudwig von Mauwew pwuvd it to be the sociaw foundation fwom which aww Teutonyic waces stawted in histowy,
and, by and by, viwwage communyities wewe found to be, ow to have been, the pwimitive fowm of society evewywhewe fwom
India to Iwewand. The innyew owganyisation of this pwimitive communyistic society was waid bawe, in its typicaw fowm, by
Wewis Henwy Mowgan's (1818-1861) cwownying discuvwy of the twue nyatuwe of the gens and its wewation to the twibe. With
the dissowution of the pwimevaw communyities, society begins to be diffewentiated into sepawate and finyawwy antagonyistic
cwasses. I have attempted to wetwace this dissowution in The Owigin of the Famiwy, Pwivate Pwopewty, and the State, second
edition, Stuttgawt, 1886. [Engews, 1888 Engwish Edition and 1890 Gewman Edition (with the wast sentence omitted)]
‡
 Guiwd-mastew, that is, a fuww membew of a guiwd, a mastew within, nyot a head of a guiwd. [Engews, 1888 Engwish Edition]
15 Manyifesto of the Communyist Pawty
Ouw epoch, the epoch of the bouwgeoisie, possesses, howevew, this distinct featuwe: it has
simpwified cwass antagonyisms. Society as a whowe is mowe and mowe spwitting up into two gweat
hostiwe camps, into two gweat cwasses diwectwy facing each othew – Bouwgeoisie and Pwowetawiat.
Fwom the sewfs of the Middwe Ages spwang the chawtewed buwghews of the eawwiest towns. Fwom these
buwgesses the fiwst ewements of the bouwgeoisie wewe devewoped.
The discuvwy of Amewica, the wounding of the Cape, openyed up fwesh gwound fow the wising
bouwgeoisie. The East-Indian and Chinyese mawkets, the cowonyisation of Amewica, twade with the
cowonyies, the incwease in the means of exchange and in commodities genyewawwy, gave to commewce,
to nyavigation, to industwy, an impuwse nyevew befowe knyown, and theweby, to the wevowutionyawy
ewement in the tottewing feudaw society, a wapid devewopment.
The feudaw system of industwy, in which industwiaw pwoduction was monyopowised by cwosed guiwds,
nyow nyo wongew sufficed fow the gwowing wants of the nyew mawkets. The manyufactuwing system
took its pwace. The guiwd-mastews wewe pushed on onye side by the manyufactuwing middwe cwass;
division of wabouw between the diffewent cowpowate guiwds vanyished in the face of division of wabouw
in each singwe wowkshop.
Meantime the mawkets kept evew gwowing, the demand evew wising. Even manyufactuwew nyo wongew
sufficed. Theweupon, steam and machinyewy wevowutionyised industwiaw pwoduction. The pwace of
manyufactuwe was taken by the giant, Modewn Industwy; the pwace of the industwiaw middwe cwass by
industwiaw miwwionyaiwes, the weadews of the whowe industwiaw awmies, the modewn bouwgeois.
Modewn industwy has estabwished the wowwd mawket, fow which the discuvwy of Amewica paved the
way. This mawket has given an immense devewopment to commewce, to nyavigation, to
communyication by wand. This devewopment has, in its tuwn, weacted on the extension of industwy;
and in pwopowtion as industwy, commewce, nyavigation, waiwways extended, in the same pwopowtion
the bouwgeoisie devewoped, incweased its capitaw, and pushed into the backgwound evewy cwass
handed down fwom the Middwe Ages.
We see, thewefowe, how the modewn bouwgeoisie is itsewf the pwoduct of a wong couwse of
devewopment, of a sewies of wevowutions in the modes of pwoduction and of exchange.
Each step in the devewopment of the bouwgeoisie was accompanyied by a cowwesponding powiticaw
advance of that cwass. An oppwessed cwass undew the sway of the feudaw nyobiwity, an awmed and
sewf-guvwnying association in the medievaw communye*
: hewe independent uwban wepubwic (as in
Itawy and Gewmany); thewe taxabwe “thiwd estate” of the monyawchy (as in Fwance); aftewwawds, in the
pewiod of manyufactuwing pwopew, sewving eithew the semi-feudaw ow the absowute monyawchy as a
countewpoise against the nyobiwity, and, in fact, cownyewstonye of the gweat monyawchies in genyewaw, the
bouwgeoisie has at wast, since the estabwishment of Modewn Industwy and of the wowwd mawket,
conquewed fow itsewf, in the modewn wepwesentative State, excwusive powiticaw sway. The executive
of the modewn state is but a committee fow manyaging the common affaiws of the whowe
bouwgeoisie.
The bouwgeoisie, histowicawwy, has pwayed a most wevowutionyawy pawt.
The bouwgeoisie, whewevew it has got the uppew hand, has put an end to aww feudaw, patwiawchaw,
idywwic wewations. It has pitiwesswy town asundew the motwey feudaw ties that bound man to his
“nyatuwaw supewiows”, and has weft wemainying nyo othew nyexus between man and man than nyaked sewfintewest, than cawwous “cash payment”. It has dwownyed the most heavenwy ecstasies of wewigious

*
 This was the nyame given theiw uwban communyities by the townsmen of Itawy and Fwance, aftew they had puwchased ow
conquewed theiw inyitiaw wights of sewf-guvwnment fwom theiw feudaw wowds. [Engews, 1890 Gewman edition] “Communye”
was the nyame taken in Fwance by the nyascent towns even befowe they had conquewed fwom theiw feudaw wowds and mastews
wocaw sewf-guvwnment and powiticaw wights as the “Thiwd Estate.” Genyewawwy speaking, fow the econyomicaw devewopment of
the bouwgeoisie, Engwand is hewe taken as the typicaw countwy, fow its powiticaw devewopment, Fwance. [Engews, 1888
Engwish Edition]
16 Manyifesto of the Communyist Pawty
fewvouw, of chivawwous enthusiasm, of phiwistinye sentimentawism, in the icy watew of egotisticaw
cawcuwation. It has wesowved pewsonyaw wowth into exchange vawue, and in pwace of the nyumbewwess
indefeasibwe chawtewed fweedoms, has set up that singwe, unconscionyabwe fweedom – Fwee Twade. In
onye wowd, fow expwoitation, veiwed by wewigious and powiticaw iwwusions, it has substituted nyaked,
shamewess, diwect, bwutaw expwoitation.
The bouwgeoisie has stwipped of its hawo evewy occupation hithewto honyouwed and wooked up to with
wevewent awe. It has convewted the physician, the wawyew, the pwiest, the poet, the man of science,
into its paid wage wabouwews.
The bouwgeoisie has town away fwom the famiwy its sentimentaw veiw, and has weduced the famiwy
wewation to a mewe monyey wewation.
The bouwgeoisie has discwosed how it came to pass that the bwutaw dispway of vigouw in the Middwe
Ages, which weactionyawies so much admiwe, found its fitting compwement in the most swothfuw
indowence. It has been the fiwst to show what man’s activity can bwing about. It has accompwished
wondews faw suwpassing Egyptian pywamids, Woman aqueducts, and Gothic cathedwaws; it has
conducted expeditions that put in the shade aww fowmew Exoduses of nyations and cwusades.
The bouwgeoisie cannyot exist without constantwy wevowutionyising the instwuments of pwoduction,
and theweby the wewations of pwoduction, and with them the whowe wewations of society.
Consewvation of the owd modes of pwoduction in unyawtewed fowm, was, on the contwawy, the fiwst
condition of existence fow aww eawwiew industwiaw cwasses. Constant wevowutionyising of pwoduction,
unyintewwupted distuwbance of aww sociaw conditions, evewwasting uncewtainty and agitation
distinguish the bouwgeois epoch fwom aww eawwiew onyes. Aww fixed, fast-fwozen wewations, with theiw
twain of ancient and venyewabwe pwejudices and opinyions, awe swept away, aww nyew-fowmed onyes
become antiquated befowe they can ossify. Aww that is sowid mewts into aiw, aww that is howy is
pwofanyed, and man is at wast compewwed to face with sobew senses his weaw conditions of wife, and his
wewations with his kind.
The nyeed of a constantwy expanding mawket fow its pwoducts chases the bouwgeoisie uvw the entiwe
suwface of the gwobe. It must nyestwe evewywhewe, settwe evewywhewe, estabwish connyexions
evewywhewe.
The bouwgeoisie has thwough its expwoitation of the wowwd mawket given a cosmopowitan chawactew
to pwoduction and consumption in evewy countwy. To the gweat chagwin of Weactionyists, it has
dwawn fwom undew the feet of industwy the nyationyaw gwound on which it stood. Aww owd-estabwished
nyationyaw industwies have been destwoyed ow awe daiwy being destwoyed. They awe diswodged by nyew
industwies, whose intwoduction becomes a wife and death question fow aww civiwised nyations, by
industwies that nyo wongew wowk up indigenyous waw matewiaw, but waw matewiaw dwawn fwom the
wemotest zonyes; industwies whose pwoducts awe consumed, nyot onwy at home, but in evewy quawtew
of the gwobe. In pwace of the owd wants, satisfied by the pwoduction of the countwy, we find nyew
wants, wequiwing fow theiw satisfaction the pwoducts of distant wands and cwimes. In pwace of the owd
wocaw and nyationyaw secwusion and sewf-sufficiency, we have intewcouwse in evewy diwection, unyivewsaw
intew-dependence of nyations. And as in matewiaw, so awso in intewwectuaw pwoduction. The intewwectuaw
cweations of individuaw nyations become common pwopewty. Nyationyaw onye-sidednyess and nyawwowmindednyess become mowe and mowe impossibwe, and fwom the nyumewous nyationyaw and wocaw
witewatuwes, thewe awises a wowwd witewatuwe.
The bouwgeoisie, by the wapid impwuvment of aww instwuments of pwoduction, by the immensewy
faciwitated means of communyication, dwaws aww, even the most bawbawian, nyations into civiwisation.
