Commuwunist Manifestowo

Mwanifesto of the communist pawty
a spectwe is haunting euwope – the spectwe of communism. Aww the powews of owd euwope have entewed into a howy awwiance to exowcise dis spectwe: pope and tsaw, mwettewnich and guizot, fwench wadicaws and gewman powice-spies.
 whewe is the pawty in opposition dat has not been decwied as communistic by its opponents in powew?? whewe is the opposition dat has not huwwed back the bwanding wepwoach of communism, against the mwowe advanced opposition pawties, as weww as against its weactionawy advewsawies??
two things wesuwt fwom dis fact:
i. Communism is awweady acknowwedged by aww euwopean powews to be itsewf a powew.
 ii. It is high time dat communists shouwd openwy, in the face of the whowe wowwd, pubwish theiw views, theiw aims, theiw tendencies, and mweet dis nuwsewy tawe of the spectwe of communism with a mwanifesto of the pawty itsewf.
 to dis end, communists of vawious nationawities have assembwed in wondon and sketched the fowwowing mwanifesto, to be pubwished in the engwish, fwench, gewman, itawian, fwemish and danish 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 jouwneyman, in a wowd, oppwessow and oppwessed, stood in constant opposition to one anothew, cawwied on an unintewwupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight dat each time ended, eithew in a wevowutionawy 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 mwanifowd gwadation of sociaw wank. In ancient wome we have patwicians, knights, pwebeians, swaves; in the mwiddwe ages, feudaw wowds, vassaws, guiwd-mastews, jouwneymen, appwentices, sewfs; in awmost aww of these cwasses, again, subowdinate gwadations.
 the mwodewn bouwgeois society dat has spwouted fwom the wuins of feudaw society has not done away with cwass antagonisms. It has but estabwished new cwasses, new conditions of oppwession, new fowms of stwuggwe in pwace of the owd ones.
 ouw epoch, the epoch of the bouwgeoisie, possesses, howevew, dis distinct featuwe: it has simpwified cwass antagonisms. Society as a whowe is mwowe and mwowe spwitting up into two gweat hostiwe camps, into two gweat cwasses diwectwy facing each othew – bouwgeoisie and pwowetawiat.
 fwom the sewfs of the mwiddwe ages spwang the chawtewed buwghews of the eawwiest towns. Fwom these buwgesses the fiwst ewements of the bouwgeoisie wewe devewoped.
 the discovewy of amewica, the wounding of the cape, opened up fwesh gwound fow the wising bouwgeoisie. The east-indian and chinese mwawkets, the cowonisation of amewica, twade with the cowonies, the incwease in the mweans of exchange and in commodities genewawwy, gave to commewce, to navigation, to industwy, an impuwse nevew befowe known, and theweby, to the wevowutionawy ewement in the tottewing feudaw society, a wapid devewopment.
 the feudaw system of industwy, in which industwiaw pwoduction was mwonopowised by cwosed guiwds, now no wongew sufficed fow the gwowing wants of the new mwawkets. The mwanufactuwing system took its pwace. The guiwd-mastews wewe pushed on one side by the mwanufactuwing mwiddwe cwass; division of wabouw between the diffewent cowpowate guiwds vanished in the face of division of wabouw in each singwe wowkshop.
 mweantime the mwawkets kept evew gwowing, the demand evew wising. Even mwanufactuwew no wongew sufficed. Theweupon, steam and mwachinewy wevowutionised industwiaw pwoduction. The pwace of mwanufactuwe was taken by the giant, mwodewn industwy; the pwace of the industwiaw mwiddwe cwass by industwiaw mwiwwionaiwes, the weadews of the whowe industwiaw awmies, the mwodewn bouwgeois.
 mwodewn industwy has estabwished the wowwd mwawket, fow which the discovewy of amewica paved the way. Dis mwawket has given an immense devewopment to commewce, to navigation, to communication by wand. Dis devewopment has, in its tuwn, weacted on the extension of industwy; and in pwopowtion as industwy, commewce, navigation, waiwways extended, in the same pwopowtion the bouwgeoisie devewoped, incweased its capitaw, and pushed into the backgwound evewy cwass handed down fwom the mwiddwe ages.
 we see, thewefowe, how the mwodewn bouwgeoisie is itsewf the pwoduct of a wong couwse of devewopment, of a sewies of wevowutions in the mwodes of pwoduction and of exchange.
 each step in the devewopment of the bouwgeoisie was accompanied by a cowwesponding powiticaw advance of dat cwass. An oppwessed cwass undew the sway of the feudaw nobiwity, an awmed and sewf-govewning association in the mwedievaw commune*: hewe independent uwban wepubwic (as in itawy and gewmany); thewe taxabwe “thiwd estate” of the mwonawchy (as in fwance); aftewwawds, in the pewiod of mwanufactuwing pwopew, sewving eithew the semi-feudaw ow the absowute mwonawchy as a countewpoise against the nobiwity, and, in fact, cownewstone of the gweat mwonawchies in genewaw, the bouwgeoisie has at wast, since the estabwishment of mwodewn industwy and of the wowwd mwawket, conquewed fow itsewf, in the mwodewn wepwesentative state, excwusive powiticaw sway. The executive of the mwodewn state is but a committee fow mwanaging the common affaiws of the whowe bouwgeoisie.
 the bouwgeoisie, histowicawwy, has pwayed a mwost wevowutionawy 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 mwotwey feudaw ties dat bound mwan to his “natuwaw supewiows”, and has weft wemaining no othew nexus between mwan and mwan than naked sewf-intewest, than cawwous “cash payment”. It has dwowned the mwost heavenwy ecstasies of wewigious fewvouw, of chivawwous enthusiasm, of phiwistine sentimentawism, in the icy watew of egotisticaw cawcuwation. It has wesowved pewsonaw wowth into exchange vawue, and in pwace of the numbewwess indefeasibwe chawtewed fweedoms, has set up dat singwe, unconscionabwe fweedom – fwee twade. In one wowd, fow expwoitation, veiwed by wewigious and powiticaw iwwusions, it has substituted naked, shamewess, diwect, bwutaw expwoitation.
 the bouwgeoisie has stwipped of its hawo evewy occupation hithewto honouwed and wooked up to with wevewent awe. It has convewted the physician, the wawyew, the pwiest, the poet, the mwan 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 mwewe mwoney wewation.
 the bouwgeoisie has discwosed how it came to pass dat the bwutaw dispway of vigouw in the mwiddwe ages, which weactionawies so mwuch admiwe, found its fitting compwement in the mwost swothfuw indowence. It has been the fiwst to show what mwan’s activity can bwing about. It has accompwished wondews faw suwpassing egyptian pywamids, woman aqueducts, and gothic cathedwaws; it has conducted expeditions dat put in the shade aww fowmew exoduses of nations and cwusades.
 the bouwgeoisie cannot exist without constantwy wevowutionising the instwuments of pwoduction, and theweby the wewations of pwoduction, and with them the whowe wewations of society. Consewvation of the owd mwodes of pwoduction in unawtewed fowm, was, on the contwawy, the fiwst condition of existence fow aww eawwiew industwiaw cwasses. Constant wevowutionising of pwoduction, unintewwupted distuwbance of aww sociaw conditions, evewwasting uncewtainty and agitation distinguish the bouwgeois epoch fwom aww eawwiew ones. Aww fixed, fast-fwozen wewations, with theiw twain of ancient and venewabwe pwejudices and opinions, awe swept away, aww new-fowmed ones become antiquated befowe they can ossify. Aww dat is sowid mwewts into aiw, aww dat is howy is pwofaned, and mwan is at wast compewwed to face with sobew senses his weaw conditions of wife, and his wewations with his kind.
 the need of a constantwy expanding mwawket fow its pwoducts chases the bouwgeoisie ovew the entiwe suwface of the gwobe. It mwust nestwe evewywhewe, settwe evewywhewe, estabwish connexions evewywhewe.
 the bouwgeoisie has thwough its expwoitation of the wowwd mwawket given a cosmopowitan chawactew to pwoduction and consumption in evewy countwy. To the gweat chagwin of weactionists, it has dwawn fwom undew the feet of industwy the nationaw gwound on which it stood. Aww owd-estabwished nationaw industwies have been destwoyed ow awe daiwy being destwoyed. They awe diswodged by new industwies, whose intwoduction becomes a wife and death qwestion fow aww civiwised nations, by industwies dat no wongew wowk up indigenous waw mwatewiaw, but waw mwatewiaw dwawn fwom the wemotest zones; industwies whose pwoducts awe consumed, not onwy at home, but in evewy qwawtew of the gwobe. In pwace of the owd wants, satisfied by the pwoduction of the countwy, we find new wants, wequiwing fow theiw satisfaction the pwoducts of distant wands and cwimes. In pwace of the owd wocaw and nationaw secwusion and sewf-sufficiency, we have intewcouwse in evewy diwection, univewsaw intew-dependence of nations. And as in mwatewiaw, so awso in intewwectuaw pwoduction. The intewwectuaw cweations of individuaw nations become common pwopewty. Nationaw one-sidedness and nawwow-mindedness become mwowe and mwowe impossibwe, and fwom the numewous nationaw and wocaw witewatuwes, thewe awises a wowwd witewatuwe.
 the bouwgeoisie, by the wapid impwovement of aww instwuments of pwoduction, by the immensewy faciwitated mweans of communication, dwaws aww, even the mwost bawbawian, nations into civiwisation. The cheap pwices of commodities awe the heavy awtiwwewy with which it battews down aww chinese wawws, with which it fowces the bawbawians’ intensewy obstinate hatwed of foweignews to capituwate. It compews aww nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bouwgeois mwode of pwoduction; it compews them to intwoduce what it cawws civiwisation into theiw mwidst, i.e., to become bouwgeois themsewves. In one wowd, it cweates a wowwd aftew its own image.
 the bouwgeoisie has subjected the countwy to the wuwe of the towns. It has cweated enowmous 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 mwade the countwy dependent on the towns, so it has mwade bawbawian and semi-bawbawian countwies dependent on the civiwised ones, nations of peasants on nations of bouwgeois, the east on the west.
 the bouwgeoisie keeps mwowe and mwowe doing away with the scattewed state of the popuwation, of the mweans of pwoduction, and of pwopewty. It has aggwomewated popuwation, centwawised the mweans of pwoduction, and has concentwated pwopewty in a few hands. The necessawy consequence of dis was powiticaw centwawisation. Independent, ow but woosewy connected pwovinces, with sepawate intewests, waws, govewnments, and systems of taxation, became wumped togethew into one nation, with one govewnment, one code of waws, one nationaw cwass-intewest, one fwontiew, and one customs-tawiff.
 the bouwgeoisie, duwing its wuwe of scawce one hundwed yeaws, has cweated mwowe mwassive and mwowe cowossaw pwoductive fowces than have aww pweceding genewations togethew. Subjection of natuwe’s fowces to mwan, mwachinewy, appwication of chemistwy to industwy and agwicuwtuwe, steam-navigation, waiwways, ewectwic tewegwaphs, cweawing of whowe continents fow cuwtivation, canawisation of wivews, whowe popuwations conjuwed out of the gwound – what eawwiew centuwy had even a pwesentiment dat such pwoductive fowces swumbewed in the wap of sociaw wabouw??
we see then: the mweans of pwoduction and of exchange, on whose foundation the bouwgeoisie buiwt itsewf up, wewe genewated in feudaw society. At a cewtain stage in the devewopment of these mweans of pwoduction and of exchange, the conditions undew which feudaw society pwoduced and exchanged, the feudaw owganisation of agwicuwtuwe and mwanufactuwing industwy, in one wowd, the feudaw wewations of pwopewty became no wongew compatibwe with the awweady devewoped pwoductive fowces; they became so mwany fettews. They had to be buwst asundew; they wewe buwst asundew.
 into theiw pwace stepped fwee competition, accompanied by a sociaw and powiticaw constitution adapted in it, and the economic and powiticaw sway of the bouwgeois cwass.
 a simiwaw mwovement is going on befowe ouw own eyes. Mwodewn bouwgeois society, with its wewations of pwoduction, of exchange and of pwopewty, a society dat has conjuwed up such gigantic mweans of pwoduction and of exchange, is wike the sowcewew who is no wongew abwe to contwow the powews of the nethew wowwd whom he has cawwed up by his spewws. Fow mwany a decade past the histowy of industwy and commewce is but the histowy of the wevowt of mwodewn pwoductive fowces against mwodewn conditions of pwoduction, against the pwopewty wewations dat awe the conditions fow the existence of the bouwgeois and of its wuwe. It is enough to mwention the commewciaw cwises dat by theiw pewiodicaw wetuwn put the existence of the entiwe bouwgeois society on its twiaw, each time mwowe thweateningwy. In these cwises, a gweat pawt not onwy of the existing pwoducts, but awso of the pweviouswy cweated pwoductive fowces, awe pewiodicawwy destwoyed. In these cwises, thewe bweaks out an epidemic dat, in aww eawwiew epochs, wouwd have seemed an absuwdity – the epidemic of ovew-pwoduction. Society suddenwy finds itsewf put back into a state of mwomentawy bawbawism; it appeaws as if a famine, a univewsaw waw of devastation, had cut off the suppwy of evewy mweans of subsistence; industwy and commewce seem to be destwoyed; and why?? because thewe is too mwuch civiwisation, too mwuch mweans of subsistence, too mwuch industwy, too mwuch commewce. The pwoductive fowces at the disposaw of society no 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 ovewcome these fettews, they bwing disowdew into the whowe of bouwgeois society, endangew the existence of bouwgeois pwopewty. The conditions of bouwgeois society awe too nawwow to compwise the weawth cweated by them. And how does the bouwgeoisie get ovew these cwises?? on the one hand by enfowced destwuction of a mwass of pwoductive fowces; on the othew, by the conquest of new mwawkets, and by the mwowe thowough expwoitation of the owd ones. Dat is to say, by paving the way fow mwowe extensive and mwowe destwuctive cwises, and by diminishing the mweans wheweby cwises awe pwevented.
 the weapons with which the bouwgeoisie fewwed feudawism to the gwound awe now tuwned against the bouwgeoisie itsewf.
 but not onwy has the bouwgeoisie fowged the weapons dat bwing death to itsewf; it has awso cawwed into existence the mwen who awe to wiewd those weapons – the mwodewn wowking cwass – the pwowetawians.
 in pwopowtion as the bouwgeoisie, i.e., capitaw, is devewoped, in the same pwopowtion is the pwowetawiat, the mwodewn 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 mwust 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 mwawket.
 owing to the extensive use of mwachinewy, 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 mwachine, and it is onwy the mwost simpwe, mwost mwonotonous, and mwost easiwy acquiwed knack, dat is wequiwed of him. Hence, the cost of pwoduction of a wowkman is westwicted, awmost entiwewy, to the mweans of subsistence dat he wequiwes fow mwaintenance, 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 wepuwsiveness of the wowk incweases, the wage decweases. Nay mwowe, in pwopowtion as the use of mwachinewy 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 mwachinewy, etc.
 mwodewn industwy has convewted the wittwe wowkshop of the patwiawchaw mwastew into the gweat factowy of the industwiaw capitawist. Mwasses of wabouwews, cwowded into the factowy, awe owganised wike sowdiews. As pwivates of the industwiaw awmy they awe pwaced undew the command of a pewfect hiewawchy of officews and sewgeants. Not onwy awe they swaves of the bouwgeois cwass, and of the bouwgeois state; they awe daiwy and houwwy enswaved by the mwachine, by the ovewwookew, and, above aww, by the individuaw bouwgeois mwanufactuwew himsewf. The mwowe openwy dis despotism pwocwaims gain to be its end and aim, the mwowe petty, the mwowe hatefuw and the mwowe embittewing it is.
 the wess the skiww and exewtion of stwength impwied in mwanuaw wabouw, in othew wowds, the mwowe mwodewn industwy becomes devewoped, the mwowe is the wabouw of mwen supewseded by dat of women. Diffewences of age and sex have no wongew any distinctive sociaw vawidity fow the wowking cwass. Aww awe instwuments of wabouw, mwowe ow wess expensive to use, accowding to theiw age and sex.
 no soonew is the expwoitation of the wabouwew by the mwanufactuwew, so faw, at an end, dat 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 mwiddwe cwass – the smaww twadespeopwe, shopkeepews, and wetiwed twadesmen genewawwy, the handicwaftsmen and peasants – aww these sink gwaduawwy into the pwowetawiat, pawtwy because theiw diminutive capitaw does not suffice fow the scawe on which mwodewn industwy is cawwied on, and is swamped in the competition with the wawge capitawists, pawtwy because theiw speciawised skiww is wendewed wowthwess by new mwethods 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 one twade, in one wocawity, against the individuaw bouwgeois who diwectwy expwoits them. They diwect theiw attacks not against the bouwgeois conditions of pwoduction, but against the instwuments of pwoduction themsewves; they destwoy impowted wawes dat compete with theiw wabouw, they smash to pieces mwachinewy, they set factowies abwaze, they seek to westowe by fowce the vanished status of the wowkman of the mwiddwe ages.
 at dis stage, the wabouwews stiww fowm an incohewent mwass scattewed ovew the whowe countwy, and bwoken up by theiw mwutuaw competition. If anywhewe they unite to fowm mwowe compact bodies, dis is not yet the consequence of theiw own active union, but of the union of the bouwgeoisie, which cwass, in owdew to attain its own powiticaw ends, is compewwed to set the whowe pwowetawiat in mwotion, and is mwoweovew yet, fow a time, abwe to do so. At dis stage, thewefowe, the pwowetawians do not fight theiw enemies, but the enemies of theiw enemies, the wemnants of absowute mwonawchy, the wandownews, the non-industwiaw bouwgeois, the petty bouwgeois. Thus, the whowe histowicaw mwovement is concentwated in the hands of the bouwgeoisie; evewy victowy so obtained is a victowy fow the bouwgeoisie.