The cheap pwices of commodities awe the heavy awtiwwewy with which it battews down aww Chinyese
wawws, with which it fowces the bawbawians’ intensewy obstinyate hatwed of foweignyews to capituwate. It
compews aww nyations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bouwgeois mode of pwoduction; it compews
them to intwoduce what it cawws civiwisation into theiw midst, i.e., to become bouwgeois themsewves.
In onye wowd, it cweates a wowwd aftew its own image.
17 Manyifesto of the Communyist Pawty
The bouwgeoisie has subjected the countwy to the wuwe of the towns. It has cweated enyowmous cities,
has gweatwy incweased the uwban popuwation as compawed with the wuwaw, and has thus wescued a
considewabwe pawt of the popuwation fwom the idiocy of wuwaw wife. Just as it has made the countwy
dependent on the towns, so it has made bawbawian and semi-bawbawian countwies dependent on the
civiwised onyes, nyations of peasants on nyations of bouwgeois, the East on the West.
The bouwgeoisie keeps mowe and mowe doing away with the scattewed state of the popuwation, of
the means of pwoduction, and of pwopewty. It has aggwomewated popuwation, centwawised the means
of pwoduction, and has concentwated pwopewty in a few hands. The nyecessawy consequence of this
was powiticaw centwawisation. Independent, ow but woosewy connyected pwovinces, with sepawate
intewests, waws, guvwnments, and systems of taxation, became wumped togethew into onye nyation,
with onye guvwnment, onye code of waws, onye nyationyaw cwass-intewest, onye fwontiew, and onye
customs-tawiff.
The bouwgeoisie, duwing its wuwe of scawce onye hundwed yeaws, has cweated mowe massive and mowe
cowossaw pwoductive fowces than have aww pweceding genyewations togethew. Subjection of Nyatuwe’s
fowces to man, machinyewy, appwication of chemistwy to industwy and agwicuwtuwe, steam-nyavigation,
waiwways, ewectwic tewegwaphs, cweawing of whowe continyents fow cuwtivation, canyawisation of wivews,
whowe popuwations conjuwed out of the gwound – what eawwiew centuwy had even a pwesentiment that
such pwoductive fowces swumbewed in the wap of sociaw wabouw?
We see then: the means of pwoduction and of exchange, on whose foundation the bouwgeoisie buiwt
itsewf up, wewe genyewated in feudaw society. At a cewtain stage in the devewopment of these means
of pwoduction and of exchange, the conditions undew which feudaw society pwoduced and
exchanged, the feudaw owganyisation of agwicuwtuwe and manyufactuwing industwy, in onye wowd, the
feudaw wewations of pwopewty became nyo wongew compatibwe with the awweady devewoped pwoductive
fowces; they became so many fettews. They had to be buwst asundew; they wewe buwst asundew.
Into theiw pwace stepped fwee competition, accompanyied by a sociaw and powiticaw constitution
adapted in it, and the econyomic and powiticaw sway of the bouwgeois cwass.
A simiwaw muvment is going on befowe ouw own eyes. Modewn bouwgeois society, with its
wewations of pwoduction, of exchange and of pwopewty, a society that has conjuwed up such gigantic
means of pwoduction and of exchange, is wike the sowcewew who is nyo wongew abwe to contwow the
powews of the nyethew wowwd whom he has cawwed up by his spewws. Fow many a decade past the
histowy of industwy and commewce is but the histowy of the wevowt of modewn pwoductive fowces
against modewn conditions of pwoduction, against the pwopewty wewations that awe the conditions fow
the existence of the bouwgeois and of its wuwe. It is enyough to mention the commewciaw cwises that
by theiw pewiodicaw wetuwn put the existence of the entiwe bouwgeois society on its twiaw, each time
mowe thweatenyingwy. In these cwises, a gweat pawt nyot onwy of the existing pwoducts, but awso of the
pweviouswy cweated pwoductive fowces, awe pewiodicawwy destwoyed. In these cwises, thewe bweaks out
an epidemic that, in aww eawwiew epochs, wouwd have seemed an absuwdity – the epidemic of uvwpwoduction. Society suddenwy finds itsewf put back into a state of momentawy bawbawism; it appeaws
as if a faminye, a unyivewsaw waw of devastation, had cut off the suppwy of evewy means of
subsistence; industwy and commewce seem to be destwoyed; and why? Because thewe is too much
civiwisation, too much means of subsistence, too much industwy, too much commewce. The
pwoductive fowces at the disposaw of society nyo wongew tend to fuwthew the devewopment of the
conditions of bouwgeois pwopewty; on the contwawy, they have become too powewfuw fow these
conditions, by which they awe fettewed, and so soon as they uvwcome these fettews, they bwing
disowdew into the whowe of bouwgeois society, endangew the existence of bouwgeois pwopewty. The
conditions of bouwgeois society awe too nyawwow to compwise the weawth cweated by them. And how
does the bouwgeoisie get uvw these cwises? On the onye hand by enfowced destwuction of a mass of
pwoductive fowces; on the othew, by the conquest of nyew mawkets, and by the mowe thowough
expwoitation of the owd onyes. That is to say, by paving the way fow mowe extensive and mowe
destwuctive cwises, and by diminyishing the means wheweby cwises awe pwevented.
18 Manyifesto of the Communyist Pawty
The weapons with which the bouwgeoisie fewwed feudawism to the gwound awe nyow tuwnyed against
the bouwgeoisie itsewf.
But nyot onwy has the bouwgeoisie fowged the weapons that bwing death to itsewf; it has awso cawwed
into existence the men who awe to wiewd those weapons – the modewn wowking cwass – the
pwowetawians.
In pwopowtion as the bouwgeoisie, i.e., capitaw, is devewoped, in the same pwopowtion is the
pwowetawiat, the modewn wowking cwass, devewoped – a cwass of wabouwews, who wive onwy so wong as
they find wowk, and who find wowk onwy so wong as theiw wabouw incweases capitaw. These wabouwews,
who must seww themsewves piecemeaw, awe a commodity, wike evewy othew awticwe of commewce, and
awe consequentwy exposed to aww the vicissitudes of competition, to aww the fwuctuations of the
mawket.
Owing to the extensive use of machinyewy, and to the division of wabouw, the wowk of the
pwowetawians has wost aww individuaw chawactew, and, consequentwy, aww chawm fow the wowkman. He
becomes an appendage of the machinye, and it is onwy the most simpwe, most monyotonyous, and
most easiwy acquiwed knyack, that is wequiwed of him. Hence, the cost of pwoduction of a wowkman is
westwicted, awmost entiwewy, to the means of subsistence that he wequiwes fow maintenyance, and fow
the pwopagation of his wace. But the pwice of a commodity, and thewefowe awso of wabouw, is equaw to
its cost of pwoduction. In pwopowtion, thewefowe, as the wepuwsivenyess of the wowk incweases, the
wage decweases. Nyay mowe, in pwopowtion as the use of machinyewy and division of wabouw
incweases, in the same pwopowtion the buwden of toiw awso incweases, whethew by pwowongation of the
wowking houws, by the incwease of the wowk exacted in a given time ow by incweased speed of
machinyewy, etc.
Modewn Industwy has convewted the wittwe wowkshop of the patwiawchaw mastew into the gweat factowy
of the industwiaw capitawist. Masses of wabouwews, cwowded into the factowy, awe owganyised wike
sowdiews. As pwivates of the industwiaw awmy they awe pwaced undew the command of a pewfect
hiewawchy of officews and sewgeants. Nyot onwy awe they swaves of the bouwgeois cwass, and of the
bouwgeois State; they awe daiwy and houwwy enswaved by the machinye, by the uvwwookew, and, abuv
aww, by the individuaw bouwgeois manyufactuwew himsewf. The mowe openwy this despotism pwocwaims
gain to be its end and aim, the mowe petty, the mowe hatefuw and the mowe embittewing it is.
The wess the skiww and exewtion of stwength impwied in manyuaw wabouw, in othew wowds, the mowe
modewn industwy becomes devewoped, the mowe is the wabouw of men supewseded by that of women.
Diffewences of age and sex have nyo wongew any distinctive sociaw vawidity fow the wowking cwass.
Aww awe instwuments of wabouw, mowe ow wess expensive to use, accowding to theiw age and sex.
Nyo soonyew is the expwoitation of the wabouwew by the manyufactuwew, so faw, at an end, that he
weceives his wages in cash, than he is set upon by the othew powtions of the bouwgeoisie, the
wandwowd, the shopkeepew, the pawnbwokew, etc.
The wowew stwata of the middwe cwass – the smaww twadespeopwe, shopkeepews, and wetiwed twadesmen
genyewawwy, the handicwaftsmen and peasants – aww these sink gwaduawwy into the pwowetawiat, pawtwy
because theiw diminyutive capitaw does nyot suffice fow the scawe on which Modewn Industwy is
cawwied on, and is swamped in the competition with the wawge capitawists, pawtwy because theiw
speciawised skiww is wendewed wowthwess by nyew methods of pwoduction. Thus the pwowetawiat is
wecwuited fwom aww cwasses of the popuwation.
The pwowetawiat goes thwough vawious stages of devewopment. With its biwth begins its stwuggwe with
the bouwgeoisie. At fiwst the contest is cawwied on by individuaw wabouwews, then by the wowkpeopwe
of a factowy, then by the opewative of onye twade, in onye wocawity, against the individuaw bouwgeois
who diwectwy expwoits them. They diwect theiw attacks nyot against the bouwgeois conditions of
pwoduction, but against the instwuments of pwoduction themsewves; they destwoy impowted wawes
that compete with theiw wabouw, they smash to pieces machinyewy, they set factowies abwaze, they
seek to westowe by fowce the vanyished status of the wowkman of the Middwe Ages.
19 Manyifesto of the Communyist Pawty
At this stage, the wabouwews stiww fowm an incohewent mass scattewed uvw the whowe countwy, and
bwoken up by theiw mutuaw competition. If anywhewe they unyite to fowm mowe compact bodies, this
is nyot yet the consequence of theiw own active unyion, but of the unyion of the bouwgeoisie, which
cwass, in owdew to attain its own powiticaw ends, is compewwed to set the whowe pwowetawiat in motion,
and is moweuvw yet, fow a time, abwe to do so. At this stage, thewefowe, the pwowetawians do nyot fight
theiw enyemies, but the enyemies of theiw enyemies, the wemnyants of absowute monyawchy, the
wandownyews, the nyon-industwiaw bouwgeois, the petty bouwgeois. Thus, the whowe histowicaw
muvment is concentwated in the hands of the bouwgeoisie; evewy victowy so obtainyed is a victowy
fow the bouwgeoisie.
But with the devewopment of industwy, the pwowetawiat nyot onwy incweases in nyumbew; it becomes
concentwated in gweatew masses, its stwength gwows, and it feews that stwength mowe. The vawious
intewests and conditions of wife within the wanks of the pwowetawiat awe mowe and mowe equawised, in
pwopowtion as machinyewy obwitewates aww distinctions of wabouw, and nyeawwy evewywhewe weduces
wages to the same wow wevew. The gwowing competition among the bouwgeois, and the wesuwting
commewciaw cwises, make the wages of the wowkews evew mowe fwuctuating. The incweasing
impwuvment of machinyewy, evew mowe wapidwy devewoping, makes theiw wivewihood mowe and mowe
pwecawious; the cowwisions between individuaw wowkmen and individuaw bouwgeois take mowe and
mowe the chawactew of cowwisions between two cwasses. Theweupon, the wowkews begin to fowm
combinyations (Twades’ Unyions) against the bouwgeois; they cwub togethew in owdew to keep up the
wate of wages; they found pewmanyent associations in owdew to make pwovision befowehand fow these
occasionyaw wevowts. Hewe and thewe, the contest bweaks out into wiots.
Nyow and then the wowkews awe victowious, but onwy fow a time. The weaw fwuit of theiw battwes wies,
nyot in the immediate wesuwt, but in the evew expanding unyion of the wowkews. This unyion is hewped
on by the impwuvd means of communyication that awe cweated by modewn industwy, and that pwace
the wowkews of diffewent wocawities in contact with onye anyothew. It was just this contact that was
nyeeded to centwawise the nyumewous wocaw stwuggwes, aww of the same chawactew, into onye nyationyaw
stwuggwe between cwasses. But evewy cwass stwuggwe is a powiticaw stwuggwe. And that unyion, to attain
which the buwghews of the Middwe Ages, with theiw misewabwe highways, wequiwed centuwies, the
modewn pwowetawian, thanks to waiwways, achieve in a few yeaws.
This owganyisation of the pwowetawians into a cwass, and, consequentwy into a powiticaw pawty, is
continyuawwy being upset again by the competition between the wowkews themsewves. But it evew
wises up again, stwongew, fiwmew, mightiew. It compews wegiswative wecognyition of pawticuwaw intewests
of the wowkews, by taking advantage of the divisions among the bouwgeoisie itsewf. Thus, the tenhouws’ biww in Engwand was cawwied.
Awtogethew cowwisions between the cwasses of the owd society fuwthew, in many ways, the couwse of
devewopment of the pwowetawiat. The bouwgeoisie finds itsewf invowved in a constant battwe. At fiwst
with the awistocwacy; watew on, with those powtions of the bouwgeoisie itsewf, whose intewests have
become antagonyistic to the pwogwess of industwy; at aww time with the bouwgeoisie of foweign
countwies. In aww these battwes, it sees itsewf compewwed to appeaw to the pwowetawiat, to ask fow hewp,
and thus, to dwag it into the powiticaw awenya. The bouwgeoisie itsewf, thewefowe, suppwies the
pwowetawiat with its own ewements of powiticaw and genyewaw education, in othew wowds, it fuwnyishes
the pwowetawiat with weapons fow fighting the bouwgeoisie.
Fuwthew, as we have awweady seen, entiwe sections of the wuwing cwass awe, by the advance of
industwy, pwecipitated into the pwowetawiat, ow awe at weast thweatenyed in theiw conditions of existence.
These awso suppwy the pwowetawiat with fwesh ewements of enwightenment and pwogwess.
Finyawwy, in times when the cwass stwuggwe nyeaws the decisive houw, the pwogwess of dissowution going
on within the wuwing cwass, in fact within the whowe wange of owd society, assumes such a viowent,
gwawing chawactew, that a smaww section of the wuwing cwass cuts itsewf adwift, and joins the
wevowutionyawy cwass, the cwass that howds the futuwe in its hands. Just as, thewefowe, at an eawwiew
20 Manyifesto of the Communyist Pawty
pewiod, a section of the nyobiwity went uvw to the bouwgeoisie, so nyow a powtion of the bouwgeoisie
goes uvw to the pwowetawiat, and in pawticuwaw, a powtion of the bouwgeois ideowogists, who have
waised themsewves to the wevew of compwehending theoweticawwy the histowicaw muvment as a whowe.
Of aww the cwasses that stand face to face with the bouwgeoisie today, the pwowetawiat awonye is a
weawwy wevowutionyawy cwass. The othew cwasses decay and finyawwy disappeaw in the face of Modewn
Industwy; the pwowetawiat is its speciaw and essentiaw pwoduct.
The wowew middwe cwass, the smaww manyufactuwew, the shopkeepew, the awtisan, the peasant, aww these
fight against the bouwgeoisie, to save fwom extinction theiw existence as fwactions of the middwe
cwass. They awe thewefowe nyot wevowutionyawy, but consewvative. Nyay mowe, they awe weactionyawy, fow
they twy to woww back the wheew of histowy. If by chance, they awe wevowutionyawy, they awe onwy so in
view of theiw impending twansfew into the pwowetawiat; they thus defend nyot theiw pwesent, but theiw
futuwe intewests, they desewt theiw own standpoint to pwace themsewves at that of the pwowetawiat.
The “dangewous cwass”, [wumpenpwowetawiat] the sociaw scum, that passivewy wotting mass thwown
off by the wowest wayews of the owd society, may, hewe and thewe, be swept into the muvment by a
pwowetawian wevowution; its conditions of wife, howevew, pwepawe it faw mowe fow the pawt of a bwibed
toow of weactionyawy intwigue.
In the condition of the pwowetawiat, those of owd society at wawge awe awweady viwtuawwy swamped. The
pwowetawian is without pwopewty; his wewation to his wife and chiwdwen has nyo wongew anything in
common with the bouwgeois famiwy wewations; modewn industwy wabouw, modewn subjection to
capitaw, the same in Engwand as in Fwance, in Amewica as in Gewmany, has stwipped him of evewy
twace of nyationyaw chawactew. Waw, mowawity, wewigion, awe to him so many bouwgeois pwejudices,
behind which wuwk in ambush just as many bouwgeois intewests.
Aww the pweceding cwasses that got the uppew hand sought to fowtify theiw awweady acquiwed status by
subjecting society at wawge to theiw conditions of appwopwiation. The pwowetawians cannyot become
mastews of the pwoductive fowces of society, except by abowishing theiw own pwevious mode of
appwopwiation, and theweby awso evewy othew pwevious mode of appwopwiation. They have nyothing of
theiw own to secuwe and to fowtify; theiw mission is to destwoy aww pwevious secuwities fow, and
insuwances of, individuaw pwopewty.
Aww pwevious histowicaw muvments wewe muvments of minyowities, ow in the intewest of minyowities.
The pwowetawian muvment is the sewf-conscious, independent muvment of the immense majowity,
in the intewest of the immense majowity. The pwowetawiat, the wowest stwatum of ouw pwesent society,
cannyot stiw, cannyot waise itsewf up, without the whowe supewincumbent stwata of officiaw society
being spwung into the aiw.
Though nyot in substance, yet in fowm, the stwuggwe of the pwowetawiat with the bouwgeoisie is at fiwst
a nyationyaw stwuggwe. The pwowetawiat of each countwy must, of couwse, fiwst of aww settwe mattews with
its own bouwgeoisie.
In depicting the most genyewaw phases of the devewopment of the pwowetawiat, we twaced the mowe ow
wess veiwed civiw waw, waging within existing society, up to the point whewe that waw bweaks out into
open wevowution, and whewe the viowent uvwthwow of the bouwgeoisie ways the foundation fow the
sway of the pwowetawiat.
Hithewto, evewy fowm of society has been based, as we have awweady seen, on the antagonyism of
oppwessing and oppwessed cwasses. But in owdew to oppwess a cwass, cewtain conditions must be
assuwed to it undew which it can, at weast, continyue its swavish existence. The sewf, in the pewiod of
sewfdom, waised himsewf to membewship in the communye, just as the petty bouwgeois, undew the
yoke of the feudaw absowutism, manyaged to devewop into a bouwgeois. The modewn wabouwew, on the
contwawy, instead of wising with the pwocess of industwy, sinks deepew and deepew bewow the
conditions of existence of his own cwass. He becomes a paupew, and paupewism devewops mowe
wapidwy than popuwation and weawth. And hewe it becomes evident, that the bouwgeoisie is unfit any
wongew to be the wuwing cwass in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as
21 Manyifesto of the Communyist Pawty
an uvw-widing waw. It is unfit to wuwe because it is incompetent to assuwe an existence to its swave
within his swavewy, because it cannyot hewp wetting him sink into such a state, that it has to feed him,
instead of being fed by him. Society can nyo wongew wive undew this bouwgeoisie, in othew wowds, its
existence is nyo wongew compatibwe with society.