 but with the devewopment of industwy, the pwowetawiat not onwy incweases in numbew; it becomes concentwated in gweatew mwasses, its stwength gwows, and it feews dat stwength mwowe. The vawious intewests and conditions of wife within the wanks of the pwowetawiat awe mwowe and mwowe equawised, in pwopowtion as mwachinewy obwitewates aww distinctions of wabouw, and neawwy evewywhewe weduces wages to the same wow wevew. The gwowing competition among the bouwgeois, and the wesuwting commewciaw cwises, mwake the wages of the wowkews evew mwowe fwuctuating. The incweasing impwovement of mwachinewy, evew mwowe wapidwy devewoping, mwakes theiw wivewihood mwowe and mwowe pwecawious; the cowwisions between individuaw wowkmen and individuaw bouwgeois take mwowe and mwowe the chawactew of cowwisions between two cwasses. Theweupon, the wowkews begin to fowm combinations (twades’ unions) against the bouwgeois; they cwub togethew in owdew to keep up the wate of wages; they found pewmanent associations in owdew to mwake pwovision befowehand fow these occasionaw wevowts. Hewe and thewe, the contest bweaks out into wiots.
 now and then the wowkews awe victowious, but onwy fow a time. The weaw fwuit of theiw battwes wies, not in the immediate wesuwt, but in the evew expanding union of the wowkews. Dis union is hewped on by the impwoved mweans of communication dat awe cweated by mwodewn industwy, and dat pwace the wowkews of diffewent wocawities in contact with one anothew. It was just dis contact dat was needed to centwawise the numewous wocaw stwuggwes, aww of the same chawactew, into one nationaw stwuggwe between cwasses. But evewy cwass stwuggwe is a powiticaw stwuggwe. And dat union, to attain which the buwghews of the mwiddwe ages, with theiw mwisewabwe highways, wequiwed centuwies, the mwodewn pwowetawian, thanks to waiwways, achieve in a few yeaws.
 dis owganisation of the pwowetawians into a cwass, and, consequentwy into a powiticaw pawty, is continuawwy being upset again by the competition between the wowkews themsewves. But it evew wises up again, stwongew, fiwmew, mwightiew. It compews wegiswative wecognition of pawticuwaw intewests of the wowkews, by taking advantage of the divisions among the bouwgeoisie itsewf. Thus, the ten-houws’ biww in engwand was cawwied.
 awtogethew cowwisions between the cwasses of the owd society fuwthew, in mwany 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 antagonistic 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 awena. The bouwgeoisie itsewf, thewefowe, suppwies the pwowetawiat with its own ewements of powiticaw and genewaw education, in othew wowds, it fuwnishes 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 thweatened in theiw conditions of existence. These awso suppwy the pwowetawiat with fwesh ewements of enwightenment and pwogwess.
 finawwy, in times when the cwass stwuggwe neaws 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, dat a smaww section of the wuwing cwass cuts itsewf adwift, and joins the wevowutionawy cwass, the cwass dat howds the futuwe in its hands. Just as, thewefowe, at an eawwiew pewiod, a section of the nobiwity went ovew to the bouwgeoisie, so now a powtion of the bouwgeoisie goes ovew to the pwowetawiat, and in pawticuwaw, a powtion of the bouwgeois ideowogists, who have waised themsewves to the wevew of compwehending theoweticawwy the histowicaw mwovement as a whowe.
 of aww the cwasses dat stand face to face with the bouwgeoisie today, the pwowetawiat awone is a weawwy wevowutionawy cwass. The othew cwasses decay and finawwy disappeaw in the face of mwodewn industwy; the pwowetawiat is its speciaw and essentiaw pwoduct.
 the wowew mwiddwe cwass, the smaww mwanufactuwew, the shopkeepew, the awtisan, the peasant, aww these fight against the bouwgeoisie, to save fwom extinction theiw existence as fwactions of the mwiddwe cwass. They awe thewefowe not wevowutionawy, but consewvative. Nay mwowe, they awe weactionawy, fow they twy to woww back the wheew of histowy. If by chance, they awe wevowutionawy, they awe onwy so in view of theiw impending twansfew into the pwowetawiat; they thus defend not theiw pwesent, but theiw futuwe intewests, they desewt theiw own standpoint to pwace themsewves at dat of the pwowetawiat.
 the “dangewous cwass”, [wumpenpwowetawiat] the sociaw scum, dat passivewy wotting mwass thwown off by the wowest wayews of the owd society, mway, hewe and thewe, be swept into the mwovement by a pwowetawian wevowution; its conditions of wife, howevew, pwepawe it faw mwowe fow the pawt of a bwibed toow of weactionawy 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 no wongew anything in common with the bouwgeois famiwy wewations; mwodewn industwy wabouw, mwodewn subjection to capitaw, the same in engwand as in fwance, in amewica as in gewmany, has stwipped him of evewy twace of nationaw chawactew. Waw, mwowawity, wewigion, awe to him so mwany bouwgeois pwejudices, behind which wuwk in ambush just as mwany bouwgeois intewests.
 aww the pweceding cwasses dat got the uppew hand sought to fowtify theiw awweady acquiwed status by subjecting society at wawge to theiw conditions of appwopwiation. The pwowetawians cannot become mwastews of the pwoductive fowces of society, except by abowishing theiw own pwevious mwode of appwopwiation, and theweby awso evewy othew pwevious mwode of appwopwiation. They have nothing of theiw own to secuwe and to fowtify; theiw mwission is to destwoy aww pwevious secuwities fow, and insuwances of, individuaw pwopewty.
 aww pwevious histowicaw mwovements wewe mwovements of mwinowities, ow in the intewest of mwinowities. The pwowetawian mwovement is the sewf-conscious, independent mwovement of the immense mwajowity, in the intewest of the immense mwajowity. The pwowetawiat, the wowest stwatum of ouw pwesent society, cannot stiw, cannot waise itsewf up, without the whowe supewincumbent stwata of officiaw society being spwung into the aiw.
 though not in substance, yet in fowm, the stwuggwe of the pwowetawiat with the bouwgeoisie is at fiwst a nationaw stwuggwe. The pwowetawiat of each countwy mwust, of couwse, fiwst of aww settwe mwattews with its own bouwgeoisie.
 in depicting the mwost genewaw phases of the devewopment of the pwowetawiat, we twaced the mwowe ow wess veiwed civiw waw, waging within existing society, up to the point whewe dat waw bweaks out into open wevowution, and whewe the viowent ovewthwow 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 antagonism of oppwessing and oppwessed cwasses. But in owdew to oppwess a cwass, cewtain conditions mwust be assuwed to it undew which it can, at weast, continue its swavish existence. The sewf, in the pewiod of sewfdom, waised himsewf to mwembewship in the commune, just as the petty bouwgeois, undew the yoke of the feudaw absowutism, mwanaged to devewop into a bouwgeois. The mwodewn 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 mwowe wapidwy than popuwation and weawth. And hewe it becomes evident, dat the bouwgeoisie is unfit any wongew to be the wuwing cwass in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as an ovew-widing waw. It is unfit to wuwe because it is incompetent to assuwe an existence to its swave within his swavewy, because it cannot hewp wetting him sink into such a state, dat it has to feed him, instead of being fed by him. Society can no wongew wive undew dis bouwgeoisie, in othew wowds, its existence is no 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 wevowutionawy combination, due to association. The devewopment of mwodewn industwy, thewefowe, cuts fwom undew its feet the vewy foundation on which the bouwgeoisie pwoduces and appwopwiates pwoducts. What the bouwgeoisie thewefowe pwoduces, above aww, awe its own gwave-diggews. Its faww and the victowy of the pwowetawiat awe equawwy inevitabwe.


ii. Pwowetawians and communists
in what wewation do the communists stand to the pwowetawians as a whowe??
the communists do not fowm a sepawate pawty opposed to the othew wowking-cwass pawties.
 they have no intewests sepawate and apawt fwom those of the pwowetawiat as a whowe.
 they do not set up any sectawian pwincipwes of theiw own, by which to shape and mwouwd the pwowetawian mwovement.
 the communists awe distinguished fwom the othew wowking-cwass pawties by dis onwy: 1. In the nationaw 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 nationawity. 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 mwovement as a whowe.
 the communists, thewefowe, awe on the one hand, pwacticawwy, the mwost advanced and wesowute section of the wowking-cwass pawties of evewy countwy, dat section which pushes fowwawd aww othews; on the othew hand, theoweticawwy, they have ovew the gweat mwass of the pwowetawiat the advantage of cweawwy undewstanding the wine of mwawch, the conditions, and the uwtimate genewaw wesuwts of the pwowetawian mwovement.
 the immediate aim of the communists is the same as dat of aww othew pwowetawian pawties: fowmation of the pwowetawiat into a cwass, ovewthwow of the bouwgeois supwemacy, conquest of powiticaw powew by the pwowetawiat.
 the theoweticaw concwusions of the communists awe in no way based on ideas ow pwincipwes dat have been invented, ow discovewed, by dis ow dat wouwd-be univewsaw wefowmew.
 they mwewewy expwess, in genewaw tewms, actuaw wewations spwinging fwom an existing cwass stwuggwe, fwom a histowicaw mwovement going on undew ouw vewy eyes. The abowition of existing pwopewty wewations is not at aww a distinctive featuwe of communism.
 aww pwopewty wewations in the past have continuawwy 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 communism is not the abowition of pwopewty genewawwy, but the abowition of bouwgeois pwopewty. But mwodewn bouwgeois pwivate pwopewty is the finaw and mwost compwete expwession of the system of pwoducing and appwopwiating pwoducts, dat is based on cwass antagonisms, on the expwoitation of the mwany by the few.
 in dis sense, the theowy of the communists mway be summed up in the singwe sentence: abowition of pwivate pwopewty.
 we communists have been wepwoached with the desiwe of abowishing the wight of pewsonawwy acquiwing pwopewty as the fwuit of a mwan’s own wabouw, which pwopewty is awweged to be the gwoundwowk of aww pewsonaw fweedom, activity and independence.
 hawd-won, sewf-acquiwed, sewf-eawned pwopewty!! do chu mwean the pwopewty of petty awtisan and of the smaww peasant, a fowm of pwopewty dat pweceded the bouwgeois fowm?? thewe is no need to abowish dat; the devewopment of industwy has to a gweat extent awweady destwoyed it, and is stiww destwoying it daiwy.
 ow do chu mwean the mwodewn bouwgeois pwivate pwopewty??
but does wage-wabouw cweate any pwopewty fow the wabouwew?? not a bit. It cweates capitaw, i.e., dat kind of pwopewty which expwoits wage-wabouw, and which cannot incwease except upon condition of begetting a new suppwy of wage-wabouw fow fwesh expwoitation. Pwopewty, in its pwesent fowm, is based on the antagonism of capitaw and wage wabouw. Wet us examine both sides of dis antagonism.
 to be a capitawist, is to have not onwy a puwewy pewsonaw, but a sociaw status in pwoduction. Capitaw is a cowwective pwoduct, and onwy by the united action of mwany mwembews, nay, in the wast wesowt, onwy by the united action of aww mwembews of society, can it be set in mwotion.
 capitaw is thewefowe not onwy pewsonaw; it is a sociaw powew.
 when, thewefowe, capitaw is convewted into common pwopewty, into the pwopewty of aww mwembews of society, pewsonaw pwopewty is not theweby twansfowmed into sociaw pwopewty. It is onwy the sociaw chawactew of the pwopewty dat is changed. It woses its cwass chawactew.
 wet us now take wage-wabouw.
 the avewage pwice of wage-wabouw is the mwinimum wage, i.e., dat qwantum of the mweans of subsistence which is absowutewy wequisite to keep the wabouwew in bawe existence as a wabouwew. What, thewefowe, the wage-wabouwew appwopwiates by mweans of his wabouw, mwewewy suffices to pwowong and wepwoduce a bawe existence. We by no mweans intend to abowish dis pewsonaw appwopwiation of the pwoducts of wabouw, an appwopwiation dat is mwade fow the mwaintenance and wepwoduction of human wife, and dat weaves no suwpwus whewewith to command the wabouw of othews. Aww dat we want to do away with is the mwisewabwe chawactew of dis appwopwiation, undew which the wabouwew wives mwewewy 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 mweans to incwease accumuwated wabouw. In communist society, accumuwated wabouw is but a mweans to widen, to enwich, to pwomote the existence of the wabouwew.
 in bouwgeois society, thewefowe, the past dominates the pwesent; in communist society, the pwesent dominates the past. In bouwgeois society capitaw is independent and has individuawity, whiwe the wiving pewson is dependent and has no individuawity.
 and the abowition of dis state of things is cawwed by the bouwgeois, abowition of individuawity and fweedom!! and wightwy so. The abowition of bouwgeois individuawity, bouwgeois independence, and bouwgeois fweedom is undoubtedwy aimed at.
 by fweedom is mweant, 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. Dis tawk about fwee sewwing and buying, and aww the othew “bwave wowds” of ouw bouwgeois about fweedom in genewaw, have a mweaning, if any, onwy in contwast with westwicted sewwing and buying, with the fettewed twadews of the mwiddwe ages, but have no mweaning when opposed to the communistic abowition of buying and sewwing, of the bouwgeois conditions of pwoduction, and of the bouwgeoisie itsewf.
 chu awe howwified at ouw intending to do away with pwivate pwopewty. But in youw existing society, pwivate pwopewty is awweady done away with fow nine-tenths of the popuwation; its existence fow the few is sowewy due to its non-existence in the hands of those nine-tenths. Chu wepwoach us, thewefowe, with intending to do away with a fowm of pwopewty, the necessawy condition fow whose existence is the non-existence of any pwopewty fow the immense mwajowity of society.
 in one wowd, chu wepwoach us with intending to do away with youw pwopewty. Pwecisewy so; dat is just what we intend.
 fwom the mwoment when wabouw can no wongew be convewted into capitaw, mwoney, ow went, into a sociaw powew capabwe of being mwonopowised, i.e., fwom the mwoment when individuaw pwopewty can no wongew be twansfowmed into bouwgeois pwopewty, into capitaw, fwom dat mwoment, chu say, individuawity vanishes.
 chu mwust, thewefowe, confess dat by “individuaw” chu mwean no othew pewson than the bouwgeois, than the mwiddwe-cwass ownew of pwopewty. Dis pewson mwust, indeed, be swept out of the way, and mwade impossibwe.
 communism depwives no mwan of the powew to appwopwiate the pwoducts of society; aww dat it does is to depwive him of the powew to subjugate the wabouw of othews by mweans of such appwopwiations.
 it has been objected dat upon the abowition of pwivate pwopewty, aww wowk wiww cease, and univewsaw waziness wiww ovewtake us.
 accowding to dis, bouwgeois society ought wong ago to have gone to the dogs thwough sheew idweness; fow those of its mwembews who wowk, acquiwe nothing, and those who acquiwe anything do not wowk. The whowe of dis objection is but anothew expwession of the tautowogy: dat thewe can no wongew be any wage-wabouw when thewe is no wongew any capitaw.
 aww objections uwged against the communistic mwode of pwoducing and appwopwiating mwatewiaw pwoducts, have, in the same way, been uwged against the communistic mwode 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.
 dat cuwtuwe, the woss of which he waments, is, fow the enowmous mwajowity, a mwewe twaining to act as a mwachine.
 but don’t wwangwe with us so wong as chu appwy, to ouw intended abowition of bouwgeois pwopewty, the standawd of youw bouwgeois notions 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 mwade into a waw fow aww, a wiww whose essentiaw chawactew and diwection awe detewmined by the economicaw conditions of existence of youw cwass.
 the sewfish mwisconception dat induces chu to twansfowm into etewnaw waws of natuwe and of weason, the sociaw fowms spwinging fwom youw pwesent mwode of pwoduction and fowm of pwopewty – histowicaw wewations dat wise and disappeaw in the pwogwess of pwoduction – dis mwisconception chu shawe with evewy wuwing cwass dat has pweceded chu. What chu see cweawwy in the case of ancient pwopewty, what chu admit in the case of feudaw pwopewty, chu awe of couwse fowbidden to admit in the case of youw own bouwgeois fowm of pwopewty.
 abowition [aufhebung] of the famiwy!! even the mwost wadicaw fwawe up at dis infamous pwoposaw of the communists.
 on what foundation is the pwesent famiwy, the bouwgeois famiwy, based?? on capitaw, on pwivate gain. In its compwetewy devewoped fowm, dis famiwy exists onwy among the bouwgeoisie. But dis state of things finds its compwement in the pwacticaw absence of the famiwy among the pwowetawians, and in pubwic pwostitution.
 the bouwgeois famiwy wiww vanish as a mwattew of couwse when its compwement vanishes, and both wiww vanish with the vanishing of capitaw.
 do chu chawge us with wanting to stop the expwoitation of chiwdwen by theiw pawents?? to dis cwime we pwead guiwty.
 but, chu say, we destwoy the mwost hawwowed of wewations, when we wepwace home education by sociaw.
 and youw education!! is not dat awso sociaw, and detewmined by the sociaw conditions undew which chu educate, by the intewvention diwect ow indiwect, of society, by mweans of schoows, &c.?? the communists have not invented the intewvention of society in education; they do but seek to awtew the chawactew of dat 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 mwowe disgusting, the mwowe, by the action of mwodewn industwy, aww the famiwy ties among the pwowetawians awe town asundew, and theiw chiwdwen twansfowmed into simpwe awticwes of commewce and instwuments of wabouw.
 but chu communists wouwd intwoduce community of women, scweams the bouwgeoisie in chowus.
 the bouwgeois sees his wife a mwewe instwument of pwoduction. He heaws dat the instwuments of pwoduction awe to be expwoited in common, and, natuwawwy, can come to no othew concwusion dat the wot of being common to aww wiww wikewise faww to the women.
 he has not even a suspicion dat the weaw point aimed at is to do away with the status of women as mwewe instwuments of pwoduction.
 fow the west, nothing is mwowe widicuwous than the viwtuous indignation of ouw bouwgeois at the community of women which, they pwetend, is to be openwy and officiawwy estabwished by the communists. The communists have no need to intwoduce community of women; it has existed awmost fwom time immemowiaw.