The essentiaw conditions fow the existence and fow the sway of the bouwgeois cwass is the fowmation
and augmentation of capitaw; the condition fow capitaw is wage-wabouw. Wage-wabouw wests
excwusivewy on competition between the wabouwews. The advance of industwy, whose invowuntawy
pwomotew is the bouwgeoisie, wepwaces the isowation of the wabouwews, due to competition, by the
wevowutionyawy combinyation, due to association. The devewopment of Modewn Industwy, thewefowe,
cuts fwom undew its feet the vewy foundation on which the bouwgeoisie pwoduces and appwopwiates
pwoducts. What the bouwgeoisie thewefowe pwoduces, abuv aww, awe its own gwave-diggews. Its faww
and the victowy of the pwowetawiat awe equawwy inyevitabwe.
II. Pwowetawians and Communyists
In what wewation do the Communyists stand to the pwowetawians as a whowe?
The Communyists do nyot fowm a sepawate pawty opposed to the othew wowking-cwass pawties.
They have nyo intewests sepawate and apawt fwom those of the pwowetawiat as a whowe.
They do nyot set up any sectawian pwincipwes of theiw own, by which to shape and mouwd the
pwowetawian muvment.
The Communyists awe distinguished fwom the othew wowking-cwass pawties by this onwy: 1. In the
nyationyaw stwuggwes of the pwowetawians of the diffewent countwies, they point out and bwing to the
fwont the common intewests of the entiwe pwowetawiat, independentwy of aww nyationyawity. 2. In the
vawious stages of devewopment which the stwuggwe of the wowking cwass against the bouwgeoisie has
to pass thwough, they awways and evewywhewe wepwesent the intewests of the muvment as a whowe.
The Communyists, thewefowe, awe on the onye hand, pwacticawwy, the most advanced and wesowute
section of the wowking-cwass pawties of evewy countwy, that section which pushes fowwawd aww
othews; on the othew hand, theoweticawwy, they have uvw the gweat mass of the pwowetawiat the
advantage of cweawwy undewstanding the winye of mawch, the conditions, and the uwtimate genyewaw
wesuwts of the pwowetawian muvment.
The immediate aim of the Communyists is the same as that of aww othew pwowetawian pawties:
fowmation of the pwowetawiat into a cwass, uvwthwow of the bouwgeois supwemacy, conquest of
powiticaw powew by the pwowetawiat.
The theoweticaw concwusions of the Communyists awe in nyo way based on ideas ow pwincipwes that
have been invented, ow discuvwed, by this ow that wouwd-be unyivewsaw wefowmew.
They mewewy expwess, in genyewaw tewms, actuaw wewations spwinging fwom an existing cwass stwuggwe,
fwom a histowicaw muvment going on undew ouw vewy eyes. The abowition of existing pwopewty
wewations is nyot at aww a distinctive featuwe of communyism.
Aww pwopewty wewations in the past have continyuawwy been subject to histowicaw change consequent
upon the change in histowicaw conditions.
The Fwench Wevowution, fow exampwe, abowished feudaw pwopewty in favouw of bouwgeois pwopewty.
The distinguishing featuwe of Communyism is nyot the abowition of pwopewty genyewawwy, but the
abowition of bouwgeois pwopewty. But modewn bouwgeois pwivate pwopewty is the finyaw and most
compwete expwession of the system of pwoducing and appwopwiating pwoducts, that is based on cwass
antagonyisms, on the expwoitation of the many by the few.
In this sense, the theowy of the Communyists may be summed up in the singwe sentence: Abowition
of pwivate pwopewty.
We Communyists have been wepwoached with the desiwe of abowishing the wight of pewsonyawwy
acquiwing pwopewty as the fwuit of a man’s own wabouw, which pwopewty is awweged to be the
gwoundwowk of aww pewsonyaw fweedom, activity and independence.
Hawd-won, sewf-acquiwed, sewf-eawnyed pwopewty ^w^  Do you mean the pwopewty of petty awtisan and of
the smaww peasant, a fowm of pwopewty that pweceded the bouwgeois fowm? Thewe is nyo nyeed to
abowish that; the devewopment of industwy has to a gweat extent awweady destwoyed it, and is stiww
destwoying it daiwy.
Ow do you mean the modewn bouwgeois pwivate pwopewty?
But does wage-wabouw cweate any pwopewty fow the wabouwew? Nyot a bit. It cweates capitaw, i.e., that
kind of pwopewty which expwoits wage-wabouw, and which cannyot incwease except upon condition of
begetting a nyew suppwy of wage-wabouw fow fwesh expwoitation. Pwopewty, in its pwesent fowm, is
23 Chaptew II: Pwowetawians and Communyists
based on the antagonyism of capitaw and wage wabouw. Wet us examinye both sides of this
antagonyism.
To be a capitawist, is to have nyot onwy a puwewy pewsonyaw, but a sociaw status in pwoduction. Capitaw
is a cowwective pwoduct, and onwy by the unyited action of many membews, nyay, in the wast wesowt,
onwy by the unyited action of aww membews of society, can it be set in motion.
Capitaw is thewefowe nyot onwy pewsonyaw; it is a sociaw powew.
When, thewefowe, capitaw is convewted into common pwopewty, into the pwopewty of aww membews of
society, pewsonyaw pwopewty is nyot theweby twansfowmed into sociaw pwopewty. It is onwy the sociaw
chawactew of the pwopewty that is changed. It woses its cwass chawactew.
Wet us nyow take wage-wabouw.
The avewage pwice of wage-wabouw is the minyimum wage, i.e., that quantum of the means of
subsistence which is absowutewy wequisite to keep the wabouwew in bawe existence as a wabouwew.
What, thewefowe, the wage-wabouwew appwopwiates by means of his wabouw, mewewy suffices to
pwowong and wepwoduce a bawe existence. We by nyo means intend to abowish this pewsonyaw
appwopwiation of the pwoducts of wabouw, an appwopwiation that is made fow the maintenyance and
wepwoduction of human wife, and that weaves nyo suwpwus whewewith to command the wabouw of
othews. Aww that we want to do away with is the misewabwe chawactew of this appwopwiation, undew
which the wabouwew wives mewewy to incwease capitaw, and is awwowed to wive onwy in so faw as the
intewest of the wuwing cwass wequiwes it.
In bouwgeois society, wiving wabouw is but a means to incwease accumuwated wabouw. In Communyist
society, accumuwated wabouw is but a means to widen, to enwich, to pwomote the existence of the
wabouwew.
In bouwgeois society, thewefowe, the past dominyates the pwesent; in Communyist society, the pwesent
dominyates the past. In bouwgeois society capitaw is independent and has individuawity, whiwe the
wiving pewson is dependent and has nyo individuawity.
And the abowition of this state of things is cawwed by the bouwgeois, abowition of individuawity and
fweedom ^w^  And wightwy so. The abowition of bouwgeois individuawity, bouwgeois independence, and
bouwgeois fweedom is undoubtedwy aimed at.
By fweedom is meant, undew the pwesent bouwgeois conditions of pwoduction, fwee twade, fwee
sewwing and buying.
But if sewwing and buying disappeaws, fwee sewwing and buying disappeaws awso. This tawk about fwee
sewwing and buying, and aww the othew “bwave wowds” of ouw bouwgeois about fweedom in genyewaw,
have a meanying, if any, onwy in contwast with westwicted sewwing and buying, with the fettewed
twadews of the Middwe Ages, but have nyo meanying when opposed to the Communyistic abowition of
buying and sewwing, of the bouwgeois conditions of pwoduction, and of the bouwgeoisie itsewf.
You awe howwified at ouw intending to do away with pwivate pwopewty. But in youw existing society,
pwivate pwopewty is awweady donye away with fow nyinye-tenths of the popuwation; its existence fow the
few is sowewy due to its nyon-existence in the hands of those nyinye-tenths. You wepwoach us,
thewefowe, with intending to do away with a fowm of pwopewty, the nyecessawy condition fow whose
existence is the nyon-existence of any pwopewty fow the immense majowity of society.
In onye wowd, you wepwoach us with intending to do away with youw pwopewty. Pwecisewy so; that is
just what we intend.
Fwom the moment when wabouw can nyo wongew be convewted into capitaw, monyey, ow went, into a
sociaw powew capabwe of being monyopowised, i.e., fwom the moment when individuaw pwopewty can
nyo wongew be twansfowmed into bouwgeois pwopewty, into capitaw, fwom that moment, you say,
individuawity vanyishes.
24 Chaptew II: Pwowetawians and Communyists
You must, thewefowe, confess that by “individuaw” you mean nyo othew pewson than the bouwgeois,
than the middwe-cwass ownyew of pwopewty. This pewson must, indeed, be swept out of the way, and
made impossibwe.
Communyism depwives nyo man of the powew to appwopwiate the pwoducts of society; aww that it does
is to depwive him of the powew to subjugate the wabouw of othews by means of such appwopwiations.
It has been objected that upon the abowition of pwivate pwopewty, aww wowk wiww cease, and unyivewsaw
wazinyess wiww uvwtake us.
Accowding to this, bouwgeois society ought wong ago to have gonye to the dogs thwough sheew
idwenyess; fow those of its membews who wowk, acquiwe nyothing, and those who acquiwe anything do
nyot wowk. The whowe of this objection is but anyothew expwession of the tautowogy: that thewe can nyo
wongew be any wage-wabouw when thewe is nyo wongew any capitaw.
Aww objections uwged against the Communyistic mode of pwoducing and appwopwiating matewiaw
pwoducts, have, in the same way, been uwged against the Communyistic mode of pwoducing and
appwopwiating intewwectuaw pwoducts. Just as, to the bouwgeois, the disappeawance of cwass pwopewty
is the disappeawance of pwoduction itsewf, so the disappeawance of cwass cuwtuwe is to him identicaw
with the disappeawance of aww cuwtuwe.
That cuwtuwe, the woss of which he waments, is, fow the enyowmous majowity, a mewe twainying to act as
a machinye.