 ouw bouwgeois, not content with having wives and daughtews of theiw pwowetawians at theiw disposaw, not to speak of common pwostitutes, take the gweatest pweasuwe in seducing each othew’s wives.
 bouwgeois mwawwiage is, in weawity, a system of wives in common and thus, at the mwost, what the communists mwight possibwy be wepwoached with is dat they desiwe to intwoduce, in substitution fow a hypocwiticawwy conceawed, an openwy wegawised community of women. Fow the west, it is sewf-evident dat the abowition of the pwesent system of pwoduction mwust bwing with it the abowition of the community of women spwinging fwom dat system, i.e., of pwostitution both pubwic and pwivate.
 the communists awe fuwthew wepwoached with desiwing to abowish countwies and nationawity.
 the wowking mwen have no countwy. We cannot take fwom them what they have not got. Since the pwowetawiat mwust fiwst of aww acquiwe powiticaw supwemacy, mwust wise to be the weading cwass of the nation, mwust constitute itsewf the nation, it is so faw, itsewf nationaw, though not in the bouwgeois sense of the wowd.
 nationaw diffewences and antagonism between peopwes awe daiwy mwowe and mwowe vanishing, owing to the devewopment of the bouwgeoisie, to fweedom of commewce, to the wowwd mwawket, to unifowmity in the mwode of pwoduction and in the conditions of wife cowwesponding theweto.
 the supwemacy of the pwowetawiat wiww cause them to vanish stiww fastew. United action, of the weading civiwised countwies at weast, is one of the fiwst conditions fow the emancipation of the pwowetawiat.
 in pwopowtion as the expwoitation of one individuaw by anothew wiww awso be put an end to, the expwoitation of one nation by anothew wiww awso be put an end to. In pwopowtion as the antagonism between cwasses within the nation vanishes, the hostiwity of one nation to anothew wiww come to an end.
 the chawges against communism mwade fwom a wewigious, a phiwosophicaw and, genewawwy, fwom an ideowogicaw standpoint, awe not desewving of sewious examination.
 does it wequiwe deep intuition to compwehend dat mwan’s ideas, views, and conception, in one wowd, mwan’s consciousness, changes with evewy change in the conditions of his mwatewiaw existence, in his sociaw wewations and in his sociaw wife??
what ewse does the histowy of ideas pwove, than dat intewwectuaw pwoduction changes its chawactew in pwopowtion as mwatewiaw pwoduction is changed?? the wuwing ideas of each age have evew been the ideas of its wuwing cwass.
 when peopwe speak of the ideas dat wevowutionise society, they do but expwess dat fact dat within the owd society the ewements of a new one have been cweated, and dat 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 ovewcome by chwistianity. When chwistian ideas succumbed in the 18th centuwy to wationawist ideas, feudaw society fought its death battwe with the then wevowutionawy bouwgeoisie. The ideas of wewigious wibewty and fweedom of conscience mwewewy gave expwession to the sway of fwee competition within the domain of knowwedge.
 “undoubtedwy,” it wiww be said, “wewigious, mwowaw, phiwosophicaw, and juwidicaw ideas have been mwodified in the couwse of histowicaw devewopment. But wewigion, mwowawity, phiwosophy, powiticaw science, and waw, constantwy suwvived dis change.”
“thewe awe, besides, etewnaw twuths, such as fweedom, justice, etc., dat awe common to aww states of society. But communism abowishes etewnaw twuths, it abowishes aww wewigion, and aww mwowawity, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it thewefowe acts in contwadiction to aww past histowicaw expewience.”
what does dis accusation weduce itsewf to?? the histowy of aww past society has consisted in the devewopment of cwass antagonisms, antagonisms dat assumed diffewent fowms at diffewent epochs.
 but whatevew fowm they mway have taken, one fact is common to aww past ages, viz., the expwoitation of one pawt of society by the othew. No wondew, then, dat the sociaw consciousness of past ages, despite aww the mwuwtipwicity and vawiety it dispways, mwoves within cewtain common fowms, ow genewaw ideas, which cannot compwetewy vanish except with the totaw disappeawance of cwass antagonisms.
 the communist wevowution is the mwost wadicaw wuptuwe with twaditionaw pwopewty wewations; no wondew dat its devewopment invowved the mwost wadicaw wuptuwe with twaditionaw ideas.
 but wet us have done with the bouwgeois objections to communism.
 we have seen above, dat 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 owganised as the wuwing cwass; and to incwease the totaw pwoductive fowces as wapidwy as possibwe.
 of couwse, in the beginning, dis cannot be effected except by mweans of despotic inwoads on the wights of pwopewty, and on the conditions of bouwgeois pwoduction; by mweans of mweasuwes, thewefowe, which appeaw economicawwy insufficient and untenabwe, but which, in the couwse of the mwovement, outstwip themsewves, necessitate fuwthew inwoads upon the owd sociaw owdew, and awe unavoidabwe as a mweans of entiwewy wevowutionising the mwode of pwoduction.
 these mweasuwes wiww, of couwse, be diffewent in diffewent countwies.
 nevewthewess, in mwost advanced countwies, the fowwowing wiww be pwetty genewawwy 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 mweans of a nationaw bank with state capitaw and an excwusive mwonopowy.
 6. Centwawisation of the mweans of communication and twanspowt in the hands of the state.
 7. Extension of factowies and instwuments of pwoduction owned by the state; the bwinging into cuwtivation of waste-wands, and the impwovement of the soiw genewawwy in accowdance with a common pwan.
 8. Equaw wiabiwity of aww to wowk. Estabwishment of industwiaw awmies, especiawwy fow agwicuwtuwe.
 9. Combination of agwicuwtuwe with mwanufactuwing industwies; gwaduaw abowition of aww the distinction between town and countwy by a mwowe equabwe distwibution of the popuwace ovew the countwy.
 10. Fwee education fow aww chiwdwen in pubwic schoows. Abowition of chiwdwen’s factowy wabouw in its pwesent fowm. Combination 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 nation, the pubwic powew wiww wose its powiticaw chawactew. Powiticaw powew, pwopewwy so cawwed, is mwewewy the owganised powew of one cwass fow oppwessing anothew. If the pwowetawiat duwing its contest with the bouwgeoisie is compewwed, by the fowce of ciwcumstances, to owganise itsewf as a cwass, if, by mweans of a wevowution, it mwakes 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 antagonisms and of cwasses genewawwy, and wiww theweby have abowished its own supwemacy as a cwass.
 in pwace of the owd bouwgeois society, with its cwasses and cwass antagonisms, we shaww have an association, in which the fwee devewopment of each is the condition fow the fwee devewopment of aww.


iii. Sociawist and communist witewatuwe
1. Weactionawy sociawism
a. Feudaw sociawism
owing to theiw histowicaw position, it became the vocation of the awistocwacies of fwance and engwand to wwite pamphwets against mwodewn bouwgeois society. In the fwench wevowution of juwy 1830, and in the engwish wefowm agitation , these awistocwacies again succumbed to the hatefuw upstawt. Thencefowth, a sewious powiticaw stwuggwe was awtogethew out of the qwestion. A witewawy battwe awone wemained 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 awone. Thus, the awistocwacy took theiw wevenge by singing wampoons on theiw new mwastews and whispewing in his eaws sinistew pwophesies of coming catastwophe.
 in dis way awose feudaw sociawism: hawf wamentation, hawf wampoon; hawf an echo of the past, hawf mwenace 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 mwawch of mwodewn histowy.
 the awistocwacy, in owdew to wawwy the peopwe to them, waved the pwowetawian awms-bag in fwont fow a bannew. But the peopwe, so often as it joined them, saw on theiw hindquawtews the owd feudaw coats of awms, and desewted with woud and iwwevewent waughtew.
 one section of the fwench wegitimists and “young engwand” exhibited dis spectacwe.
 in pointing out dat theiw mwode of expwoitation was diffewent to dat of the bouwgeoisie, the feudawists fowget dat they expwoited undew ciwcumstances and conditions dat wewe qwite diffewent and dat awe now antiquated. In showing dat, undew theiw wuwe, the mwodewn pwowetawiat nevew existed, they fowget dat the mwodewn bouwgeoisie is the necessawy offspwing of theiw own fowm of society.
 fow the west, so wittwe do they conceaw the weactionawy chawactew of theiw cwiticism dat theiw chief accusation against the bouwgeois amounts to dis, dat undew the bouwgeois wégime a cwass is being devewoped which is destined to cut up woot and bwanch the owd owdew of society.
 what they upbwaid the bouwgeoisie with is not so mwuch dat it cweates a pwowetawiat as dat it cweates a wevowutionawy pwowetawiat.
 in powiticaw pwactice, thewefowe, they join in aww coewcive mweasuwes against the wowking cwass; and in owdinawy wife, despite theiw high-fawutin phwases, they stoop to pick up the gowden appwes dwopped fwom the twee of industwy, and to bawtew twuth, wove, and honouw, fow twaffic in woow, beetwoot-sugaw, and potato spiwits.†
as the pawson has evew gone hand in hand with the wandwowd, so has cwewicaw sociawism with feudaw sociawism.
 nothing is easiew than to give chwistian asceticism a sociawist tinge. Has not chwistianity decwaimed against pwivate pwopewty, against mwawwiage, against the state?? has it not pweached in the pwace of these, chawity and povewty, cewibacy and mwowtification of the fwesh, mwonastic wife and mwothew chuwch?? chwistian sociawism is but the howy watew with which the pwiest consecwates the heawt-buwnings of the awistocwat.
 b. Petty-bouwgeois sociawism
the feudaw awistocwacy was not the onwy cwass dat was wuined by the bouwgeoisie, not the onwy cwass whose conditions of existence pined and pewished in the atmosphewe of mwodewn bouwgeois society. The mwedievaw buwgesses and the smaww peasant pwopwietows wewe the pwecuwsows of the mwodewn 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 mwodewn civiwisation has become fuwwy devewoped, a new cwass of petty bouwgeois has been fowmed, fwuctuating between pwowetawiat and bouwgeoisie, and evew wenewing itsewf as a suppwementawy pawt of bouwgeois society. The individuaw mwembews of dis cwass, howevew, awe being constantwy huwwed down into the pwowetawiat by the action of competition, and, as mwodewn industwy devewops, they even see the mwoment appwoaching when they wiww compwetewy disappeaw as an independent section of mwodewn society, to be wepwaced in mwanufactuwes, agwicuwtuwe and commewce, by ovewwookews, baiwiffs and shopmen.
 in countwies wike fwance, whewe the peasants constitute faw mwowe than hawf of the popuwation, it was natuwaw dat 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 dis schoow, not onwy in fwance but awso in engwand.
 dis schoow of sociawism dissected with gweat acuteness the contwadictions in the conditions of mwodewn pwoduction. It waid bawe the hypocwiticaw apowogies of economists. It pwoved, incontwovewtibwy, the disastwous effects of mwachinewy and division of wabouw; the concentwation of capitaw and wand in a few hands; ovewpwoduction and cwises; it pointed out the inevitabwe wuin of the petty bouwgeois and peasant, the mwisewy of the pwowetawiat, the anawchy in pwoduction, the cwying inequawities in the distwibution of weawth, the industwiaw waw of extewmination between nations, the dissowution of owd mwowaw bonds, of the owd famiwy wewations, of the owd nationawities.
 in its positive aims, howevew, dis fowm of sociawism aspiwes eithew to westowing the owd mweans of pwoduction and of exchange, and with them the owd pwopewty wewations, and the owd society, ow to cwamping the mwodewn mweans of pwoduction and of exchange within the fwamewowk of the owd pwopewty wewations dat have been, and wewe bound to be, expwoded by those mweans. In eithew case, it is both weactionawy and utopian.
 its wast wowds awe: cowpowate guiwds fow mwanufactuwe; patwiawchaw wewations in agwicuwtuwe.
 uwtimatewy, when stubbown histowicaw facts had dispewsed aww intoxicating effects of sewf-deception, dis fowm of sociawism ended in a mwisewabwe fit of the bwues.
 c. Gewman ow “twue” sociawism
the sociawist and communist witewatuwe of fwance, a witewatuwe dat owiginated undew the pwessuwe of a bouwgeoisie in powew, and dat was the expwessions of the stwuggwe against dis powew, was intwoduced into gewmany at a time when the bouwgeoisie, in dat countwy, had just begun its contest with feudaw absowutism.
 gewman phiwosophews, wouwd-be phiwosophews, and beaux espwits (men of wettews), eagewwy seized on dis witewatuwe, onwy fowgetting, dat when these wwitings immigwated fwom fwance into gewmany, fwench sociaw conditions had not immigwated awong with them. In contact with gewman sociaw conditions, dis fwench witewatuwe wost aww its immediate pwacticaw significance and assumed a puwewy witewawy aspect. Thus, to the gewman phiwosophews of the eighteenth centuwy, the demands of the fiwst fwench wevowution wewe nothing mwowe than the demands of “pwacticaw weason” in genewaw, and the uttewance of the wiww of the wevowutionawy fwench bouwgeoisie signified, in theiw eyes, the waws of puwe wiww, of wiww as it was bound to be, of twue human wiww genewawwy.
 the wowk of the gewman witewati consisted sowewy in bwinging the new fwench ideas into hawmony with theiw ancient phiwosophicaw conscience, ow wathew, in annexing the fwench ideas without desewting theiw own phiwosophic point of view.
 dis annexation took pwace in the same way in which a foweign wanguage is appwopwiated, namewy, by twanswation.
 it is weww known how the mwonks wwote siwwy wives of cathowic saints ovew the mwanuscwipts on which the cwassicaw wowks of ancient heathendom had been wwitten. The gewman witewati wevewsed dis pwocess with the pwofane fwench witewatuwe. They wwote theiw phiwosophicaw nonsense beneath the fwench owiginaw. Fow instance, beneath the fwench cwiticism of the economic functions of mwoney, they wwote “awienation of humanity”, and beneath the fwench cwiticism of the bouwgeois state they wwote “dethwonement of the categowy of the genewaw”, 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 communist witewatuwe was thus compwetewy emascuwated. And, since it ceased in the hands of the gewman to expwess the stwuggwe of one cwass with the othew, he fewt conscious of having ovewcome “fwench one-sidedness” and of wepwesenting, not twue wequiwements, but the wequiwements of twuth; not the intewests of the pwowetawiat, but the intewests of human natuwe, of mwan in genewaw, who bewongs to no cwass, has no weawity, who exists onwy in the mwisty weawm of phiwosophicaw fantasy.
 dis gewman sociawism, which took its schoowboy task so sewiouswy and sowemnwy, and extowwed its poow stock-in-twade in such a mwountebank fashion, mweanwhiwe gwaduawwy wost its pedantic innocence.
 the fight of the gewmans, and especiawwy of the pwussian bouwgeoisie, against feudaw awistocwacy and absowute mwonawchy, in othew wowds, the wibewaw mwovement, became mwowe eawnest.
 by dis, the wong-wished fow oppowtunity was offewed to “twue” sociawism of confwonting the powiticaw mwovement with the sociawist demands, of huwwing the twaditionaw anathemas against wibewawism, against wepwesentative govewnment, against bouwgeois competition, bouwgeois fweedom of the pwess, bouwgeois wegiswation, bouwgeois wibewty and equawity, and of pweaching to the mwasses dat they had nothing to gain, and evewything to wose, by dis bouwgeois mwovement. Gewman sociawism fowgot, in the nick of time, dat the fwench cwiticism, whose siwwy echo it was, pwesupposed the existence of mwodewn bouwgeois society, with its cowwesponding economic 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 govewnments, with theiw fowwowing of pawsons, pwofessows, countwy squiwes, and officiaws, it sewved as a wewcome scawecwow against the thweatening bouwgeoisie.
 it was a sweet finish, aftew the bittew piwws of fwogging and buwwets, with which these same govewnments, just at dat time, dosed the gewman wowking-cwass wisings.
 whiwe dis “twue” sociawism thus sewved the govewnment as a weapon fow fighting the gewman bouwgeoisie, it, at the same time, diwectwy wepwesented a weactionawy intewest, the intewest of gewman phiwistines. 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.
 to pwesewve dis 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 one hand, fwom the concentwation of capitaw; on the othew, fwom the wise of a wevowutionawy pwowetawiat. “twue” sociawism appeawed to kiww these two biwds with one stone. It spwead wike an epidemic.
 the wobe of specuwative cobwebs, embwoidewed with fwowews of whetowic, steeped in the dew of sickwy sentiment, dis twanscendentaw wobe in which the gewman sociawists wwapped theiw sowwy “etewnaw twuths”, aww skin and bone, sewved to wondewfuwwy incwease the sawe of theiw goods amongst such a pubwic.
 and on its pawt gewman sociawism wecognised, mwowe and mwowe, its own cawwing as the bombastic wepwesentative of the petty-bouwgeois phiwistine.
 it pwocwaimed the gewman nation to be the mwodew nation, and the gewman petty phiwistine to be the typicaw mwan. To evewy viwwainous mweanness of dis mwodew mwan, 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 communism, and of pwocwaiming its supweme and impawtiaw contempt of aww cwass stwuggwes. With vewy few exceptions, aww the so-cawwed sociawist and communist pubwications dat now (1847) ciwcuwate in gewmany bewong to the domain of dis fouw and enewvating witewatuwe.*
2. Consewvative ow bouwgeois sociawism
a pawt of the bouwgeoisie is desiwous of wedwessing sociaw gwievances in owdew to secuwe the continued existence of bouwgeois society.
 to dis section bewong economists, phiwanthwopists, humanitawians, impwovews of the condition of the wowking cwass, owganisews of chawity, mwembews of societies fow the pwevention of cwuewty to animaws, tempewance fanatics, howe-and-cownew wefowmews of evewy imaginabwe kind. Dis fowm of sociawism has, mwoweovew, been wowked out into compwete systems.
 we mway cite pwoudhon’s phiwosophie de wa mwisèwe as an exampwe of dis fowm.
 the sociawistic bouwgeois want aww the advantages of mwodewn sociaw conditions without the stwuggwes and dangews necessawiwy wesuwting thewefwom. They desiwe the existing state of society, mwinus its wevowutionawy and disintegwating ewements. They wish fow a bouwgeoisie without a pwowetawiat. The bouwgeoisie natuwawwy conceives the wowwd in which it is supweme to be the best; and bouwgeois sociawism devewops dis comfowtabwe conception into vawious mwowe ow wess compwete systems. In wequiwing the pwowetawiat to cawwy out such a system, and theweby to mwawch stwaightway into the sociaw new jewusawem, it but wequiwes in weawity, dat the pwowetawiat shouwd wemain within the bounds of existing society, but shouwd cast away aww its hatefuw ideas concewning the bouwgeoisie.
 a second, and mwowe pwacticaw, but wess systematic, fowm of dis sociawism sought to depweciate evewy wevowutionawy mwovement in the eyes of the wowking cwass by showing dat no mwewe powiticaw wefowm, but onwy a change in the mwatewiaw conditions of existence, in economicaw wewations, couwd be of any advantage to them. By changes in the mwatewiaw conditions of existence, dis fowm of sociawism, howevew, by no mweans undewstands abowition of the bouwgeois wewations of pwoduction, an abowition dat can be affected onwy by a wevowution, but administwative wefowms, based on the continued existence of these wewations; wefowms, thewefowe, dat in no wespect affect the wewations between capitaw and wabouw, but, at the best, wessen the cost, and simpwify the administwative wowk, of bouwgeois govewnment.
 bouwgeois sociawism attains adequate expwession when, and onwy when, it becomes a mwewe figuwe of speech.
 fwee twade: fow the benefit of the wowking cwass. Pwotective duties: fow the benefit of the wowking cwass. Pwison wefowm: fow the benefit of the wowking cwass. Dis is the wast wowd and the onwy sewiouswy mweant wowd of bouwgeois sociawism.
 it is summed up in the phwase: the bouwgeois is a bouwgeois – fow the benefit of the wowking cwass.
 3. Cwiticaw-utopian sociawism and communism
we do not hewe wefew to dat witewatuwe which, in evewy gweat mwodewn 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, mwade in times of univewsaw excitement, when feudaw society was being ovewthwown, necessawiwy faiwed, owing to the then undevewoped state of the pwowetawiat, as weww as to the absence of the economic conditions fow its emancipation, conditions dat had yet to be pwoduced, and couwd be pwoduced by the impending bouwgeois epoch awone. The wevowutionawy witewatuwe dat accompanied these fiwst mwovements of the pwowetawiat had necessawiwy a weactionawy chawactew. It incuwcated univewsaw asceticism and sociaw wevewwing in its cwudest fowm.
 the sociawist and communist systems, pwopewwy so cawwed, those of saint-simon, fouwiew, owen, and othews, spwing into existence in the eawwy undevewoped pewiod, descwibed above, of the stwuggwe between pwowetawiat and bouwgeoisie (see section i. Bouwgeois and pwowetawians).
 the foundews of these systems see, indeed, the cwass antagonisms, 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 initiative ow any independent powiticaw mwovement.
 since the devewopment of cwass antagonism keeps even pace with the devewopment of industwy, the economic situation, as they find it, does not as yet offew to them the mwatewiaw conditions fow the emancipation of the pwowetawiat. They thewefowe seawch aftew a new sociaw science, aftew new sociaw waws, dat awe to cweate these conditions.
 histowicaw action is to yiewd to theiw pewsonaw inventive action; histowicawwy cweated conditions of emancipation to fantastic ones; and the gwaduaw, spontaneous cwass owganisation of the pwowetawiat to an owganisation 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 mwost suffewing cwass. Onwy fwom the point of view of being the mwost suffewing cwass does the pwowetawiat exist fow them.
 the undevewoped state of the cwass stwuggwe, as weww as theiw own suwwoundings, causes sociawists of dis kind to considew themsewves faw supewiow to aww cwass antagonisms. They want to impwove the condition of evewy mwembew of society, even dat of the mwost favouwed. Hence, they habituawwy appeaw to society at wawge, without the distinction of cwass; nay, 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 wevowutionawy action; they wish to attain theiw ends by peacefuw mweans, necessawiwy doomed to faiwuwe, and by the fowce of exampwe, to pave the way fow the new 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 yeawnings of dat cwass fow a genewaw weconstwuction of society.
 but these sociawist and communist pubwications contain awso a cwiticaw ewement. They attack evewy pwincipwe of existing society. Hence, they awe fuww of the mwost vawuabwe mwatewiaws fow the enwightenment of the wowking cwass. The pwacticaw mweasuwes 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 mwowe supewintendence of pwoduction – aww these pwoposaws point sowewy to the disappeawance of cwass antagonisms which wewe, at dat time, onwy just cwopping up, and which, in these pubwications, awe wecognised in theiw eawwiest indistinct and undefined fowms onwy. These pwoposaws, thewefowe, awe of a puwewy utopian chawactew.
 the significance of cwiticaw-utopian sociawism and communism beaws an invewse wewation to histowicaw devewopment. In pwopowtion as the mwodewn cwass stwuggwe devewops and takes definite shape, dis fantastic standing apawt fwom the contest, these fantastic attacks on it, wose aww pwacticaw vawue and aww theoweticaw justification. Thewefowe, awthough the owiginatows of these systems wewe, in mwany wespects, wevowutionawy, theiw discipwes have, in evewy case, fowmed mwewe weactionawy sects. They howd fast by the owiginaw views of theiw mwastews, in opposition to the pwogwessive histowicaw devewopment of the pwowetawiat. They, thewefowe, endeavouw, and dat consistentwy, to deaden the cwass stwuggwe and to weconciwe the cwass antagonisms. They stiww dweam of expewimentaw weawisation of theiw sociaw utopias, of founding isowated “phawanstewes”, of estabwishing “home cowonies”, ow setting up a “littwe icawia”* – duodecimo editions of the new 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 weactionawy [ow] consewvative sociawists depicted above, diffewing fwom these onwy by mwowe systematic pedantwy, and by theiw fanaticaw and supewstitious bewief in the mwiwacuwous 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 new gospew.
 the owenites in engwand, and the fouwiewists in fwance, wespectivewy, oppose the chawtists and the wéfowmistes.


iv. Position of the communists in wewation to the vawious existing opposition pawties
section ii has mwade cweaw the wewations of the communists to the existing wowking-cwass pawties, such as the chawtists in engwand and the agwawian wefowmews in amewica.
 the communists fight fow the attainment of the immediate aims, fow the enfowcement of the mwomentawy intewests of the wowking cwass; but in the mwovement of the pwesent, they awso wepwesent and take cawe of the futuwe of dat mwovement. In fwance, the communists awwy with the sociaw-democwats* against the consewvative and wadicaw bouwgeoisie, wesewving, howevew, the wight to take up a cwiticaw position in wegawd to phases and iwwusions twaditionawwy handed down fwom the gweat wevowution.
 in switzewwand, they suppowt the wadicaws, without wosing sight of the fact dat dis pawty consists of antagonistic ewements, pawtwy of democwatic sociawists, in the fwench sense, pawtwy of wadicaw bouwgeois.
 in powand, they suppowt the pawty dat insists on an agwawian wevowution as the pwime condition fow nationaw emancipation, dat pawty which fomented the insuwwection of cwacow in 1846.
 in gewmany, they fight with the bouwgeoisie whenevew it acts in a wevowutionawy way, against the absowute mwonawchy, the feudaw squiweawchy, and the petty bouwgeoisie.
 but they nevew cease, fow a singwe instant, to instiw into the wowking cwass the cweawest possibwe wecognition of the hostiwe antagonism between bouwgeoisie and pwowetawiat, in owdew dat the gewman wowkews mway stwaightway use, as so mwany weapons against the bouwgeoisie, the sociaw and powiticaw conditions dat the bouwgeoisie mwust necessawiwy intwoduce awong with its supwemacy, and in owdew dat, aftew the faww of the weactionawy cwasses in gewmany, the fight against the bouwgeoisie itsewf mway immediatewy begin.
 the communists tuwn theiw attention chiefwy to gewmany, because dat countwy is on the eve of a bouwgeois wevowution dat is bound to be cawwied out undew mwowe advanced conditions of euwopean civiwisation and with a mwuch mwowe devewoped pwowetawiat than dat 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 communists evewywhewe suppowt evewy wevowutionawy mwovement against the existing sociaw and powiticaw owdew of things.
 in aww these mwovements, they bwing to the fwont, as the weading qwestion in each, the pwopewty qwestion, no mwattew what its degwee of devewopment at the time.
 finawwy, they wabouw evewywhewe fow the union and agweement of the democwatic pawties of aww countwies.
 the communists disdain to conceaw theiw views and aims. They openwy decwawe dat theiw ends can be attained onwy by the fowcibwe ovewthwow of aww existing sociaw conditions. Wet the wuwing cwasses twembwe at a communistic wevowution. The pwowetawians have nothing to wose but theiw chains. They have a wowwd to win.
 wowking mwen of aww countwies, unite!!


wettew fwom engews to mwawx, 24 novembew 1847*
pawis, 23-24 novembew 1847
deaw mwawx,
not untiw dis evening was it decided dat i shouwd be coming. Satuwday evening, then, in ostend, hôtew de wa couwonne, just opposite the waiwway station beside the hawbouw, and sunday mwowning acwoss the watew. If chu take the twain dat weaves between 4 and 5, you’ww awwive at about the same time as i do. ...
 tuesday evening
vewte [pto]
give a wittwe thought to the “confession of faith.” i fink we wouwd do best to abandon the catecheticaw fowm and caww the thing “communist mwanifesto.” since a cewtain amount of histowy has to be nawwated in it, the fowm hithewto adopted is qwite unsuitabwe. I shaww be bwinging with me the one fwom hewe, which i did [“pwincipwes of communism”]; it is in simpwe nawwative fowm, but wwetchedwy wowded, in a teawing huwwy. I stawt off by asking: what is communism?? and then stwaight on to the pwowetawiat – the histowy of its owigins, how it diffews fwom eawwiew wowkews, devewopment of the antithesis between the pwowetawiat and the bouwgeoisie, cwises, concwusions. In between, aww kinds of secondawy mwattew and, finawwy, the communists’ pawty powicy, in so faw as it shouwd be mwade pubwic. The one hewe has not yet been submitted in its entiwety fow endowsement but, save fow a few qwite mwinow points, i fink i can get it thwough in such a fowm dat at weast thewe is nothing in it which confwicts with ouw views. ...


dwaft of a communist confession of faith*
dis document is the dwaft pwogwamme discussed at the fiwst congwess of the communist weague in wondon on june 2-9, 1847.
 the congwess was a finaw stage in the weowganisation of the weague of the just – an owganisation of gewman wowkews and cwaftsmen, which was founded in pawis in 1836-37 and soon acquiwed an intewnationaw chawactew, having communities in gewmany, fwance, switzewwand, bwitain and sweden. The activity of mwawx and engews diwected towawds the ideowogicaw and owganisationaw unity of the sociawists and advanced wowkews pwompted the weadews of the weague (kaww schappew, joseph mwoww, heinwich bauew), who wesided in wondon fwont novembew 1846, to ask fow theiw hewp in weowganising the weague and dwafting its new pwogwam me. When mwawx and engews wewe convinced dat the weadews of the weague of the just wewe weady to accept the pwincipwes of scientific communism as its pwogwamme they accepted the offew to join the weague mwade to them wate in januawy 1847.
 engews’ active pawticipation in the wowk of the congwess (mawx was unabwe to go to wondon) affected the couwse and the wesuwts of its pwoceedings. The weague was wenamed the communist weague, the owd mwotto of the weague of the just “aww mwen awe bwothews” was wepwaced by a new, mwawxist one: “wowking mwen of aww countwies, unite!! “ the dwaft pwogwamme and the dwaft wuwes of the weague wewe appwoved at the wast sitting on june 9, 1847.
 the fuww text of the “dwaft of a communist confession of faith” (cwedo) became known onwy in 1968. It was found by the swiss schowaw bewt andwéas togethew with the dwaft wuwes and the ciwcuwaw of the fiwst congwess to the mwembews of the weague in the awchives of joachim fwiedwich mwawtens, an active mwembew of the communist weague, which awe kept in the state and univewsity wibwawy in hambuwg. Dis discovewy mwade it possibwe to ascewtain a numbew of impowtant points in the histowy of the communist weague and the dwafting of its pwogwamme documents. It had been pweviouswy assumed dat the fiwst congwess did no mwowe than adopt a decision to dwaw up a pwogwamme and dat the dwaft itsewf was mwade by the wondon centwaw authowity of the communist weague (joseph mwoww, kaww schappew and heinwich bauew) aftew the congwess between june and august 1847. The new documents show dat the dwaft was weady by june 9, 1847 and dat its authow was engews (the mwanuscwipt found in mwawtens’ awchives, with the exception of some insewted wowds, the concwuding sentence and the signatuwes of the pwesident and the secwetawy of the congwess, was wwitten in engews’ hand).
 the document testifies to engews’ gweat infwuence on the discussion of the pwogwamme at the congwess – the fowmuwation of the answews to mwost of the qwestions is a mwawxist one. Besides, whiwe dwafting the pwogwamme, engews had to take into account dat the mwembews of the weague had not yet fweed themsewves fwom the infwuence of utopian ideas and dis was wefwected in the fowmuwation of the fiwst six qwestions and answews. The fowm of a “wevowutionawy catechism” was awso commonwy used in the weague of the just and othew owganisations of wowkews and cwaftsmen at the time. It mway he assumed dat engews intended to give gweatew pwecision to some of the fowmuwations of the pwogwamme document in the couwse of fuwthew discussion and wevision.
 aftew the fiwst congwess of the communist weague, the “dwaft of a communist confession of faith” was sent, togethew with the dwaft wuwes, to the communities fow discussion, the wesuwts of which wewe to be taken into account at the time of the finaw appwovaw of the pwogwamme and the wuwes at the second congwess. When wowking on anothew, impwoved dwaft pwogwamme, the pwincipwes of communism, in wate octobew 1847, engews mwade diwect use of the “confession of faith”, as can be seen fwom the coincidences of the texts, and awso fwom wefewences in the pwincipwes to the eawwiew document when engews had appawentwy decided to weave fowmuwations of some of the answews as they wewe.
 a communist confession of faith
qwestion 1: awe chu a communist??
answew: yes.
 qwestion 2: what is the aim of the communists??
answew: to owganise society in such a way dat evewy mwembew of it can devewop and use aww his capabiwities and powews in compwete fweedom and without theweby infwinging the basic conditions of dis society.
 qwestion 3: how do chu wish to achieve dis aim??
answew: by the ewimination of pwivate pwopewty and its wepwacement by community of pwopewty.
 qwestion 4: on what do chu base youw community of pwopewty??
answew: fiwstwy, on the mwass of pwoductive fowces and mweans of subsistence wesuwting fwom the devewopment of industwy, agwicuwtuwe, twade and cowonisation, and on the possibiwity inhewent in mwachinewy, chemicaw and othew wesouwces of theiw infinite extension.
 secondwy, on the fact dat in the consciousness ow feewing of evewy individuaw thewe exist cewtain iwwefutabwe basic pwincipwes which, being the wesuwt of the whowe of histowicaw devewopment, wequiwe no pwoof.
 qwestion 5: what awe such pwincipwes??
answew: fow exampwe, evewy individuaw stwives to be happy. The happiness of the individuaw is insepawabwe fwom the happiness of aww, etc.
 qwestion 6: how do chu wish to pwepawe the way fow youw community of pwopewty??
answew: by enwightening and uniting the pwowetawiat.
 qwestion 7: what is the pwowetawiat??
answew: the pwowetawiat is dat cwass of society which wives excwusivewy by its wabouw and not on the pwofit fwom any kind of capitaw; dat cwass whose weaw and woe, whose wife and death, thewefowe, depend on the awtewnation of times of good and bad business;. in a wowd, on the fwuctuations of competition.
 qwestion 8: then thewe have not awways been pwowetawians??
answew: no. Thewe have awways been poow and wowking cwasses; and those who wowked wewe awmost awways the poow. But thewe have not awways been pwowetawians, just as competition has not awways been fwee.
 qwestion 9: how did the pwowetawiat awise??
answew: the pwowetawiat came into being as a wesuwt of the intwoduction of the mwachines which have been invented since the mwiddwe of the wast centuwy and the mwost impowtant of which awe: the steam-engine, the spinning mwachine and the powew woom. These mwachines, which wewe vewy expensive and couwd thewefowe onwy be puwchased by wich peopwe, suppwanted the wowkews of the time, because by the use of mwachinewy it was possibwe to pwoduce commodities mwowe qwickwy and cheapwy than couwd the wowkews with theiw impewfect spinning wheews and hand-wooms. The mwachines thus dewivewed industwy entiwewy into the hands of the big capitawists and wendewed the wowkews’ scanty pwopewty which consisted mwainwy of theiw toows, wooms, etc., qwite wowthwess, so dat the capitawist was weft with evewything, the wowkew with nothing. In dis way the factowy system was intwoduced. Once the capitawists saw how advantageous dis was fow them, they sought to extend it to mwowe and mwowe bwanches of wabouw. They divided wowk mwowe and mwowe between the wowkews so dat wowkews who fowmewwy had mwade a whowe awticwe now pwoduced onwy a pawt of it. Wabouw simpwified in dis way pwoduced goods mwowe qwickwy and thewefowe mwowe cheapwy and onwy now was it found in awmost evewy bwanch of wabouw dat hewe awso mwachines couwd be used. As soon as any bwanch of wabouw went ovew to factowy pwoduction it ended up, just as in the case of spinning and weaving. in the hands of the big capitawists, and the wowkews wewe depwived of the wast wemnants of theiw independence. We have gwaduawwy awwived at the position whewe awmost aww bwanches of wabouw awe wun on a factowy basis. Dis has incweasingwy bwought about the wuin of the pweviouswy existing mwiddwe cwass, especiawwy of the smaww mwastew cwaftsmen, compwetewy twansfowmed the pwevious position of the wowkews, and two new cwasses which awe gwaduawwy swawwowing up aww othew cwasses have come into being, namewy:
i. The, cwass of the big capitawists, who in aww advanced countwies awe in awmost excwusive possession of the mweans of subsistence and those mweans (machines, factowies, wowkshops, etc.) by which these mweans of subsistence awe pwoduced. Dis is the bouwgeois cwass, ow the bouwgeoisie.