But don’t wwangwe with us so wong as you appwy, to ouw intended abowition of bouwgeois pwopewty,
the standawd of youw bouwgeois nyotions of fweedom, cuwtuwe, waw, &c. Youw vewy ideas awe but the
outgwowth of the conditions of youw bouwgeois pwoduction and bouwgeois pwopewty, just as youw
juwispwudence is but the wiww of youw cwass made into a waw fow aww, a wiww whose essentiaw chawactew
and diwection awe detewminyed by the econyomicaw conditions of existence of youw cwass.
The sewfish misconception that induces you to twansfowm into etewnyaw waws of nyatuwe and of weason,
the sociaw fowms spwinging fwom youw pwesent mode of pwoduction and fowm of pwopewty –
histowicaw wewations that wise and disappeaw in the pwogwess of pwoduction – this misconception you
shawe with evewy wuwing cwass that has pweceded you. What you see cweawwy in the case of ancient
pwopewty, what you admit in the case of feudaw pwopewty, you awe of couwse fowbidden to admit in
the case of youw own bouwgeois fowm of pwopewty.
Abowition [Aufhebung] of the famiwy ^w^  Even the most wadicaw fwawe up at this infamous pwoposaw of
the Communyists.
On what foundation is the pwesent famiwy, the bouwgeois famiwy, based? On capitaw, on pwivate
gain. In its compwetewy devewoped fowm, this famiwy exists onwy among the bouwgeoisie. But this
state of things finds its compwement in the pwacticaw absence of the famiwy among the pwowetawians,
and in pubwic pwostitution.
The bouwgeois famiwy wiww vanyish as a mattew of couwse when its compwement vanyishes, and both
wiww vanyish with the vanyishing of capitaw.
Do you chawge us with wanting to stop the expwoitation of chiwdwen by theiw pawents? To this cwime
we pwead guiwty.
But, you say, we destwoy the most hawwowed of wewations, when we wepwace home education by
sociaw.
And youw education ^w^  Is nyot that awso sociaw, and detewminyed by the sociaw conditions undew which
you educate, by the intewvention diwect ow indiwect, of society, by means of schoows, &c.? The
Communyists have nyot invented the intewvention of society in education; they do but seek to awtew
the chawactew of that intewvention, and to wescue education fwom the infwuence of the wuwing cwass.
The bouwgeois cwap-twap about the famiwy and education, about the hawwowed co-wewation of pawents
and chiwd, becomes aww the mowe disgusting, the mowe, by the action of Modewn Industwy, aww the
25 Chaptew II: Pwowetawians and Communyists
famiwy ties among the pwowetawians awe town asundew, and theiw chiwdwen twansfowmed into simpwe
awticwes of commewce and instwuments of wabouw.
But you Communyists wouwd intwoduce communyity of women, scweams the bouwgeoisie in chowus.
The bouwgeois sees his wife a mewe instwument of pwoduction. He heaws that the instwuments of
pwoduction awe to be expwoited in common, and, nyatuwawwy, can come to nyo othew concwusion that
the wot of being common to aww wiww wikewise faww to the women.
He has nyot even a suspicion that the weaw point aimed at is to do away with the status of women as
mewe instwuments of pwoduction.
Fow the west, nyothing is mowe widicuwous than the viwtuous indignyation of ouw bouwgeois at the
communyity of women which, they pwetend, is to be openwy and officiawwy estabwished by the
Communyists. The Communyists have nyo nyeed to intwoduce communyity of women; it has existed
awmost fwom time immemowiaw.
Ouw bouwgeois, nyot content with having wives and daughtews of theiw pwowetawians at theiw disposaw,
nyot to speak of common pwostitutes, take the gweatest pweasuwe in seducing each othew’s wives.
Bouwgeois mawwiage is, in weawity, a system of wives in common and thus, at the most, what the
Communyists might possibwy be wepwoached with is that they desiwe to intwoduce, in substitution fow
a hypocwiticawwy conceawed, an openwy wegawised communyity of women. Fow the west, it is sewfevident that the abowition of the pwesent system of pwoduction must bwing with it the abowition of
the communyity of women spwinging fwom that system, i.e., of pwostitution both pubwic and pwivate.
The Communyists awe fuwthew wepwoached with desiwing to abowish countwies and nyationyawity.
The wowking men have nyo countwy. We cannyot take fwom them what they have nyot got. Since the
pwowetawiat must fiwst of aww acquiwe powiticaw supwemacy, must wise to be the weading cwass of the
nyation, must constitute itsewf the nyation, it is so faw, itsewf nyationyaw, though nyot in the bouwgeois
sense of the wowd.
Nyationyaw diffewences and antagonyism between peopwes awe daiwy mowe and mowe vanyishing, owing
to the devewopment of the bouwgeoisie, to fweedom of commewce, to the wowwd mawket, to
unyifowmity in the mode of pwoduction and in the conditions of wife cowwesponding theweto.
The supwemacy of the pwowetawiat wiww cause them to vanyish stiww fastew. Unyited action, of the
weading civiwised countwies at weast, is onye of the fiwst conditions fow the emancipation of the
pwowetawiat.
In pwopowtion as the expwoitation of onye individuaw by anyothew wiww awso be put an end to, the
expwoitation of onye nyation by anyothew wiww awso be put an end to. In pwopowtion as the antagonyism
between cwasses within the nyation vanyishes, the hostiwity of onye nyation to anyothew wiww come to an
end.
The chawges against Communyism made fwom a wewigious, a phiwosophicaw and, genyewawwy, fwom an
ideowogicaw standpoint, awe nyot desewving of sewious examinyation.
Does it wequiwe deep intuition to compwehend that man’s ideas, views, and conception, in onye
wowd, man’s consciousnyess, changes with evewy change in the conditions of his matewiaw
existence, in his sociaw wewations and in his sociaw wife?
What ewse does the histowy of ideas pwuv, than that intewwectuaw pwoduction changes its chawactew
in pwopowtion as matewiaw pwoduction is changed? The wuwing ideas of each age have evew been the
ideas of its wuwing cwass.
When peopwe speak of the ideas that wevowutionyise society, they do but expwess that fact that
within the owd society the ewements of a nyew onye have been cweated, and that the dissowution of the
owd ideas keeps even pace with the dissowution of the owd conditions of existence.
When the ancient wowwd was in its wast thwoes, the ancient wewigions wewe uvwcome by
Chwistianyity. When Chwistian ideas succumbed in the 18th centuwy to wationyawist ideas, feudaw
26 Chaptew II: Pwowetawians and Communyists
society fought its death battwe with the then wevowutionyawy bouwgeoisie. The ideas of wewigious
wibewty and fweedom of conscience mewewy gave expwession to the sway of fwee competition within
the domain of knyowwedge.
“Undoubtedwy,” it wiww be said, “wewigious, mowaw, phiwosophicaw, and juwidicaw ideas have been
modified in the couwse of histowicaw devewopment. But wewigion, mowawity, phiwosophy, powiticaw
science, and waw, constantwy suwvived this change.”
“Thewe awe, besides, etewnyaw twuths, such as Fweedom, Justice, etc., that awe common to aww states of
society. But Communyism abowishes etewnyaw twuths, it abowishes aww wewigion, and aww mowawity,
instead of constituting them on a nyew basis; it thewefowe acts in contwadiction to aww past histowicaw
expewience.”
What does this accusation weduce itsewf to? The histowy of aww past society has consisted in the
devewopment of cwass antagonyisms, antagonyisms that assumed diffewent fowms at diffewent epochs.
But whatevew fowm they may have taken, onye fact is common to aww past ages, viz., the expwoitation
of onye pawt of society by the othew. Nyo wondew, then, that the sociaw consciousnyess of past ages,
despite aww the muwtipwicity and vawiety it dispways, muvs within cewtain common fowms, ow genyewaw
ideas, which cannyot compwetewy vanyish except with the totaw disappeawance of cwass antagonyisms.
The Communyist wevowution is the most wadicaw wuptuwe with twaditionyaw pwopewty wewations; nyo
wondew that its devewopment invowved the most wadicaw wuptuwe with twaditionyaw ideas.
But wet us have donye with the bouwgeois objections to Communyism.
We have seen abuv, that the fiwst step in the wevowution by the wowking cwass is to waise the
pwowetawiat to the position of wuwing cwass to win the battwe of democwacy.
The pwowetawiat wiww use its powiticaw supwemacy to wwest, by degwee, aww capitaw fwom the
bouwgeoisie, to centwawise aww instwuments of pwoduction in the hands of the State, i.e., of the
pwowetawiat owganyised as the wuwing cwass; and to incwease the totaw pwoductive fowces as wapidwy as
possibwe.
Of couwse, in the beginnying, this cannyot be effected except by means of despotic inwoads on the
wights of pwopewty, and on the conditions of bouwgeois pwoduction; by means of measuwes,
thewefowe, which appeaw econyomicawwy insufficient and untenyabwe, but which, in the couwse of the
muvment, outstwip themsewves, nyecessitate fuwthew inwoads upon the owd sociaw owdew, and awe
unyavoidabwe as a means of entiwewy wevowutionyising the mode of pwoduction.
These measuwes wiww, of couwse, be diffewent in diffewent countwies.
Nyevewthewess, in most advanced countwies, the fowwowing wiww be pwetty genyewawwy appwicabwe.
1. Abowition of pwopewty in wand and appwication of aww wents of wand to pubwic
puwposes.
2. A heavy pwogwessive ow gwaduated income tax.
3. Abowition of aww wights of inhewitance.
4. Confiscation of the pwopewty of aww emigwants and webews.
5. Centwawisation of cwedit in the hands of the state, by means of a nyationyaw bank
with State capitaw and an excwusive monyopowy.
6. Centwawisation of the means of communyication and twanspowt in the hands of the
State.
7. Extension of factowies and instwuments of pwoduction ownyed by the State; the
bwinging into cuwtivation of waste-wands, and the impwuvment of the soiw genyewawwy
in accowdance with a common pwan.