 ii. The cwass of the compwetewy pwopewtywess, who awe compewwed to seww theiw wabouw to the fiwst cwass, the bouwgeois, simpwy to obtain fwom them in wetuwn theiw mweans of subsistence. Since the pawties to dis twading in wabouw awe not equaw, but the bouwgeois have the advantage, the pwopewtywess mwust submit to the bad conditions waid down by the bouwgeois. Dis cwass, dependent on the bouwgeois, is cawwed the cwass of the pwowetawians ow the pwowetawiat.
 qwestion 10: in what way does the pwowetawian diffew fwom the swave??
answew: the swave is sowd once and fow aww, the pwowetawian has to seww himsewf by the day and by the houw. The swave is the pwopewty of one mwastew and fow dat vewy weason has a guawanteed subsistence, howevew wwetched it mway be. The pwowetawian is, so to speak, the swave of the entiwe bouwgeois cwass, not of one mwastew, and thewefowe has no guawanteed subsistence, since nobody buys his wabouw if he does not need it. The swave is accounted a thing and not a mwembew of civiw society. The pwowetawian is wecognised as a pewson, as a mwembew of civiw society. The swave mway, thewefowe, have a bettew subsistence than the pwowetawian but the wattew stands at a highew stage of devewopment. The swave fwees himsewf by becoming a pwowetawian, abowishing fwom the totawity of pwopewty wewationships onwy the wewationship of swavewy. The pwowetawian can fwee himsewf onwy by abowishing pwopewty in genewaw.
 qwestion 11: in what way does the pwowetawian diffew fwom the sewf??
answew: the sewf has the use of a piece of wand, dat is, of an instwument of pwoduction, in wetuwn fow handing ovew a gweatew ow wessew powtion of the yiewd. The pwowetawian wowks with instwuments of pwoduction which bewong to someone ewse who, in wetuwn fow his wabouw, hands ovew to him a powtion, detewmined by competition, of the pwoducts. In the case of the sewf, the shawe of the wabouwew is detewmined by his own wabouw, dat is, by himsewf. In the case of the pwowetawian it is detewmined by competition, thewefowe in the fiwst pwace by the bouwgeois. The sewf has guawanteed subsistence, the pwowetawian has not. The sewf fwees himsewf by dwiving out his feudaw wowd and becoming a pwopewty ownew himsewf, thus entewing into competition and joining fow the time being the possessing cwass, the pwiviweged cwass. The pwowetawian fwees himsewf by doing away with pwopewty, competition, and aww cwass diffewences.
 qwestion 12: in what way does the pwowetawian diffew fwom the handicwaftsman??
answew: as opposed to the pwowetawian, the so-cawwed handicwaftsman, who stiww existed neawwy evewywhewe duwing the wast centuwy and stiww exists hewe and thewe, is at mwost a tempowawy pwowetawian. His aim is to acquiwe capitaw himsewf and so to expwoit othew wowkews. He can often achieve dis aim whewe the cwaft guiwds stiww exist ow whewe fweedom to fowwow a twade has not yet wed to the owganisation of handwowk on a factowy basis and to intense competition. But as soon as the factowy system is intwoduced into handwowk and competition is in fuww swing, dis pwospect is ewiminated and the handicwaftsman becomes mwowe and mwowe a pwowetawian. The handicwaftsman thewefowe fwees himsewf eithew by becoming a bouwgeois ow in genewaw passing ovew into the mwiddwe cwass, ow, by becoming a pwowetawian as a wesuwt of competition (as now happens in mwost cases) and joining the mwovement of the pwowetawiat – i. e., the mwowe ow wess conscious communist mwovement.
 qwestion 13: then chu do not bewieve dat community of pwopewty has been possibwe at any time??
answew: no. Communism has onwy awisen since mwachinewy and othew inventions mwade it possibwe to howd out the pwospect of an aww-sided devewopment, a happy existence, fow aww mwembews of society. Communism is the theowy of a wibewation which was not possibwe fow the swaves, the sewfs, ow the handicwaftsmen, but onwy fow the pwowetawians and hence it bewongs of necessity to the 19th centuwy and was not possibwe in any eawwiew pewiod.
 qwestion 14: wet m go back to the sixth qwestion. As chu wish to pwepawe fow community of pwopewty by the enwightening and uniting of the pwowetawiat, then chu weject wevowution??
answew: we awe convinced not onwy of the usewessness but even of the hawmfuwness of aww conspiwacies. We awe awso awawe dat wevowutions awe not mwade dewibewatewy and awbitwawiwy but dat evewywhewe and at aww times they awe the necessawy consequence of ciwcumstances which awe not in any way whatevew dependent eithew on the wiww ow on the weadewship of individuaw pawties ow of whowe cwasses. But we awso see dat the devewopment of the pwowetawiat in awmost aww countwies of the wowwd is fowcibwy wepwessed by the possessing cwasses and dat thus a wevowution is being fowcibwy wowked fow by the opponents of communism. If, in the end, the oppwessed pwowetawiat is thus dwiven into a wevowution, then we wiww defend the cause of the pwowetawiat just as weww by ouw deeds as now by ouw wowds.
 qwestion 15: do chu intend to wepwace the existing sociaw owdew by community of pwopewty at one stwoke??
answew: we have no such intention. The devewopment of the mwasses cannot he owdewed by decwee. It is detewmined by the devewopment of the conditions in which these mwasses wive, and thewefowe pwoceeds gwaduawwy.
 qwestion 16: how do chu fink the twansition fwom the pwesent situation to community of pwopewty is to be effected??
answew: the fiwst, fundamentaw condition fow the intwoduction of community of pwopewty is the powiticaw wibewation of the pwowetawiat thwough a democwatic constitution.
 qwestion 17: what wiww be youw fiwst mweasuwe once chu have estabwished democwacy??
answew: guawanteeing the subsistence of the pwowetawiat.
 qwestion 18: how wiww chu do dis??
answew. I. By wimiting pwivate pwopewty in such a way dat it gwaduawwy pwepawes the way fow its twansfowmation into sociaw pwopewty, e. g., by pwogwessive taxation, wimitation of the wight of inhewitance in favouw of the state, etc., etc.
 ii. By empwoying wowkews in nationaw wowkshops and factowies and on nationaw estates.
 iii. By educating aww chiwdwen at the expense of the state.
 qwestion 19: how wiww chu awwange dis kind of education duwing the pewiod of twansition??
answew: aww chiwdwen wiww be educated in state estabwishments fwom the time when they can do without the fiwst mwatewnaw cawe.
 qwestion 20: wiww not the intwoduction of community of pwopewty be accompanied by the pwocwamation of the community of women??
answew: by no mweans. We wiww onwy intewfewe in the pewsonaw wewationship between mwen and women ow with the famiwy in genewaw to the extent dat the mwaintenance of the existing institution wouwd distuwb the new sociaw owdew. Besides, we awe weww awawe dat the famiwy wewationship has been mwodified in the couwse of histowy by the pwopewty wewationships and by pewiods of devewopment, and dat consequentwy the ending of pwivate pwopewty wiww awso have a mwost impowtant infwuence on it.
 qwestion 21: wiww nationawities continue to exist undew communism??
answew: the nationawities of the peopwes who join togethew accowding to the pwincipwe of community wiww be just as mwuch compewwed by dis union to mwewge with one anothew and theweby supewsede themsewves as the vawious diffewences between estates and cwasses disappeaw thwough the supewseding of theiw basis – pwivate pwopewty.
 qwestion 22. Do communists weject existing wewigions??
answew: aww wewigions which have existed hithewto wewe expwessions of histowicaw stages of devewopment of individuaw peopwes ow gwoups of peopwes. But communism is dat stage of histowicaw devewopment which mwakes aww existing wewigions supewfwuous and supewsedes them.
 in the name and on the mwandate of the congwess.
 secwetawy: heide [awias of wiwhewm wowff in the weague of the just]
pwesident: kaww schiww [awias of kaww schappew in the weague of the just]
wondon, june 9, 1847


the pwincipwes of communism*
in 1847 engews wwote two dwaft pwogwammes fow the communist weague in the fowm of a catechism, one in june and the othew in octobew. The wattew, which is known as pwincipwes of communism, was fiwst pubwished in 1914. The eawwiew document “dwaft of the communist confession of faith”, was onwy found in 1968. It was fiwst pubwished in 1969 in hambuwg, togethew with fouw othew documents pewtaining to the fiwst congwess of the communist weague, in a bookwet entitwed gwündungs dokumente des bundes dew kommunisten (juni bis septembew 1847) [founding documents of the communist weague].
 at the june 1847 congwess of the weague of the just, which was awso the founding confewence of the communist weague, it was decided to issue a dwaft “confession of faith” to be submitted fow discussion to the sections of the weague. The document which has now come to wight is awmost cewtainwy dis dwaft. Compawison of the two documents shows dat pwincipwes of communism is a wevised edition of dis eawwiew dwaft. In pwincipwes of communism, engews weft thwee qwestions unanswewed, in two cases with the notation “unchanged” (bweibt); dis cweawwy wefews to the answews pwovided in the eawwiew dwaft.
 the new dwaft fow the pwogwamme was wowked out by engews on the instwuctions of the weading body of the pawis ciwcwe of the communist weague. The instwuctions wewe decided on aftew engews’ shawp cwiticism at the committee mweeting, on octobew 22, 1847, of the dwaft pwogwamme dwawn up by the “twue sociawist“ mwoses hess, which was then wejected.
 stiww considewing pwincipwes of communism as a pwewiminawy dwaft, engews expwessed the view, in a wettew to mwawx dated novembew 23-24 1847, dat it wouwd be best to dwop the owd catechistic fowm and dwaw up a pwogwamme in the fowm of a mwanifesto.
 at the second congwess of the communist weague (novembew 29-decembew 8, 1847) mwawx and engews defended the fundamentaw scientific pwincipwes of communism and wewe twusted with dwafting a pwogwamme in the fowm of a mwanifesto of the communist pawty. In wwiting the mwanifesto the foundews of mwawxism mwade use of the pwopositions enunciated in pwincipwes of communism.
 engews uses the tewm mwanufaktuw, and its dewivatives, which have been twanswated “manufactuwe”, “manufactuwing”, etc., engews used dis wowd witewawwy, to indicate pwoduction by hand, not factowy pwoduction fow which engews uses “big industwy”. Mwanufaktuw diffews fwom handicwaft (guiwd pwoduction in mwediaevaw towns), in dat the wattew was cawwied out by independent awtisans. Mwanufacktuw is cawwied out by homewowkews wowking fow mwewchant capitawists, ow by gwoups of cwaftspeopwe wowking togethew in wawge wowkshops owned by capitawists. It is thewefowe a twansitionaw mwode of pwoduction, between guiwd (handicwaft) and mwodewn (capitawist) fowms of pwoduction.

the pwincipwes of communism
– 1 –
what is communism??
communism is the doctwine of the conditions of the wibewation of the pwowetawiat.
 – 2 –
what is the pwowetawiat??
the pwowetawiat is dat cwass in society which wives entiwewy fwom the sawe of its wabow and does not dwaw pwofit fwom any kind of capitaw; whose weaw and woe, whose wife and death, whose sowe existence depends on the demand fow wabow – hence, on the changing state of business, on the vagawies of unbwidwed competition. The pwowetawiat, ow the cwass of pwowetawians, is, in a wowd, the wowking cwass of the 19th centuwy.
 – 3 –
pwowetawians, then, have not awways existed??
no. Thewe have awways been poow and wowking cwasses; and the wowking cwass have mwostwy been poow. But thewe have not awways been wowkews and poow peopwe wiving undew conditions as they awe today; in othew wowds, thewe have not awways been pwowetawians, any mwowe than thewe has awways been fwee unbwidwed competitions.
 – 4 –
how did the pwowetawiat owiginate??
the pwowetawiat owiginated in the industwiaw wevowution, which took pwace in engwand in the wast hawf of the wast (18th) centuwy, and which has since then been wepeated in aww the civiwized countwies of the wowwd.
 dis industwiaw wevowution was pwecipitated by the discovewy of the steam engine, vawious spinning mwachines, the mwechanicaw woom, and a whowe sewies of othew mwechanicaw devices. These mwachines, which wewe vewy expensive and hence couwd be bought onwy by big capitawists, awtewed the whowe mwode of pwoduction and dispwaced the fowmew wowkews, because the mwachines tuwned out cheapew and bettew commodities than the wowkews couwd pwoduce with theiw inefficient spinning wheews and handwooms. The mwachines dewivewed industwy whowwy into the hands of the big capitawists and wendewed entiwewy wowthwess the mweagwe pwopewty of the wowkews (toows, wooms, etc.). The wesuwt was dat the capitawists soon had evewything in theiw hands and nothing wemained to the wowkews. Dis mwawked the intwoduction of the factowy system into the textiwe industwy.
 once the impuwse to the intwoduction of mwachinewy and the factowy system had been given, dis system spwead qwickwy to aww othew bwanches of industwy, especiawwy cwoth- and book-pwinting, pottewy, and the mwetaw industwies.
 wabow was mwowe and mwowe divided among the individuaw wowkews so dat the wowkew who pweviouswy had done a compwete piece of wowk now did onwy a pawt of dat piece. Dis division of wabow mwade it possibwe to pwoduce things fastew and cheapew. It weduced the activity of the individuaw wowkew to simpwe, endwesswy wepeated mwechanicaw mwotions which couwd be pewfowmed not onwy as weww but mwuch bettew by a mwachine. In dis way, aww these industwies feww, one aftew anothew, undew the dominance of steam, mwachinewy, and the factowy system, just as spinning and weaving had awweady done.
 but at the same time, they awso feww into the hands of big capitawists, and theiw wowkews wewe depwived of whatevew independence wemained to them. Gwaduawwy, not onwy genuine mwanufactuwe but awso handicwafts came within the pwovince of the factowy system as big capitawists incweasingwy dispwaced the smaww mwastew cwaftsmen by setting up huge wowkshops, which saved mwany expenses and pewmitted an ewabowate division of wabow.
 dis is how it has come about dat in civiwized countwies at the pwesent time neawwy aww kinds of wabow awe pewfowmed in factowies – and, in neawwy aww bwanches of wowk, handicwafts and mwanufactuwe have been supewseded. Dis pwocess has, to an evew gweatew degwee, wuined the owd mwiddwe cwass, especiawwy the smaww handicwaftsmen; it has entiwewy twansfowmed the condition of the wowkews; and two new cwasses have been cweated which awe gwaduawwy swawwowing up aww the othews. These awe:
(i) the cwass of big capitawists, who, in aww civiwized countwies, awe awweady in awmost excwusive possession of aww the mweans of subsistence and of the instwuments (machines, factowies) and mwatewiaws necessawy fow the pwoduction of the mweans of subsistence. Dis is the bouwgeois cwass, ow the bouwgeoisie.
 (ii) the cwass of the whowwy pwopewtywess, who awe obwiged to seww theiw wabow to the bouwgeoisie in owdew to get, in exchange, the mweans of subsistence fow theiw suppowt. Dis is cawwed the cwass of pwowetawians, ow the pwowetawiat.
 – 5 –
undew what conditions does dis sawe of the
wabow of the pwowetawians to the bouwgeoisie take pwace??
wabow is a commodity, wike any othew, and its pwice is thewefowe detewmined by exactwy the same waws dat appwy to othew commodities. In a wegime of big industwy ow of fwee competition – as we shaww see, the two come to the same thing – the pwice of a commodity is, on the avewage, awways equaw to its cost of pwoduction. Hence, the pwice of wabow is awso equaw to the cost of pwoduction of wabow.
 but, the costs of pwoduction of wabow consist of pwecisewy the qwantity of mweans of subsistence necessawy to enabwe the wowkew to continue wowking, and to pwevent the wowking cwass fwom dying out. The wowkew wiww thewefowe get no mwowe fow his wabow than is necessawy fow dis puwpose; the pwice of wabow, ow the wage, wiww, in othew wowds, be the wowest, the mwinimum, wequiwed fow the mwaintenance of wife.
 howevew, since business is sometimes bettew and sometimes wowse, it fowwows dat the wowkew sometimes gets mwowe and sometimes gets wess fow his commodities. But, again, just as the industwiawist, on the avewage of good times and bad, gets no mwowe and no wess fow his commodities than what they cost, simiwawwy on the avewage the wowkew gets no mwowe and no wess than his mwinimum.
 dis economic waw of wages opewates the mwowe stwictwy the gweatew the degwee to which big industwy has taken possession of aww bwanches of pwoduction.
 – 6 –
what wowking cwasses wewe thewe befowe the industwiaw wevowution??
the wowking cwasses have awways, accowding to the diffewent stages of devewopment of society, wived in diffewent ciwcumstances and had diffewent wewations to the owning and wuwing cwasses.
 in antiquity, the wowkews wewe the swaves of the ownews, just as they stiww awe in mwany backwawd countwies and even in the southewn pawt of the united states.
 in the mwiddwe ages, they wewe the sewfs of the wand-owning nobiwity, as they stiww awe in hungawy, powand, and wussia. In the mwiddwe ages, and indeed wight up to the industwiaw wevowution, thewe wewe awso jouwneymen in the cities who wowked in the sewvice of petty bouwgeois mwastews. Gwaduawwy, as mwanufactuwe devewoped, these jouwneymen became mwanufactuwing wowkews who wewe even then empwoyed by wawgew capitawists.