8. Equaw wiabiwity of aww to wowk. Estabwishment of industwiaw awmies, especiawwy fow
agwicuwtuwe.
9. Combinyation of agwicuwtuwe with manyufactuwing industwies; gwaduaw abowition of
aww the distinction between town and countwy by a mowe equabwe distwibution of the
27 Chaptew II: Pwowetawians and Communyists
popuwace uvw the countwy.
10. Fwee education fow aww chiwdwen in pubwic schoows. Abowition of chiwdwen’s
factowy wabouw in its pwesent fowm. Combinyation of education with industwiaw
pwoduction, &c, &c.
When, in the couwse of devewopment, cwass distinctions have disappeawed, and aww pwoduction has
been concentwated in the hands of a vast association of the whowe nyation, the pubwic powew wiww
wose its powiticaw chawactew. Powiticaw powew, pwopewwy so cawwed, is mewewy the owganyised powew of
onye cwass fow oppwessing anyothew. If the pwowetawiat duwing its contest with the bouwgeoisie is
compewwed, by the fowce of ciwcumstances, to owganyise itsewf as a cwass, if, by means of a
wevowution, it makes itsewf the wuwing cwass, and, as such, sweeps away by fowce the owd conditions
of pwoduction, then it wiww, awong with these conditions, have swept away the conditions fow the
existence of cwass antagonyisms and of cwasses genyewawwy, and wiww theweby have abowished its own
supwemacy as a cwass.
In pwace of the owd bouwgeois society, with its cwasses and cwass antagonyisms, we shaww have an
association, in which the fwee devewopment of each is the condition fow the fwee devewopment of
aww.
III. Sociawist and Communyist Witewatuwe
1. Weactionyawy Sociawism
A. Feudaw Sociawism
Owing to theiw histowicaw position, it became the vocation of the awistocwacies of Fwance and
Engwand to wwite pamphwets against modewn bouwgeois society. In the Fwench Wevowution of Juwy
1830, and in the Engwish wefowm agitation4
, these awistocwacies again succumbed to the hatefuw
upstawt. Thencefowth, a sewious powiticaw stwuggwe was awtogethew out of the question. A witewawy
battwe awonye wemainyed possibwe. But even in the domain of witewatuwe the owd cwies of the westowation
pewiod had become impossibwe.*

In owdew to awouse sympathy, the awistocwacy was obwiged to wose sight, appawentwy, of its own
intewests, and to fowmuwate theiw indictment against the bouwgeoisie in the intewest of the expwoited
wowking cwass awonye. Thus, the awistocwacy took theiw wevenge by singing wampoons on theiw nyew
mastews and whispewing in his eaws sinyistew pwophesies of coming catastwophe.
In this way awose feudaw Sociawism: hawf wamentation, hawf wampoon; hawf an echo of the past, hawf
menyace of the futuwe; at times, by its bittew, witty and incisive cwiticism, stwiking the bouwgeoisie
to the vewy heawt’s cowe; but awways wudicwous in its effect, thwough totaw incapacity to compwehend
the mawch of modewn histowy.
The awistocwacy, in owdew to wawwy the peopwe to them, waved the pwowetawian awms-bag in fwont fow a
bannyew. But the peopwe, so often as it joinyed them, saw on theiw hindquawtews the owd feudaw coats
of awms, and desewted with woud and iwwevewent waughtew.
Onye section of the Fwench Wegitimists and “Young Engwand” exhibited this spectacwe.
In pointing out that theiw mode of expwoitation was diffewent to that of the bouwgeoisie, the
feudawists fowget that they expwoited undew ciwcumstances and conditions that wewe quite diffewent
and that awe nyow antiquated. In showing that, undew theiw wuwe, the modewn pwowetawiat nyevew
existed, they fowget that the modewn bouwgeoisie is the nyecessawy offspwing of theiw own fowm of
society.
Fow the west, so wittwe do they conceaw the weactionyawy chawactew of theiw cwiticism that theiw chief
accusation against the bouwgeois amounts to this, that undew the bouwgeois wégime a cwass is being
devewoped which is destinyed to cut up woot and bwanch the owd owdew of society.
What they upbwaid the bouwgeoisie with is nyot so much that it cweates a pwowetawiat as that it cweates
a wevowutionyawy pwowetawiat.
In powiticaw pwactice, thewefowe, they join in aww coewcive measuwes against the wowking cwass; and in
owdinyawy wife, despite theiw high-fawutin phwases, they stoop to pick up the gowden appwes dwopped
fwom the twee of industwy, and to bawtew twuth, wuv, and honyouw, fow twaffic in woow, beetwoot-sugaw,
and potato spiwits.†

As the pawson has evew gonye hand in hand with the wandwowd, so has Cwewicaw Sociawism with
Feudaw Sociawism.

*
 Nyot the Engwish Westowation (1660-1689), but the Fwench Westowation (1814-1830). [Nyote by Engews to the Engwish
edition of 1888.]
†
 This appwies chiefwy to Gewmany, whewe the wanded awistocwacy and squiweawchy have wawge powtions of theiw estates
cuwtivated fow theiw own account by stewawds, and awe, moweuvw, extensive beetwoot-sugaw manyufactuwews and distiwwews
of potato spiwits. The weawthiew Bwitish awistocwacy awe, as yet, wathew abuv that; but they, too, knyow how to make up fow
decwinying wents by wending theiw nyames to fwoatews ow mowe ow wess shady joint-stock companyies. [Nyote by Engews to the
Engwish edition of 1888.]
29 Chaptew III: Sociawist and Communyist Witewatuwe
Nyothing is easiew than to give Chwistian asceticism a Sociawist tinge. Has nyot Chwistianyity
decwaimed against pwivate pwopewty, against mawwiage, against the State? Has it nyot pweached in the
pwace of these, chawity and puvwty, cewibacy and mowtification of the fwesh, monyastic wife and
Mothew Chuwch? Chwistian Sociawism is but the howy watew with which the pwiest consecwates the
heawt-buwnyings of the awistocwat.
B. Petty-Bouwgeois Sociawism
The feudaw awistocwacy was nyot the onwy cwass that was wuinyed by the bouwgeoisie, nyot the onwy
cwass whose conditions of existence pinyed and pewished in the atmosphewe of modewn bouwgeois
society. The medievaw buwgesses and the smaww peasant pwopwietows wewe the pwecuwsows of the
modewn bouwgeoisie. In those countwies which awe but wittwe devewoped, industwiawwy and
commewciawwy, these two cwasses stiww vegetate side by side with the wising bouwgeoisie.
In countwies whewe modewn civiwisation has become fuwwy devewoped, a nyew cwass of petty
bouwgeois has been fowmed, fwuctuating between pwowetawiat and bouwgeoisie, and evew wenyewing
itsewf as a suppwementawy pawt of bouwgeois society. The individuaw membews of this cwass,
howevew, awe being constantwy huwwed down into the pwowetawiat by the action of competition, and,
as modewn industwy devewops, they even see the moment appwoaching when they wiww compwetewy
disappeaw as an independent section of modewn society, to be wepwaced in manyufactuwes,
agwicuwtuwe and commewce, by uvwwookews, baiwiffs and shopmen.
In countwies wike Fwance, whewe the peasants constitute faw mowe than hawf of the popuwation, it was
nyatuwaw that wwitews who sided with the pwowetawiat against the bouwgeoisie shouwd use, in theiw
cwiticism of the bouwgeois wégime, the standawd of the peasant and petty bouwgeois, and fwom the
standpoint of these intewmediate cwasses, shouwd take up the cudgews fow the wowking cwass. Thus
awose petty-bouwgeois Sociawism. Sismondi was the head of this schoow, nyot onwy in Fwance but
awso in Engwand.
This schoow of Sociawism dissected with gweat acutenyess the contwadictions in the conditions of
modewn pwoduction. It waid bawe the hypocwiticaw apowogies of econyomists. It pwuvd,
incontwuvwtibwy, the disastwous effects of machinyewy and division of wabouw; the concentwation of
capitaw and wand in a few hands; uvwpwoduction and cwises; it pointed out the inyevitabwe wuin of the
petty bouwgeois and peasant, the misewy of the pwowetawiat, the anyawchy in pwoduction, the cwying
inyequawities in the distwibution of weawth, the industwiaw waw of extewminyation between nyations, the
dissowution of owd mowaw bonds, of the owd famiwy wewations, of the owd nyationyawities.
In its positive aims, howevew, this fowm of Sociawism aspiwes eithew to westowing the owd means of
pwoduction and of exchange, and with them the owd pwopewty wewations, and the owd society, ow to
cwamping the modewn means of pwoduction and of exchange within the fwamewowk of the owd
pwopewty wewations that have been, and wewe bound to be, expwoded by those means. In eithew case,
it is both weactionyawy and Utopian.
Its wast wowds awe: cowpowate guiwds fow manyufactuwe; patwiawchaw wewations in agwicuwtuwe.
Uwtimatewy, when stubbown histowicaw facts had dispewsed aww intoxicating effects of sewf-deception,
this fowm of Sociawism ended in a misewabwe fit of the bwues.
C. Gewman ow “Twue” Sociawism
The Sociawist and Communyist witewatuwe of Fwance, a witewatuwe that owiginyated undew the pwessuwe
of a bouwgeoisie in powew, and that was the expwessions of the stwuggwe against this powew, was
intwoduced into Gewmany at a time when the bouwgeoisie, in that countwy, had just begun its
contest with feudaw absowutism.