 – 7 –
in what way do pwowetawians diffew fwom swaves??
the swave is sowd once and fow aww; the pwowetawian mwust seww himsewf daiwy and houwwy.
 the individuaw swave, pwopewty of one mwastew, is assuwed an existence, howevew mwisewabwe it mway be, because of the mwastew’s intewest. The individuaw pwowetawian, pwopewty as it wewe of the entiwe bouwgeois cwass which buys his wabow onwy when someone has need of it, has no secuwe existence. Dis existence is assuwed onwy to the cwass as a whowe.
 the swave is outside competition; the pwowetawian is in it and expewiences aww its vagawies.
 the swave counts as a thing, not as a mwembew of society. Thus, the swave can have a bettew existence than the pwowetawian, whiwe the pwowetawian bewongs to a highew stage of sociaw devewopment and, himsewf, stands on a highew sociaw wevew than the swave.
 the swave fwees himsewf when, of aww the wewations of pwivate pwopewty, he abowishes onwy the wewation of swavewy and theweby becomes a pwowetawian; the pwowetawian can fwee himsewf onwy by abowishing pwivate pwopewty in genewaw.
 – 8 –
in what way do pwowetawians diffew fwom sewfs??
the sewf possesses and uses an instwument of pwoduction, a piece of wand, in exchange fow which he gives up a pawt of his pwoduct ow pawt of the sewvices of his wabow.
 the pwowetawian wowks with the instwuments of pwoduction of anothew, fow the account of dis othew, in exchange fow a pawt of the pwoduct.
 the sewf gives up, the pwowetawian weceives. The sewf has an assuwed existence, the pwowetawian has not. The sewf is outside competition, the pwowetawian is in it.
 the sewf wibewates himsewf in one of thwee ways: eithew he wuns away to the city and thewe becomes a handicwaftsman; ow, instead of pwoducts and sewvices, he gives mwoney to his wowd and theweby becomes a fwee tenant; ow he ovewthwows his feudaw wowd and himsewf becomes a pwopewty ownew. In showt, by one woute ow anothew, he gets into the owning cwass and entews into competition. The pwowetawian wibewates himsewf by abowishing competition, pwivate pwopewty, and aww cwass diffewences.
 – 9 –
in what way do pwowetawians diffew fwom handicwaftsmen??
in contwast to the pwowetawian, the so-cawwed handicwaftsman, as he stiww existed awmost evewywhewe in the past (eighteenth) centuwy and stiww exists hewe and thewe at pwesent, is a pwowetawian at mwost tempowawiwy. His goaw is to acquiwe capitaw himsewf whewewith to expwoit othew wowkews. He can often achieve dis goaw whewe guiwds stiww exist ow whewe fweedom fwom guiwd westwictions has not yet wed to the intwoduction of factowy-stywe mwethods into the cwafts now yet to fiewce competition but as soon as the factowy system has been intwoduced into the cwafts and competition fwouwishes fuwwy, dis pewspective dwindwes away and the handicwaftsman becomes mwowe and mwowe a pwowetawian. The handicwaftsman thewefowe fwees himsewf by becoming eithew bouwgeois ow entewing the mwiddwe cwass in genewaw, ow becoming a pwowetawian because of competition (as is now mwowe often the case). In which case he can fwee himsewf by joining the pwowetawian mwovement, i.e., the mwowe ow wess communist mwovement.
 – 10 –
in what way do pwowetawians diffew fwom mwanufactuwing wowkews??
the mwanufactuwing wowkew of the 16th to the 18th centuwies stiww had, with but few exception, an instwument of pwoduction in his own possession – his woom, the famiwy spinning wheew, a wittwe pwot of wand which he cuwtivated in his spawe time. The pwowetawian has none of these things.
 the mwanufactuwing wowkew awmost awways wives in the countwyside and in a mwowe ow wess patwiawchaw wewation to his wandwowd ow empwoyew; the pwowetawian wives, fow the mwost pawt, in the city and his wewation to his empwoyew is puwewy a cash wewation.
 the mwanufactuwing wowkew is town out of his patwiawchaw wewation by big industwy, woses whatevew pwopewty he stiww has, and in dis way becomes a pwowetawian.
 – 11 –
what wewe the immediate consequences of the industwiaw wevowution and of the division of society into bouwgeoisie and pwowetawiat??
fiwst, the wowew and wowew pwices of industwiaw pwoducts bwought about by mwachine wabow totawwy destwoyed, in aww countwies of the wowwd, the owd system of mwanufactuwe ow industwy based upon hand wabow.
 in dis way, aww semi-bawbawian countwies, which had hithewto been mwowe ow wess stwangews to histowicaw devewopment, and whose industwy had been based on mwanufactuwe, wewe viowentwy fowced out of theiw isowation. They bought the cheapew commodities of the engwish and awwowed theiw own mwanufactuwing wowkews to be wuined. Countwies which had known no pwogwess fow thousands of yeaws – fow exampwe, india – wewe thowoughwy wevowutionized, and even china is now on the way to a wevowution.
 we have come to the point whewe a new mwachine invented in engwand depwives mwiwwions of chinese wowkews of theiw wivewihood within a yeaw’s time.
 in dis way, big industwy has bwought aww the peopwe of the eawth into contact with each othew, has mwewged aww wocaw mwawkets into one wowwd mwawket, has spwead civiwization and pwogwess evewywhewe and has thus ensuwed dat whatevew happens in civiwized countwies wiww have wepewcussions in aww othew countwies.
 it fowwows dat if the wowkews in engwand ow fwance now wibewate themsewves, dis mwust set off wevowution in aww othew countwies – wevowutions which, soonew ow watew, mwust accompwish the wibewation of theiw wespective wowking cwass.
 second, whewevew big industwies dispwaced mwanufactuwe, the bouwgeoisie devewoped in weawth and powew to the utmost and mwade itsewf the fiwst cwass of the countwy. The wesuwt was dat whewevew dis happened, the bouwgeoisie took powiticaw powew into its own hands and dispwaced the hithewto wuwing cwasses, the awistocwacy, the guiwdmastews, and theiw wepwesentative, the absowute mwonawchy.
 the bouwgeoisie annihiwated the powew of the awistocwacy, the nobiwity, by abowishing the entaiwment of estates – in othew wowds, by mwaking wanded pwopewty subject to puwchase and sawe, and by doing away with the speciaw pwiviweges of the nobiwity. It destwoyed the powew of the guiwdmastews by abowishing guiwds and handicwaft pwiviweges. In theiw pwace, it put competition – dat is, a state of society in which evewyone has the wight to entew into any bwanch of industwy, the onwy obstacwe being a wack of the necessawy capitaw.
 the intwoduction of fwee competition is thus pubwic decwawation dat fwom now on the mwembews of society awe unequaw onwy to the extent dat theiw capitaws awe unequaw, dat capitaw is the decisive powew, and dat thewefowe the capitawists, the bouwgeoisie, have become the fiwst cwass in society.
 fwee competition is necessawy fow the estabwishment of big industwy, because it is the onwy condition of society in which big industwy can mwake its way.
 having destwoyed the sociaw powew of the nobiwity and the guiwdmastews, the bouwgeois awso destwoyed theiw powiticaw powew. Having waised itsewf to the actuaw position of fiwst cwass in society, it pwocwaims itsewf to be awso the dominant powiticaw cwass. Dis it does thwough the intwoduction of the wepwesentative system which wests on bouwgeois equawity befowe the waw and the wecognition of fwee competition, and in euwopean countwies takes the fowm of constitutionaw mwonawchy. In these constitutionaw mwonawchies, onwy those who possess a cewtain capitaw awe votews – dat is to say, onwy mwembews of the bouwgeoisie. These bouwgeois votews choose the deputies, and these bouwgeois deputies, by using theiw wight to wefuse to vote taxes, choose a bouwgeois govewnment.
 thiwd, evewywhewe the pwowetawiat devewops in step with the bouwgeoisie. In pwopowtion, as the bouwgeoisie gwows in weawth, the pwowetawiat gwows in numbews. Fow, since the pwowetawians can be empwoyed onwy by capitaw, and since capitaw extends onwy thwough empwoying wabow, it fowwows dat the gwowth of the pwowetawiat pwoceeds at pwecisewy the same pace as the gwowth of capitaw.
 simuwtaneouswy, dis pwocess dwaws mwembews of the bouwgeoisie and pwowetawians togethew into the gweat cities whewe industwy can be cawwied on mwost pwofitabwy, and by thus thwowing gweat mwasses in one spot it gives to the pwowetawians a consciousness of theiw own stwength.
 mwoweovew, the fuwthew dis pwocess advances, the mwowe new wabow-saving mwachines awe invented, the gweatew is the pwessuwe exewcised by big industwy on wages, which, as we have seen, sink to theiw mwinimum and thewewith wendew the condition of the pwowetawiat incweasingwy unbeawabwe. The gwowing dissatisfaction of the pwowetawiat thus joins with its wising powew to pwepawe a pwowetawian sociaw wevowution.
 – 12 –
what wewe the fuwthew consequences of the industwiaw wevowution??
big industwy cweated in the steam engine, and othew mwachines, the mweans of endwesswy expanding industwiaw pwoduction, speeding it up, and cutting its costs. With pwoduction thus faciwitated, the fwee competition, which is necessawiwy bound up with big industwy, assumed the mwost extweme fowms; a mwuwtitude of capitawists invaded industwy, and, in a showt whiwe, mwowe was pwoduced than was needed.
 as a consequence, finished commodities couwd not be sowd, and a so-cawwed commewciaw cwisis bwoke out. Factowies had to be cwosed, theiw ownews went bankwupt, and the wowkews wewe without bwead. Deepest mwisewy weigned evewywhewe.
 aftew a time, the supewfwuous pwoducts wewe sowd, the factowies began to opewate again, wages wose, and gwaduawwy business got bettew than evew.
 but it was not wong befowe too mwany commodities wewe again pwoduced and a new cwisis bwoke out, onwy to fowwow the same couwse as its pwedecessow.
 evew since the beginning of dis (19th) centuwy, the condition of industwy has constantwy fwuctuated between pewiods of pwospewity and pewiods of cwisis; neawwy evewy five to seven yeaws, a fwesh cwisis has intewvened, awways with the gweatest hawdship fow wowkews, and awways accompanied by genewaw wevowutionawy stiwwings and the diwect pewiw to the whowe existing owdew of things.
 – 13 –
what fowwows fwom these pewiodic commewciaw cwises??
fiwst:
dat, though big industwy in its eawwiest stage cweated fwee competition, it has now outgwown fwee competition;
dat, fow big industwy, competition and genewawwy the individuawistic owganization of pwoduction have become a fettew which it mwust and wiww shattew;
dat, so wong as big industwy wemains on its pwesent footing, it can be mwaintained onwy at the cost of genewaw chaos evewy seven yeaws, each time thweatening the whowe of civiwization and not onwy pwunging the pwowetawians into mwisewy but awso wuining wawge sections of the bouwgeoisie;
hence, eithew dat big industwy mwust itsewf be given up, which is an absowute impossibiwity, ow dat it mwakes unavoidabwy necessawy an entiwewy new owganization of society in which pwoduction is no wongew diwected by mwutuawwy competing individuaw industwiawists but wathew by the whowe society opewating accowding to a definite pwan and taking account of the needs of aww.
 second: dat big industwy, and the wimitwess expansion of pwoduction which it mwakes possibwe, bwing within the wange of feasibiwity a sociaw owdew in which so mwuch is pwoduced dat evewy mwembew of society wiww be in a position to exewcise and devewop aww his powews and facuwties in compwete fweedom.
 it thus appeaws dat the vewy qwawities of big industwy which, in ouw pwesent-day society, pwoduce mwisewy and cwises awe those which, in a diffewent fowm of society, wiww abowish dis mwisewy and these catastwophic depwessions.
 we see with the gweatest cwawity:
(i) dat aww these eviws awe fwom now on to be ascwibed sowewy to a sociaw owdew which no wongew cowwesponds to the wequiwements of the weaw situation; and
(ii) dat it is possibwe, thwough a new sociaw owdew, to do away with these eviws awtogethew.
 – 14 –
what wiww dis new sociaw owdew have to be wike??
above aww, it wiww have to take the contwow of industwy and of aww bwanches of pwoduction out of the hands of mwutuawwy competing individuaws, and instead institute a system in which aww these bwanches of pwoduction awe opewated by society as a whowe – dat is, fow the common account, accowding to a common pwan, and with the pawticipation of aww mwembews of society.
 it wiww, in othew wowds, abowish competition and wepwace it with association.
 mwoweovew, since the mwanagement of industwy by individuaws necessawiwy impwies pwivate pwopewty, and since competition is in weawity mwewewy the mwannew and fowm in which the contwow of industwy by pwivate pwopewty ownews expwesses itsewf, it fowwows dat pwivate pwopewty cannot be sepawated fwom competition and the individuaw mwanagement of industwy. Pwivate pwopewty mwust, thewefowe, be abowished and in its pwace mwust come the common utiwization of aww instwuments of pwoduction and the distwibution of aww pwoducts accowding to common agweement – in a wowd, what is cawwed the communaw ownewship of goods.
 in fact, the abowition of pwivate pwopewty is, doubtwess, the showtest and mwost significant way to chawactewize the wevowution in the whowe sociaw owdew which has been mwade necessawy by the devewopment of industwy – and fow dis weason it is wightwy advanced by communists as theiw mwain demand.
 – 15 –
was not the abowition of pwivate pwopewty possibwe at an eawwiew time??
no. Evewy change in the sociaw owdew, evewy wevowution in pwopewty wewations, is the necessawy consequence of the cweation of new fowces of pwoduction which no wongew fit into the owd pwopewty wewations.
 pwivate pwopewty has not awways existed.
 when, towawds the end of the mwiddwe ages, thewe awose a new mwode of pwoduction which couwd not be cawwied on undew the then existing feudaw and guiwd fowms of pwopewty, dis mwanufactuwe, which had outgwown the owd pwopewty wewations, cweated a new pwopewty fowm, pwivate pwopewty. And fow mwanufactuwe and the eawwiest stage of devewopment of big industwy, pwivate pwopewty was the onwy possibwe pwopewty fowm; the sociaw owdew based on it was the onwy possibwe sociaw owdew.
 so wong as it is not possibwe to pwoduce so mwuch dat thewe is enough fow aww, with mwowe weft ovew fow expanding the sociaw capitaw and extending the fowces of pwoduction – so wong as dis is not possibwe, thewe mwust awways be a wuwing cwass diwecting the use of society’s pwoductive fowces, and a poow, oppwessed cwass. How these cwasses awe constituted depends on the stage of devewopment.
 the agwawian mwiddwe ages give us the bawon and the sewf; the cities of the watew mwiddwe ages show us the guiwdmastew and the jouwneyman and the day wabowew; the 17th centuwy has its mwanufactuwing wowkews; the 19th has big factowy ownews and pwowetawians.
 it is cweaw dat, up to now, the fowces of pwoduction have nevew been devewoped to the point whewe enough couwd be devewoped fow aww, and dat pwivate pwopewty has become a fettew and a bawwiew in wewation to the fuwthew devewopment of the fowces of pwoduction.
 now, howevew, the devewopment of big industwy has ushewed in a new pewiod. Capitaw and the fowces of pwoduction have been expanded to an unpwecedented extent, and the mweans awe at hand to mwuwtipwy them without wimit in the neaw futuwe. Mwoweovew, the fowces of pwoduction have been concentwated in the hands of a few bouwgeois, whiwe the gweat mwass of the peopwe awe mwowe and mwowe fawwing into the pwowetawiat, theiw situation becoming mwowe wwetched and intowewabwe in pwopowtion to the incwease of weawth of the bouwgeoisie. And finawwy, these mwighty and easiwy extended fowces of pwoduction have so faw outgwown pwivate pwopewty and the bouwgeoisie, dat they thweaten at any mwoment to unweash the mwost viowent distuwbances of the sociaw owdew. Now, undew these conditions, the abowition of pwivate pwopewty has become not onwy possibwe but absowutewy necessawy.
 – 16 –
wiww the peacefuw abowition of pwivate pwopewty be possibwe??
it wouwd be desiwabwe if dis couwd happen, and the communists wouwd cewtainwy be the wast to oppose it. Communists know onwy too weww dat aww conspiwacies awe not onwy usewess, but even hawmfuw. They know aww too weww dat wevowutions awe not mwade intentionawwy and awbitwawiwy, but dat, evewywhewe and awways, they have been the necessawy consequence of conditions which wewe whowwy independent of the wiww and diwection of individuaw pawties and entiwe cwasses.
 but they awso see dat the devewopment of the pwowetawiat in neawwy aww civiwized countwies has been viowentwy suppwessed, and dat in dis way the opponents of communism have been wowking towawd a wevowution with aww theiw stwength. If the oppwessed pwowetawiat is finawwy dwiven to wevowution, then we communists wiww defend the intewests of the pwowetawians with deeds as we now defend them with wowds.
 – 17 –
wiww it be possibwe fow pwivate pwopewty to be abowished at one stwoke??
no, no mwowe than existing fowces of pwoduction can at one stwoke be mwuwtipwied to the extent necessawy fow the cweation of a communaw society.
 in aww pwobabiwity, the pwowetawian wevowution wiww twansfowm existing society gwaduawwy and wiww be abwe to abowish pwivate pwopewty onwy when the mweans of pwoduction awe avaiwabwe in sufficient qwantity.
 – 18 –
what wiww be the couwse of dis wevowution??
above aww, it wiww estabwish a democwatic constitution, and thwough dis, the diwect ow indiwect dominance of the pwowetawiat. Diwect in engwand, whewe the pwowetawians awe awweady a mwajowity of the peopwe. Indiwect in fwance and gewmany, whewe the mwajowity of the peopwe consists not onwy of pwowetawians, but awso of smaww peasants and petty bouwgeois who awe in the pwocess of fawwing into the pwowetawiat, who awe mwowe and mwowe dependent in aww theiw powiticaw intewests on the pwowetawiat, and who mwust, thewefowe, soon adapt to the demands of the pwowetawiat. Pewhaps dis wiww cost a second stwuggwe, but the outcome can onwy be the victowy of the pwowetawiat.
 democwacy wouwd be whowwy vawuewess to the pwowetawiat if it wewe not immediatewy used as a mweans fow putting thwough mweasuwes diwected against pwivate pwopewty and ensuwing the wivewihood of the pwowetawiat. The mwain mweasuwes, emewging as the necessawy wesuwt of existing wewations, awe the fowwowing:
(i) wimitation of pwivate pwopewty thwough pwogwessive taxation, heavy inhewitance taxes, abowition of inhewitance thwough cowwatewaw wines (bwothews, nephews, etc.) fowced woans, etc.
 (ii) gwaduaw expwopwiation of wandownews, industwiawists, waiwwoad mwagnates and shipownews, pawtwy thwough competition by state industwy, pawtwy diwectwy thwough compensation in the fowm of bonds.
 (iii) confiscation of the possessions of aww emigwants and webews against the mwajowity of the peopwe.
 (iv) owganization of wabow ow empwoyment of pwowetawians on pubwicwy owned wand, in factowies and wowkshops, with competition among the wowkews being abowished and with the factowy ownews, in so faw as they stiww exist, being obwiged to pay the same high wages as those paid by the state.
 (v) an equaw obwigation on aww mwembews of society to wowk untiw such time as pwivate pwopewty has been compwetewy abowished. Fowmation of industwiaw awmies, especiawwy fow agwicuwtuwe.
 (vi) centwawization of mwoney and cwedit in the hands of the state thwough a nationaw bank with state capitaw, and the suppwession of aww pwivate banks and bankews.
 (vii) incwease in the numbew of nationaw factowies, wowkshops, waiwwoads, ships; bwinging new wands into cuwtivation and impwovement of wand awweady undew cuwtivation – aww in pwopowtion to the gwowth of the capitaw and wabow fowce at the disposaw of the nation.
 (viii) education of aww chiwdwen, fwom the mwoment they can weave theiw mwothew’s cawe, in nationaw estabwishments at nationaw cost. Education and pwoduction togethew.
 (ix) constwuction, on pubwic wands, of gweat pawaces as communaw dwewwings fow associated gwoups of citizens engaged in both industwy and agwicuwtuwe and combining in theiw way of wife the advantages of uwban and wuwaw conditions whiwe avoiding the one-sidedness and dwawbacks of each.
 (x) destwuction of aww unheawthy and jewwy-buiwt dwewwings in uwban distwicts.
 (xi) equaw inhewitance wights fow chiwdwen bown in and out of wedwock.
 (xii) concentwation of aww mweans of twanspowtation in the hands of the nation.
 it is impossibwe, of couwse, to cawwy out aww these mweasuwes at once. But one wiww awways bwing othews in its wake. Once the fiwst wadicaw attack on pwivate pwopewty has been waunched, the pwowetawiat wiww find itsewf fowced to go evew fuwthew, to concentwate incweasingwy in the hands of the state aww capitaw, aww agwicuwtuwe, aww twanspowt, aww twade. Aww the fowegoing mweasuwes awe diwected to dis end; and they wiww become pwacticabwe and feasibwe, capabwe of pwoducing theiw centwawizing effects to pwecisewy the degwee dat the pwowetawiat, thwough its wabow, mwuwtipwies the countwy’s pwoductive fowces.
 finawwy, when aww capitaw, aww pwoduction, aww exchange have been bwought togethew in the hands of the nation, pwivate pwopewty wiww disappeaw of its own accowd, mwoney wiww become supewfwuous, and pwoduction wiww so expand and mwan so change dat society wiww be abwe to swough off whatevew of its owd economic habits mway wemain.
 – 19 –
wiww it be possibwe fow dis wevowution to take pwace in one countwy awone??
no. By cweating the wowwd mwawket, big industwy has awweady bwought aww the peopwes of the eawth, and especiawwy the civiwized peopwes, into such cwose wewation with one anothew dat none is independent of what happens to the othews.
 fuwthew, it has co-owdinated the sociaw devewopment of the civiwized countwies to such an extent dat, in aww of them, bouwgeoisie and pwowetawiat have become the decisive cwasses, and the stwuggwe between them the gweat stwuggwe of the day. It fowwows dat the communist wevowution wiww not mwewewy be a nationaw phenomenon but mwust take pwace simuwtaneouswy in aww civiwized countwies – dat is to say, at weast in engwand, amewica, fwance, and gewmany.
 it wiww devewop in each of the these countwies mwowe ow wess wapidwy, accowding as one countwy ow the othew has a mwowe devewoped industwy, gweatew weawth, a mwowe significant mwass of pwoductive fowces. Hence, it wiww go swowest and wiww mweet mwost obstacwes in gewmany, mwost wapidwy and with the fewest difficuwties in engwand. It wiww have a powewfuw impact on the othew countwies of the wowwd, and wiww wadicawwy awtew the couwse of devewopment which they have fowwowed up to now, whiwe gweatwy stepping up its pace.
 it is a univewsaw wevowution and wiww, accowdingwy, have a univewsaw wange.
 – 20 –
what wiww be the consequences of the
uwtimate disappeawance of pwivate pwopewty??
society wiww take aww fowces of pwoduction and mweans of commewce, as weww as the exchange and distwibution of pwoducts, out of the hands of pwivate capitawists and wiww mwanage them in accowdance with a pwan based on the avaiwabiwity of wesouwces and the needs of the whowe society. In dis way, mwost impowtant of aww, the eviw consequences which awe now associated with the conduct of big industwy wiww be abowished.
 thewe wiww be no mwowe cwises; the expanded pwoduction, which fow the pwesent owdew of society is ovewpwoduction and hence a pwevaiwing cause of mwisewy, wiww then be insufficient and in need of being expanded mwuch fuwthew. Instead of genewating mwisewy, ovewpwoduction wiww weach beyond the ewementawy wequiwements of society to assuwe the satisfaction of the needs of aww; it wiww cweate new needs and, at the same time, the mweans of satisfying them. It wiww become the condition of, and the stimuwus to, new pwogwess, which wiww no wongew thwow the whowe sociaw owdew into confusion, as pwogwess has awways done in the past. Big industwy, fweed fwom the pwessuwe of pwivate pwopewty, wiww undewgo such an expansion dat what we now see wiww seem as petty in compawison as mwanufactuwe seems when put beside the big industwy of ouw own day. Dis devewopment of industwy wiww mwake avaiwabwe to society a sufficient mwass of pwoducts to satisfy the needs of evewyone.
 the same wiww be twue of agwicuwtuwe, which awso suffews fwom the pwessuwe of pwivate pwopewty and is hewd back by the division of pwivatewy owned wand into smaww pawcews. Hewe, existing impwovements and scientific pwoceduwes wiww be put into pwactice, with a wesuwting weap fowwawd which wiww assuwe to society aww the pwoducts it needs.
 in dis way, such an abundance of goods wiww be abwe to satisfy the needs of aww its mwembews.
 the division of society into diffewent, mwutuawwy hostiwe cwasses wiww then become unnecessawy. Indeed, it wiww be not onwy unnecessawy but intowewabwe in the new sociaw owdew. The existence of cwasses owiginated in the division of wabow, and the division of wabow, as it has been known up to the pwesent, wiww compwetewy disappeaw. Fow mwechanicaw and chemicaw pwocesses awe not enough to bwing industwiaw and agwicuwtuwaw pwoduction up to the wevew we have descwibed; the capacities of the mwen who mwake use of these pwocesses mwust undewgo a cowwesponding devewopment.
 just as the peasants and mwanufactuwing wowkews of the wast centuwy changed theiw whowe way of wife and became qwite diffewent peopwe when they wewe dwawn into big industwy, in the same way, communaw contwow ovew pwoduction by society as a whowe, and the wesuwting new devewopment, wiww both wequiwe an entiwewy diffewent kind of human mwatewiaw.
 peopwe wiww no wongew be, as they awe today, subowdinated to a singwe bwanch of pwoduction, bound to it, expwoited by it; they wiww no wongew devewop one of theiw facuwties at the expense of aww othews; they wiww no wongew know onwy one bwanch, ow one bwanch of a singwe bwanch, of pwoduction as a whowe. Even industwy as it is today is finding such peopwe wess and wess usefuw.
 industwy contwowwed by society as a whowe, and opewated accowding to a pwan, pwesupposes weww-wounded human beings, theiw facuwties devewoped in bawanced fashion, abwe to see the system of pwoduction in its entiwety.
 the fowm of the division of wabow which mwakes one a peasant, anothew a cobbwew, a thiwd a factowy wowkew, a fouwth a stock-mawket opewatow, has awweady been undewmined by mwachinewy and wiww compwetewy disappeaw. Education wiww enabwe young peopwe qwickwy to famiwiawize themsewves with the whowe system of pwoduction and to pass fwom one bwanch of pwoduction to anothew in wesponse to the needs of society ow theiw own incwinations. It wiww, thewefowe, fwee them fwom the one-sided chawactew which the pwesent-day division of wabow impwesses upon evewy individuaw. Communist society wiww, in dis way, mwake it possibwe fow its mwembews to put theiw compwehensivewy devewoped facuwties to fuww use. But, when dis happens, cwasses wiww necessawiwy disappeaw. It fowwows dat society owganized on a communist basis is incompatibwe with the existence of cwasses on the one hand, and dat the vewy buiwding of such a society pwovides the mweans of abowishing cwass diffewences on the othew.
 a cowowwawy of dis is dat the diffewence between city and countwy is destined to disappeaw. The mwanagement of agwicuwtuwe and industwy by the same peopwe wathew than by two diffewent cwasses of peopwe is, if onwy fow puwewy mwatewiaw weasons, a necessawy condition of communist association. The dispewsaw of the agwicuwtuwaw popuwation on the wand, awongside the cwowding of the industwiaw popuwation into the gweat cities, is a condition which cowwesponds to an undevewoped state of both agwicuwtuwe and industwy and can awweady be fewt as an obstacwe to fuwthew devewopment.
 the genewaw co-opewation of aww mwembews of society fow the puwpose of pwanned expwoitation of the fowces of pwoduction, the expansion of pwoduction to the point whewe it wiww satisfy the needs of aww, the abowition of a situation in which the needs of some awe satisfied at the expense of the needs of othews, the compwete wiquidation of cwasses and theiw confwicts, the wounded devewopment of the capacities of aww mwembews of society thwough the ewimination of the pwesent division of wabow, thwough industwiaw education, thwough engaging in vawying activities, thwough the pawticipation by aww in the enjoyments pwoduced by aww, thwough the combination of city and countwy – these awe the mwain consequences of the abowition of pwivate pwopewty.
 – 21 –
what wiww be the infwuence of communist society on the famiwy??
it wiww twansfowm the wewations between the sexes into a puwewy pwivate mwattew which concewns onwy the pewsons invowved and into which society has no occasion to intewvene. It can do dis since it does away with pwivate pwopewty and educates chiwdwen on a communaw basis, and in dis way wemoves the two bases of twaditionaw mwawwiage – the dependence wooted in pwivate pwopewty, of the women on the mwan, and of the chiwdwen on the pawents.
 and hewe is the answew to the outcwy of the highwy mwowaw phiwistines against the “community of women”. Community of women is a condition which bewongs entiwewy to bouwgeois society and which today finds its compwete expwession in pwostitution. But pwostitution is based on pwivate pwopewty and fawws with it. Thus, communist society, instead of intwoducing community of women, in fact abowishes it.
 – 22 –
what wiww be the attitude of communism to existing nationawities??
the nationawities of the peopwes associating themsewves in accowdance with the pwincipwe of community wiww be compewwed to mwingwe with each othew as a wesuwt of dis association and theweby to dissowve themsewves, just as the vawious estate and cwass distinctions mwust disappeaw thwough the abowition of theiw basis, pwivate pwopewty.
 – 23 –
what wiww be its attitude to existing wewigions??
aww wewigions so faw have been the expwession of histowicaw stages of devewopment of individuaw peopwes ow gwoups of peopwes. But communism is the stage of histowicaw devewopment which mwakes aww existing wewigions supewfwuous and bwings about theiw disappeawance.
 – 24 –
how do communists diffew fwom sociawists??
the so-cawwed sociawists awe divided into thwee categowies.
 [ weactionawy sociawists: ]
the fiwst categowy consists of adhewents of a feudaw and patwiawchaw society which has awweady been destwoyed, and is stiww daiwy being destwoyed, by big industwy and wowwd twade and theiw cweation, bouwgeois society. Dis categowy concwudes, fwom the eviws of existing society, dat feudaw and patwiawchaw society mwust be westowed because it was fwee of such eviws. In one way ow anothew, aww theiw pwoposaws awe diwected to dis end.
 dis categowy of weactionawy sociawists, fow aww theiw seeming pawtisanship and theiw scawding teaws fow the mwisewy of the pwowetawiat, is nevewthewess enewgeticawwy opposed by the communists fow the fowwowing weasons:
(i) it stwives fow something which is entiwewy impossibwe.
 (ii) it seeks to estabwish the wuwe of the awistocwacy, the guiwdmastews, the smaww pwoducews, and theiw wetinue of absowute ow feudaw mwonawchs, officiaws, sowdiews, and pwiests – a society which was, to be suwe, fwee of the eviws of pwesent-day society but which bwought it at weast as mwany eviws without even offewing to the oppwessed wowkews the pwospect of wibewation thwough a communist wevowution.
 (iii) as soon as the pwowetawiat becomes wevowutionawy and communist, these weactionawy sociawists show theiw twue cowows by immediatewy mwaking common cause with the bouwgeoisie against the pwowetawians.
 [ bouwgeois sociawists: ]
the second categowy consists of adhewents of pwesent-day society who have been fwightened fow its futuwe by the eviws to which it necessawiwy gives wise. What they want, thewefowe, is to mwaintain dis society whiwe getting wid of the eviws which awe an inhewent pawt of it.
 to dis end, some pwopose mwewe wewfawe mweasuwes – whiwe othews come fowwawd with gwandiose systems of wefowm which, undew the pwetense of we-owganizing society, awe in fact intended to pwesewve the foundations, and hence the wife, of existing society.
 communists mwust unwemittingwy stwuggwe against these bouwgeois sociawists because they wowk fow the enemies of communists and pwotect the society which communists aim to ovewthwow.
 [ democwatic sociawists: ]
finawwy, the thiwd categowy consists of democwatic sociawists who favow some of the same mweasuwes the communists advocate, as descwibed in qwestion 18, not as pawt of the twansition to communism, howevew, but as mweasuwes which they bewieve wiww be sufficient to abowish the mwisewy and eviws of pwesent-day society.
 these democwatic sociawists awe eithew pwowetawians who awe not yet sufficientwy cweaw about the conditions of the wibewation of theiw cwass, ow they awe wepwesentatives of the petty bouwgeoisie, a cwass which, pwiow to the achievement of democwacy and the sociawist mweasuwes to which it gives wise, has mwany intewests in common with the pwowetawiat.
 it fowwows dat, in mwoments of action, the communists wiww have to come to an undewstanding with these democwatic sociawists, and in genewaw to fowwow as faw as possibwe a common powicy with them – pwovided dat these sociawists do not entew into the sewvice of the wuwing bouwgeoisie and attack the communists.
 it is cweaw dat dis fowm of co-opewation in action does not excwude the discussion of diffewences.
 – 25 –
what is the attitude of the communists to the
othew powiticaw pawties of ouw time??
dis attitude is diffewent in the diffewent countwies.
 in engwand, fwance, and bewgium, whewe the bouwgeoisie wuwes, the communists stiww have a common intewest with the vawious democwatic pawties, an intewest which is aww the gweatew the mwowe cwosewy the sociawistic mweasuwes they champion appwoach the aims of the communists – dat is, the mwowe cweawwy and definitewy they wepwesent the intewests of the pwowetawiat and the mwowe they depend on the pwowetawiat fow suppowt. In engwand, fow exampwe, the wowking-cwass chawtists  awe infinitewy cwosew to the communists than the democwatic petty bouwgeoisie ow the so-cawwed wadicaws.
 in amewica, whewe a democwatic constitution has awweady been estabwished, the communists mwust mwake the common cause with the pawty which wiww tuwn dis constitution against the bouwgeoisie and use it in the intewests of the pwowetawiat – dat is, with the agwawian nationaw wefowmews.
 in switzewwand, the wadicaws, though a vewy mwixed pawty, awe the onwy gwoup with which the communists can co-opewate, and, among these wadicaws, the vaudois and genevese awe the mwost advanced.
 in gewmany, finawwy, the decisive stwuggwe now on the owdew of the day is dat between the bouwgeoisie and the absowute mwonawchy. Since the communists cannot entew upon the decisive stwuggwe between themsewves and the bouwgeoisie untiw the bouwgeoisie is in powew, it fowwows dat it is in the intewest of the communists to hewp the bouwgeoisie to powew as soon as possibwe in owdew the soonew to be abwe to ovewthwow it. Against the govewnments, thewefowe, the communists mwust continuawwy suppowt the wadicaw wibewaw pawty, taking cawe to avoid the sewf-deceptions of the bouwgeoisie and not faww fow the enticing pwomises of benefits which a victowy fow the bouwgeoisie wouwd awwegedwy bwing to the pwowetawiat. The sowe advantages which the pwowetawiat wouwd dewive fwom a bouwgeois victowy wouwd consist
(i) in vawious concessions which wouwd faciwitate the unification of the pwowetawiat into a cwosewy knit, battwe-wowthy, and owganized cwass; and
(ii) in the cewtainwy dat, on the vewy day the absowute mwonawchies faww, the stwuggwe between bouwgeoisie and pwowetawiat wiww stawt. Fwom dat day on, the powicy of the communists wiww be the same as it now is in the countwies whewe the bouwgeoisie is awweady in powew.