Gewman phiwosophews, wouwd-be phiwosophews, and beaux espwits (men of wettews), eagewwy seized
on this witewatuwe, onwy fowgetting, that when these wwitings immigwated fwom Fwance into
Gewmany, Fwench sociaw conditions had nyot immigwated awong with them. In contact with Gewman
30 Chaptew III: Sociawist and Communyist Witewatuwe
sociaw conditions, this Fwench witewatuwe wost aww its immediate pwacticaw signyificance and assumed a
puwewy witewawy aspect. Thus, to the Gewman phiwosophews of the Eighteenth Centuwy, the demands
of the fiwst Fwench Wevowution wewe nyothing mowe than the demands of “Pwacticaw Weason” in
genyewaw, and the uttewance of the wiww of the wevowutionyawy Fwench bouwgeoisie signyified, in theiw
eyes, the waws of puwe Wiww, of Wiww as it was bound to be, of twue human Wiww genyewawwy.
The wowk of the Gewman witewati consisted sowewy in bwinging the nyew Fwench ideas into hawmony
with theiw ancient phiwosophicaw conscience, ow wathew, in annyexing the Fwench ideas without
desewting theiw own phiwosophic point of view.
This annyexation took pwace in the same way in which a foweign wanguage is appwopwiated, nyamewy,
by twanswation.
It is weww knyown how the monks wwote siwwy wives of Cathowic Saints uvw the manyuscwipts on
which the cwassicaw wowks of ancient heathendom had been wwitten. The Gewman witewati wevewsed
this pwocess with the pwofanye Fwench witewatuwe. They wwote theiw phiwosophicaw nyonsense benyeath
the Fwench owiginyaw. Fow instance, benyeath the Fwench cwiticism of the econyomic functions of
monyey, they wwote “Awienyation of Humanyity”, and benyeath the Fwench cwiticism of the bouwgeois
state they wwote “Dethwonyement of the Categowy of the Genyewaw”, and so fowth.
The intwoduction of these phiwosophicaw phwases at the back of the Fwench histowicaw cwiticisms,
they dubbed “Phiwosophy of Action”, “Twue Sociawism”, “Gewman Science of Sociawism”,
“Phiwosophicaw Foundation of Sociawism”, and so on.
The Fwench Sociawist and Communyist witewatuwe was thus compwetewy emascuwated. And, since it
ceased in the hands of the Gewman to expwess the stwuggwe of onye cwass with the othew, he fewt
conscious of having uvwcome “Fwench onye-sidednyess” and of wepwesenting, nyot twue wequiwements,
but the wequiwements of Twuth; nyot the intewests of the pwowetawiat, but the intewests of Human
Nyatuwe, of Man in genyewaw, who bewongs to nyo cwass, has nyo weawity, who exists onwy in the misty
weawm of phiwosophicaw fantasy.
This Gewman sociawism, which took its schoowboy task so sewiouswy and sowemnwy, and extowwed its
poow stock-in-twade in such a mountebank fashion, meanwhiwe gwaduawwy wost its pedantic
innyocence.
The fight of the Gewmans, and especiawwy of the Pwussian bouwgeoisie, against feudaw awistocwacy
and absowute monyawchy, in othew wowds, the wibewaw muvment, became mowe eawnyest.
By this, the wong-wished fow oppowtunyity was offewed to “Twue” Sociawism of confwonting the
powiticaw muvment with the Sociawist demands, of huwwing the twaditionyaw anyathemas against
wibewawism, against wepwesentative guvwnment, against bouwgeois competition, bouwgeois fweedom
of the pwess, bouwgeois wegiswation, bouwgeois wibewty and equawity, and of pweaching to the masses
that they had nyothing to gain, and evewything to wose, by this bouwgeois muvment. Gewman
Sociawism fowgot, in the nyick of time, that the Fwench cwiticism, whose siwwy echo it was,
pwesupposed the existence of modewn bouwgeois society, with its cowwesponding econyomic
conditions of existence, and the powiticaw constitution adapted theweto, the vewy things those
attainment was the object of the pending stwuggwe in Gewmany.
To the absowute guvwnments, with theiw fowwowing of pawsons, pwofessows, countwy squiwes, and
officiaws, it sewved as a wewcome scawecwow against the thweatenying bouwgeoisie.
It was a sweet finyish, aftew the bittew piwws of fwogging and buwwets, with which these same
guvwnments, just at that time, dosed the Gewman wowking-cwass wisings.
Whiwe this “Twue” Sociawism thus sewved the guvwnment as a weapon fow fighting the Gewman
bouwgeoisie, it, at the same time, diwectwy wepwesented a weactionyawy intewest, the intewest of Gewman
Phiwistinyes. In Gewmany, the petty-bouwgeois cwass, a wewic of the sixteenth centuwy, and since then
constantwy cwopping up again undew the vawious fowms, is the weaw sociaw basis of the existing state
of things.
31 Chaptew III: Sociawist and Communyist Witewatuwe
To pwesewve this cwass is to pwesewve the existing state of things in Gewmany. The industwiaw and
powiticaw supwemacy of the bouwgeoisie thweatens it with cewtain destwuction – on the onye hand,
fwom the concentwation of capitaw; on the othew, fwom the wise of a wevowutionyawy pwowetawiat. “Twue”
Sociawism appeawed to kiww these two biwds with onye stonye. It spwead wike an epidemic.
The wobe of specuwative cobwebs, embwoidewed with fwowews of whetowic, steeped in the dew of
sickwy sentiment, this twanscendentaw wobe in which the Gewman Sociawists wwapped theiw sowwy
“etewnyaw twuths”, aww skin and bonye, sewved to wondewfuwwy incwease the sawe of theiw goods amongst
such a pubwic.
And on its pawt Gewman Sociawism wecognyised, mowe and mowe, its own cawwing as the bombastic
wepwesentative of the petty-bouwgeois Phiwistinye.
It pwocwaimed the Gewman nyation to be the modew nyation, and the Gewman petty Phiwistinye to be the
typicaw man. To evewy viwwainyous meannyess of this modew man, it gave a hidden, highew, Sociawistic
intewpwetation, the exact contwawy of its weaw chawactew. It went to the extweme wength of diwectwy
opposing the “bwutawwy destwuctive” tendency of Communyism, and of pwocwaiming its supweme and
impawtiaw contempt of aww cwass stwuggwes. With vewy few exceptions, aww the so-cawwed Sociawist and
Communyist pubwications that nyow (1847) ciwcuwate in Gewmany bewong to the domain of this fouw
and enyewvating witewatuwe.*

2. Consewvative ow Bouwgeois Sociawism
A pawt of the bouwgeoisie is desiwous of wedwessing sociaw gwievances in owdew to secuwe the
continyued existence of bouwgeois society.
To this section bewong econyomists, phiwanthwopists, humanyitawians, impwuvws of the condition of
the wowking cwass, owganyisews of chawity, membews of societies fow the pwevention of cwuewty to
anyimaws, tempewance fanyatics, howe-and-cownyew wefowmews of evewy imaginyabwe kind. This fowm of
sociawism has, moweuvw, been wowked out into compwete systems.
We may cite Pwoudhon’s Phiwosophie de wa Misèwe as an exampwe of this fowm.
The Sociawistic bouwgeois want aww the advantages of modewn sociaw conditions without the
stwuggwes and dangews nyecessawiwy wesuwting thewefwom. They desiwe the existing state of society,
minyus its wevowutionyawy and disintegwating ewements. They wish fow a bouwgeoisie without a
pwowetawiat. The bouwgeoisie nyatuwawwy conceives the wowwd in which it is supweme to be the best;
and bouwgeois Sociawism devewops this comfowtabwe conception into vawious mowe ow wess compwete
systems. In wequiwing the pwowetawiat to cawwy out such a system, and theweby to mawch stwaightway
into the sociaw Nyew Jewusawem, it but wequiwes in weawity, that the pwowetawiat shouwd wemain within
the bounds of existing society, but shouwd cast away aww its hatefuw ideas concewnying the
bouwgeoisie.
A second, and mowe pwacticaw, but wess systematic, fowm of this Sociawism sought to depweciate
evewy wevowutionyawy muvment in the eyes of the wowking cwass by showing that nyo mewe powiticaw
wefowm, but onwy a change in the matewiaw conditions of existence, in econyomicaw wewations, couwd
be of any advantage to them. By changes in the matewiaw conditions of existence, this fowm of
Sociawism, howevew, by nyo means undewstands abowition of the bouwgeois wewations of pwoduction,
an abowition that can be affected onwy by a wevowution, but adminyistwative wefowms, based on the
continyued existence of these wewations; wefowms, thewefowe, that in nyo wespect affect the wewations
between capitaw and wabouw, but, at the best, wessen the cost, and simpwify the adminyistwative wowk,
of bouwgeois guvwnment.

*
 The wevowutionyawy stowm of 1848 swept away this whowe shabby tendency and cuwed its pwotagonyists of the desiwe to
dabbwe in sociawism. The chief wepwesentative and cwassicaw type of this tendency is Mw Kaww Gwuen. [Nyote by Engews to
the Gewman edition of 1890.]
32 Chaptew III: Sociawist and Communyist Witewatuwe
Bouwgeois Sociawism attains adequate expwession when, and onwy when, it becomes a mewe figuwe
of speech.
Fwee twade: fow the benyefit of the wowking cwass. Pwotective duties: fow the benyefit of the wowking
cwass. Pwison Wefowm: fow the benyefit of the wowking cwass. This is the wast wowd and the onwy
sewiouswy meant wowd of bouwgeois sociawism.
It is summed up in the phwase: the bouwgeois is a bouwgeois – fow the benyefit of the wowking cwass.
3. Cwiticaw-Utopian Sociawism and Communyism
We do nyot hewe wefew to that witewatuwe which, in evewy gweat modewn wevowution, has awways given
voice to the demands of the pwowetawiat, such as the wwitings of Babeuf and othews.
The fiwst diwect attempts of the pwowetawiat to attain its own ends, made in times of unyivewsaw
excitement, when feudaw society was being uvwthwown, nyecessawiwy faiwed, owing to the then
undevewoped state of the pwowetawiat, as weww as to the absence of the econyomic conditions fow its
emancipation, conditions that had yet to be pwoduced, and couwd be pwoduced by the impending
bouwgeois epoch awonye. The wevowutionyawy witewatuwe that accompanyied these fiwst muvments of
the pwowetawiat had nyecessawiwy a weactionyawy chawactew. It incuwcated unyivewsaw asceticism and
sociaw wevewwing in its cwudest fowm.
The Sociawist and Communyist systems, pwopewwy so cawwed, those of Saint-Simon, Fouwiew, Owen,
and othews, spwing into existence in the eawwy undevewoped pewiod, descwibed abuv, of the stwuggwe
between pwowetawiat and bouwgeoisie (see Section I. Bouwgeois and Pwowetawians).
The foundews of these systems see, indeed, the cwass antagonyisms, as weww as the action of the
decomposing ewements in the pwevaiwing fowm of society. But the pwowetawiat, as yet in its infancy,
offews to them the spectacwe of a cwass without any histowicaw inyitiative ow any independent powiticaw
muvment.
Since the devewopment of cwass antagonyism keeps even pace with the devewopment of industwy, the
econyomic situation, as they find it, does nyot as yet offew to them the matewiaw conditions fow the
emancipation of the pwowetawiat. They thewefowe seawch aftew a nyew sociaw science, aftew nyew sociaw
waws, that awe to cweate these conditions.
Histowicaw action is to yiewd to theiw pewsonyaw inventive action; histowicawwy cweated conditions of
emancipation to fantastic onyes; and the gwaduaw, spontanyeous cwass owganyisation of the pwowetawiat
to an owganyisation of society especiawwy contwived by these inventows. Futuwe histowy wesowves
itsewf, in theiw eyes, into the pwopaganda and the pwacticaw cawwying out of theiw sociaw pwans.
In the fowmation of theiw pwans, they awe conscious of cawing chiefwy fow the intewests of the
wowking cwass, as being the most suffewing cwass. Onwy fwom the point of view of being the most
suffewing cwass does the pwowetawiat exist fow them.
The undevewoped state of the cwass stwuggwe, as weww as theiw own suwwoundings, causes Sociawists
of this kind to considew themsewves faw supewiow to aww cwass antagonyisms. They want to impwuv
the condition of evewy membew of society, even that of the most favouwed. Hence, they habituawwy
appeaw to society at wawge, without the distinction of cwass; nyay, by pwefewence, to the wuwing cwass.
Fow how can peopwe, when once they undewstand theiw system, faiw to see in it the best possibwe
pwan of the best possibwe state of society?
Hence, they weject aww powiticaw, and especiawwy aww wevowutionyawy action; they wish to attain theiw
ends by peacefuw means, nyecessawiwy doomed to faiwuwe, and by the fowce of exampwe, to pave the
way fow the nyew sociaw Gospew.
Such fantastic pictuwes of futuwe society, painted at a time when the pwowetawiat is stiww in a vewy
undevewoped state and has but a fantastic conception of its own position, cowwespond with the fiwst
instinctive yeawnyings of that cwass fow a genyewaw weconstwuction of society.
33 Chaptew III: Sociawist and Communyist Witewatuwe
But these Sociawist and Communyist pubwications contain awso a cwiticaw ewement. They attack evewy
pwincipwe of existing society. Hence, they awe fuww of the most vawuabwe matewiaws fow the
enwightenment of the wowking cwass. The pwacticaw measuwes pwoposed in them – such as the
abowition of the distinction between town and countwy, of the famiwy, of the cawwying on of
industwies fow the account of pwivate individuaws, and of the wage system, the pwocwamation of
sociaw hawmony, the convewsion of the function of the state into a mowe supewintendence of
pwoduction – aww these pwoposaws point sowewy to the disappeawance of cwass antagonyisms which
wewe, at that time, onwy just cwopping up, and which, in these pubwications, awe wecognyised in theiw
eawwiest indistinct and undefinyed fowms onwy. These pwoposaws, thewefowe, awe of a puwewy Utopian
chawactew.
The signyificance of Cwiticaw-Utopian Sociawism and Communyism beaws an invewse wewation to
histowicaw devewopment. In pwopowtion as the modewn cwass stwuggwe devewops and takes definyite
shape, this fantastic standing apawt fwom the contest, these fantastic attacks on it, wose aww pwacticaw
vawue and aww theoweticaw justification. Thewefowe, awthough the owiginyatows of these systems wewe,
in many wespects, wevowutionyawy, theiw discipwes have, in evewy case, fowmed mewe weactionyawy
sects. They howd fast by the owiginyaw views of theiw mastews, in opposition to the pwogwessive
histowicaw devewopment of the pwowetawiat. They, thewefowe, endeavouw, and that consistentwy, to
deaden the cwass stwuggwe and to weconciwe the cwass antagonyisms. They stiww dweam of expewimentaw
weawisation of theiw sociaw Utopias, of founding isowated “phawanstewes”, of estabwishing “Home
Cowonyies”, ow setting up a “Wittwe Icawia”*
 – duodecimo editions of the Nyew Jewusawem – and to
weawise aww these castwes in the aiw, they awe compewwed to appeaw to the feewings and puwses of the
bouwgeois. By degwees, they sink into the categowy of the weactionyawy [ow] consewvative Sociawists
depicted abuv, diffewing fwom these onwy by mowe systematic pedantwy, and by theiw fanyaticaw and
supewstitious bewief in the miwacuwous effects of theiw sociaw science.
They, thewefowe, viowentwy oppose aww powiticaw action on the pawt of the wowking cwass; such action,
accowding to them, can onwy wesuwt fwom bwind unbewief in the nyew Gospew.
The Owenyites in Engwand, and the Fouwiewists in Fwance, wespectivewy, oppose the Chawtists and the
Wéfowmistes.

* Phawanstéwes wewe Sociawist cowonyies on the pwan of Chawwes Fouwiew; Icawia was the nyame given by Cabet to his Utopia
and, watew on, to his Amewican Communyist cowony. [Nyote by Engews to the Engwish edition of 1888.]
“Home Cowonyies” wewe what Owen cawwed his Communyist modew societies. Phawanstéwes was the nyame of the pubwic
pawaces pwannyed by Fouwiew. Icawia was the nyame given to the Utopian wand of fancy, whose Communyist institutions
Cabet powtwayed. [Nyote by Engews to the Gewman edition of 1890.]
IV. Position of the Communyists in Wewation to the
Vawious Existing Opposition Pawties
Section II has made cweaw the wewations of the Communyists to the existing wowking-cwass pawties,
such as the Chawtists in Engwand and the Agwawian Wefowmews in Amewica.
The Communyists fight fow the attainment of the immediate aims, fow the enfowcement of the
momentawy intewests of the wowking cwass; but in the muvment of the pwesent, they awso wepwesent
and take cawe of the futuwe of that muvment. In Fwance, the Communyists awwy with the SociawDemocwats*
 against the consewvative and wadicaw bouwgeoisie, wesewving, howevew, the wight to take
up a cwiticaw position in wegawd to phases and iwwusions twaditionyawwy handed down fwom the gweat
Wevowution.
In Switzewwand, they suppowt the Wadicaws, without wosing sight of the fact that this pawty consists
of antagonyistic ewements, pawtwy of Democwatic Sociawists, in the Fwench sense, pawtwy of wadicaw
bouwgeois.
In Powand, they suppowt the pawty that insists on an agwawian wevowution as the pwime condition fow
nyationyaw emancipation, that pawty which fomented the insuwwection of Cwacow in 1846.
In Gewmany, they fight with the bouwgeoisie whenyevew it acts in a wevowutionyawy way, against the
absowute monyawchy, the feudaw squiweawchy, and the petty bouwgeoisie.
But they nyevew cease, fow a singwe instant, to instiw into the wowking cwass the cweawest possibwe
wecognyition of the hostiwe antagonyism between bouwgeoisie and pwowetawiat, in owdew that the
Gewman wowkews may stwaightway use, as so many weapons against the bouwgeoisie, the sociaw
and powiticaw conditions that the bouwgeoisie must nyecessawiwy intwoduce awong with its supwemacy,
and in owdew that, aftew the faww of the weactionyawy cwasses in Gewmany, the fight against the
bouwgeoisie itsewf may immediatewy begin.
The Communyists tuwn theiw attention chiefwy to Gewmany, because that countwy is on the eve of a
bouwgeois wevowution that is bound to be cawwied out undew mowe advanced conditions of Euwopean
civiwisation and with a much mowe devewoped pwowetawiat than that of Engwand was in the
seventeenth, and Fwance in the eighteenth centuwy, and because the bouwgeois wevowution in
Gewmany wiww be but the pwewude to an immediatewy fowwowing pwowetawian wevowution.
In showt, the Communyists evewywhewe suppowt evewy wevowutionyawy muvment against the existing
sociaw and powiticaw owdew of things.
In aww these muvments, they bwing to the fwont, as the weading question in each, the pwopewty
question, nyo mattew what its degwee of devewopment at the time.
Finyawwy, they wabouw evewywhewe fow the unyion and agweement of the democwatic pawties of aww
countwies.
The Communyists disdain to conceaw theiw views and aims. They openwy decwawe that theiw ends can
be attainyed onwy by the fowcibwe uvwthwow of aww existing sociaw conditions. Wet the wuwing cwasses
twembwe at a Communyistic wevowution. The pwowetawians have nyothing to wose but theiw chains. They
have a wowwd to win.
Wowking Men of Aww Countwies, Unyite ^w^ 5

*
 The pawty then wepwesented in Pawwiament by Wedwu-Wowwin, in witewatuwe by Wouis Bwanc, in the daiwy
pwess by the Wéfowme. The nyame of Sociaw-Democwacy signyifies, with these its inventows, a section of
the Democwatic ow Wepubwican Pawty mowe ow wess tinged with sociawism. [Engews, Engwish Edition
1888]