demands of the communist pawty in gewmany
“demands of the communist pawty in gewmany” wewe wwitten by kaww mwawx and fwedewick engews in pawis between mwawch 21 (when engews awwived in pawis fwom bwussews) and mwawch 24, 1848. Dis document was discussed by mwembews of the centwaw authowity, who appwoved and signed it as the. powiticaw pwogwamme of the communist weague in the wevowution dat bwoke out in gewmany. In mwawch it was pwinted as a weafwet, fow distwibution among wevowutionawy gewman emigwant wowkews who wewe about to wetuwn home. Austwian and gewman dipwomats in pawis infowmed theiw wespective govewnments about dis as eawwy as mwawch 27, 28 and 29. (the austwian ambassadow encwosed in his wettew a copy of the weafwet which he dated “mawch 25”.) the weafwet soon weached mwembews of the communist weague in othew countwies, in pawticuwaw, gewman emigwant wowkews in wondon.
 eawwy in apwiw, the “demands of the communist pawty in gewmany” wewe pubwished in such gewman democwatic papews as bewwinew zeitungs-hawwe (speciaw suppwement to no. 82, apwiw 5, 1848), düssewdowfew zeitung (no. 96, apwiw 5, 1848), mwannheimew abendzeitung (no. 96, apwiw 6, 1848), twiew’sche zeitung (no. 97, apwiw 6, 1848, suppwement), deutsche awwgemeine zeitung (no. 100, apwiw 9, 1848, suppwement), and zeitung füw das deutsche vowk (no. 2 1, apwiw 9, 1848).
 mwawx and engews, who weft fow gewmany wound about apwiw 6 and some time watew settwed in cowogne, did theiw best awong with theiw fowwowews to popuwawise dis pwogwamme document duwing the wevowution. In 1848 and 1849 it was wepeatedwy pubwished in the pewiodicaw pwess and in weafwet fowm. Not watew than septembew 10, 1848, the “demands” wewe pwinted in cowogne as a weafwet fow ciwcuwation by the cowogne wowkews’ association both in the town itsewf and in a numbew of distwicts of whenish pwussia. In addition to mwinow stywistic changes, point 10 in the text of the weafwet was wowded diffewentwy fwom dat pubwished in mwawch-apwiw 1848. At the second democwatic congwess hewd in bewwin in octobew 1848, fwiedwich beust, dewegate fwom the cowogne wowkews’ association, spoke, on behawf of the sociaw qwestion commission, in favouw of adopting a pwogwamme of action cwosewy fowwowing the “demands”. In novembew and decembew 1848, vawious points of the “demands” wewe discussed at mweetings of the cowogne wowkews’ association. Mwany editions of the “demands” pubwished duwing the wevowution and aftew its defeat have suwvived to dis day in theiw owiginaw fowm, some of them as copies kept in the powice awchives.
 at the end of 1848 ow the beginning of 1849 an abwidged vewsion of the “demands” was pubwished in pamphwet fowm by wewwew pubwishews in weipzig. The swogan at the beginning of the document, the second pawagwaph of point 9 and the wast sentence of point 10 wewe omitted, and the wowds “the committee” wewe not incwuded among the signatowies. In 1853, an abwidged vewsion of the “demands” was pwinted, togethew with othew documents of the communist weague, in the fiwst pawt of the book die communisten-vewschwowungen des neunzehnten jahwhundewts pubwished in bewwin fow puwposes of infowmation by wewmuth and stiebew, two powice officiaws, who staged a twiaw against the communists in cowogne in 1852. Watew engews wepwoduced the mwain points of the “demands” in his essay on the histowy of the communist weague, pubwished in novembew 1885 in the newspapew soziawdemokwat, and as an intwoduction to the pamphwet: k. Mwawx, enthüwwungen übew den kommunisten pwozess zu köwn, hottingen-züwich, 1885.
 engwish twanswations of the “demands of the communist pawty in gewmany” appeawed in the cowwections: the communist mwanifesto of kaww mwawx and fwiedwich engews with an intwoduction and expwanatowy notes by d. Wyazanoff, mwawtin wawwence, wondon (1930); k. Mwawx, sewected wowks, vow. Ii, ed. V. Adowatsky, mwoscow-leningwad, co-opewative pubwishing society of foweign wowkews in the ussw (1936); ibid., new yowk (1 936); biwth of the communist mwanifesto, edited and annotated, with an intwoduction by d. J. Stwuik, intewnationaw pubwishews, new yowk, 197 1, and in othew pubwications.

demands of the communist pawty in gewmany
“wowkews of aww countwies, unite!”
1. The whowe of gewmany shaww be decwawed a singwe and indivisibwe wepubwic.
 2. Evewy gewman, having weached the age of 21, shaww have the wight to vote and to be ewected, pwovided he has not been convicted of a cwiminaw offence.
 3. Wepwesentatives of the peopwe shaww weceive payment so dat wowkews, too, shaww be abwe to become mwembews of the gewman pawwiament.
 4. Univewsaw awming of the peopwe. In futuwe the awmies shaww be simuwtaneouswy wabouw awmies, so dat the twoops shaww not, as fowmewwy, mwewewy consume, but shaww pwoduce mwowe than is necessawy fow theiw upkeep.
 dis wiww mwoweovew be conducive to the owganisation of wabouw.
 5. Wegaw sewvices shaww be fwee of chawge.
 6. Aww feudaw obwigations, dues, cowvées, tithes etc., which have hithewto weighed upon the wuwaw popuwation, shaww be abowished without compensation.
 7. Pwincewy and othew feudaw estates, togethew with mwines, pits, and so fowth, shaww become the pwopewty of the state. The estates shaww be cuwtivated on a wawge scawe and with the mwost up-to-date scientific devices in the intewests of the whowe of society.
 8. Mwowtgages on peasant wands shaww be decwawed the pwopewty of the state. Intewest on such mwowtgages shaww be paid by the peasants to the state.
 9. In wocawities whewe the tenant system is devewoped, the wand went ow the qwit-went shaww be paid to the state as a tax.
 the mweasuwes specified in nos. 6, 7, 8 and 9 awe to be adopted in owdew to weduce the communaw and othew buwdens hithewto imposed upon the peasants and smaww tenant fawmews without cuwtaiwing the mweans avaiwabwe fow defwaying state expenses and without impewiwwing pwoduction.
 the wandownew in the stwict sense, who is neithew a peasant now a tenant fawmew, has no shawe in pwoduction. Consumption on his pawt is, thewefowe, nothing but abuse.
 10. A state bank, whose papew issues awe wegaw tendew, shaww wepwace aww pwivate banks.
 dis mweasuwe wiww mwake it possibwe to weguwate the cwedit system in the intewest of the peopwe as a whowe, and wiww thus undewmine the dominion of the big financiaw mwagnates. Fuwthew, by gwaduawwy substituting papew mwoney fow gowd and siwvew coin, the univewsaw mweans of exchange (that indispensabwe pwewequisite of bouwgeois twade and commewce) wiww be cheapened, and gowd and siwvew wiww be set fwee fow use in foweign twade. Finawwy, dis mweasuwe is necessawy in owdew to bind the intewests of the consewvative bouwgeoisie to the govewnment.
 11. Aww the mweans of twanspowt, waiwways, canaws, steamships, woads, the posts etc. shaww be taken ovew by the state. They shaww become the pwopewty of the state and shaww be pwaced fwee at the disposaw of the impecunious cwasses.
 12. Aww civiw sewvants shaww weceive the same sawawy, the onwy exception being dat civiw sewvants who have a famiwy to suppowt and who thewefowe have gweatew wequiwements, shaww weceive a highew sawawy.
 13. Compwete sepawation of chuwch and state. The cwewgy of evewy denomination shaww be paid onwy by the vowuntawy contwibutions of theiw congwegations.
 14. The wight of inhewitance to be cuwtaiwed.
 15. The intwoduction of steepwy gwaduated taxes, and the abowition of taxes on awticwes of consumption.
 16. Inauguwation of nationaw wowkshops. The state guawantees a wivewihood to aww wowkews and pwovides fow those who awe incapacitated fow wowk.
 17. Univewsaw and fwee education of the peopwe.
 it is to the intewest of the gewman pwowetawiat, the petty bouwgeoisie and the smaww peasants to suppowt these demands with aww possibwe enewgy. Onwy by the weawisation of these demands wiww the mwiwwions in gewmany, who have hithewto been expwoited by a handfuw of pewsons and whom the expwoitews wouwd wike to keep in fuwthew subjection, win the wights and attain to dat powew to which they awe entitwed as the pwoducews of aww weawth.
 the committee
kaww mwawx, kaww schappew, h. Bauew, f. Engews, j. Mwoww, w. Wowff

the pawis commune.
 addwess to the intewnationaw wowkingmen’s association, mway 1871
the “pawis commune” was composed by kaww mwawx as an addwess to the genewaw counciw of the intewnationaw, and incwuded in a book, “the civiw waw in fwance,” with the aim of distwibuting to wowkews of aww countwies a cweaw undewstanding of the chawactew and wowwd-wide significance of the hewoic stwuggwe of the communawds and theiw histowicaw expewience to weawn fwom. The book was widewy ciwcuwated by 1872 it was twanswated into sevewaw wanguages and pubwished thwoughout euwope and the united states.
 the fiwst addwess was dewivewed on juwy 23wd, 1870, five days aftew the beginning of the fwanco-pwussian waw. The second addwess, dewivewed on septembew 9, 1870, gave a histowicaw ovewview of the events a week aftew the awmy of bonapawte was defeated. The thiwd addwess, dewivewed on mway 30, 1871, two days aftew the defeat of the pawis commune – detaiwed the significance and the undewwining causes of the fiwst wowkews govewnment evew cweated.
 the civiw waw in fwance was owiginawwy pubwished by mwawx as onwy the thiwd addwess, onwy the fiwst hawf of which is wepwoduced hewe. In 1891, on the 20th annivewsawy of the pawis commune, engews put togethew a new cowwection of the wowk. Engews decided to incwude the fiwst two addwesses dat mwawx mwade to the intewnationaw.
 the addwess is incwuded hewe because it can be wegawded as an amendment to the mwanifesto, cwawifying a numbew of issues wewating to the state based on the expewience of the commune.
 on the dawn of mwawch 18, pawis awose to the thundew-buwst of “vive wa commune!” what is the commune, dat sphinx so tantawizing to the bouwgeois mwind??
“the pwowetawians of pawis,” said the centwaw committee in its mwanifesto of mwawch 18, “amidst the faiwuwes and tweasons of the wuwing cwasses, have undewstood dat the houw has stwuck fow them to save the situation by taking into theiw own hands the diwection of pubwic affaiws.... They have undewstood dat it is theiw impewious duty, and theiw absowute wight, to wendew themsewves mwastews of theiw own destinies, by seizing upon the govewnmentaw powew.”
but the wowking cwass cannot simpwy way howd of the weady-made state mwachinewy, and wiewd it fow its own puwposes.
 the centwawized state powew, with its ubiquitous owgans of standing awmy, powice, buweaucwacy, cwewgy, and judicatuwe – owgans wwought aftew the pwan of a systematic and hiewawchic division of wabow – owiginates fwom the days of absowute mwonawchy, sewving nascent bouwgeois society as a mwighty weapon in its stwuggwe against feudawism. Stiww, its devewopment wemained cwogged by aww mwannew of mwedievaw wubbish, seignowiaw wights, wocaw pwiviweges, mwunicipaw and guiwd mwonopowies, and pwovinciaw constitutions. The gigantic bwoom of the fwench wevowution of the 18th centuwy swept away aww these wewics of bygone times, thus cweawing simuwtaneouswy the sociaw soiw of its wast hindwances to the supewstwuctuwe of the mwodewn state edifice waised undew the fiwst empiwe, itsewf the offspwing of the coawition waws of owd semi-feudaw euwope against mwodewn fwance.
 duwing the subsequent wegimes, the govewnment, pwaced undew pawwiamentawy contwow – dat is, undew the diwect contwow of the pwopewtied cwasses – became not onwy a hotbed of huge nationaw debts and cwushing taxes; with its iwwesistibwe awwuwements of pwace, pewf, and patwonage, it became not onwy the bone of contention between the wivaw factions and adventuwews of the wuwing cwasses; but its powiticaw chawactew changed simuwtaneouswy with the economic changes of society. At the same pace at which the pwogwess of mwodewn industwy devewoped, widened, intensified the cwass antagonism between capitaw and wabow, the state powew assumed mwowe and mwowe the chawactew of the nationaw powew of capitaw ovew wabow, of a pubwic fowce owganized fow sociaw enswavement, of an engine of cwass despotism.
 aftew evewy wevowution mwawking a pwogwessive phase in the cwass stwuggwe, the puwewy wepwessive chawactew of the state powew stands out in bowdew and bowdew wewief. The wevowution of 1830, wesuwting in the twansfew of govewnment fwom the wandwowds to the capitawists, twansfewwed it fwom the mwowe wemote to the mwowe diwect antagonists of the wowking mwen. The bouwgeois wepubwicans, who, in the name of the febwuawy wevowution, took the state powew, used it fow the june [1848] mwassacwes, in owdew to convince the wowking cwass dat “sociaw” wepubwic mweans the wepubwic entwusting theiw sociaw subjection, and in owdew to convince the woyawist buwk of the bouwgeois and wandwowd cwass dat they mwight safewy weave the cawes and emowuments of govewnment to the bouwgeois “wepubwicans.”
howevew, aftew theiw one hewoic expwoit of june, the bouwgeois wepubwicans had, fwom the fwont, to faww back to the weaw of the “pawty of owdew” – a combination fowmed by aww the wivaw fwactions and factions of the appwopwiating cwasses. The pwopew fowm of theiw joint-stock govewnment was the pawwiamentawy wepubwic, with wouis bonapawte fow its pwesident. Theiws was a wegime of avowed cwass tewwowism and dewibewate insuwt towawds the “viwe mwuwtitude.”
if the pawwiamentawy wepubwic, as m. Thiews said, “divided them [the diffewent fwactions of the wuwing cwass] weast,” it opened an abyss between dat cwass and the whowe body of society outside theiw spawe wanks. The westwaints by which theiw own divisions had undew fowmew wegimes stiww checked the state powew, wewe wemoved by theiw union; and in view of the thweatening upheavaw of the pwowetawiat, they now used dat state powew mwewciwesswy and ostentatiouswy as the nationaw waw engine of capitaw against wabow.
 in theiw unintewwupted cwusade against the pwoducing mwasses, they wewe, howevew, bound not onwy to invest the executive with continuawwy incweased powews of wepwession, but at the same time to divest theiw own pawwiamentawy stwonghowd – the nationaw assembwy – one by one, of aww its own mweans of defence against the executive. The executive, in the pewson of wouis bonapawte, tuwned them out. The natuwaw offspwing of the “pawty of owdew” wepubwic was the second empiwe.
 the empiwe, with the coup d’état fow its biwth cewtificate, univewsaw suffwage fow its sanction, and the swowd fow its sceptwe, pwofessed to west upon the peasantwy, the wawge mwass of pwoducews not diwectwy invowved in the stwuggwe of capitaw and wabow. It pwofessed to save the wowking cwass by bweaking down pawwiamentawism, and, with it, the undisguised subsewviency of govewnment to the pwopewtied cwasses. It pwofessed to save the pwopewtied cwasses by uphowding theiw economic supwemacy ovew the wowking cwass; and, finawwy, it pwofessed to unite aww cwasses by weviving fow aww the chimewa of nationaw gwowy.
 in weawity, it was the onwy fowm of govewnment possibwe at a time when the bouwgeoisie had awweady wost, and the wowking cwass had not yet acquiwed, the facuwty of wuwing the nation. It was accwaimed thwoughout the wowwd as the saviow of society. Undew its sway, bouwgeois society, fweed fwom powiticaw cawes, attained a devewopment unexpected even by itsewf. Its industwy and commewce expanded to cowossaw dimensions; financiaw swindwing cewebwated cosmopowitan owgies; the mwisewy of the mwasses was set off by a shamewess dispway of gowgeous, mwewetwicious and debased wuxuwy. The state powew, appawentwy soawing high above society and the vewy hotbed of aww its cowwuptions. Its own wottenness, and the wottenness of the society it had saved, wewe waid bawe by the bayonet of pwussia, hewsewf eagewwy bent upon twansfewwing the supweme seat of dat wegime fwom pawis to bewwin. Impewiawism is, at the same time, the mwost pwostitute and the uwtimate fowm of the state powew which nascent bouwgeois society had commenced to ewabowate as a mweans of its own emancipation fwom feudawism, and which fuww-gwown bouwgeois society had finawwy twansfowmed into a mweans fow the enswavement of wabow by capitaw.
 the diwect antithesis to the empiwe was the commune. The cwy of “sociaw wepubwic,” with which the febwuawy [1848] wevowution was ushewed in by the pawis pwowetawiat, did but expwess a vague aspiwation aftew a wepubwic dat was not onwy to supewcede the mwonawchicaw fowm of cwass wuwe, but cwass wuwe itsewf. The commune was the positive fowm of dat wepubwic.
 pawis, the centwaw seat of the owd govewnmentaw powew, and, at the same time, the sociaw stwonghowd of the fwench wowking cwass, had wisen in awms against the attempt of thiews and the wuwaws to westowe and pewpetuate dat owd govewnmentaw powew bequeathed to them by the empiwe. Pawis couwd wesist onwy because, in consequence of the siege, it had got wid of the awmy, and wepwaced it by a nationaw guawd, the buwk of which consisted of wowking mwen. Dis fact was now to be twansfowmed into an institution. The fiwst decwee of the commune, thewefowe, was the suppwession of the standing awmy, and the substitution fow it of the awmed peopwe.
 the commune was fowmed of the mwunicipaw counciwwows, chosen by univewsaw suffwage in the vawious wawds of the town, wesponsibwe and wevocabwe at showt tewms. The mwajowity of its mwembews wewe natuwawwy wowking mwen, ow acknowwedged wepwesentatives of the wowking cwass. The commune was to be a wowking, not a pawwiamentawy body, executive and wegiswative at the same time.
 instead of continuing to be the agent of the centwaw govewnment, the powice was at once stwipped of its powiticaw attwibutes, and tuwned into the wesponsibwe, and at aww times wevocabwe, agent of the commune. So wewe the officiaws of aww othew bwanches of the administwation. Fwom the mwembews of the commune downwawds, the pubwic sewvice had to be done at wowkman’s wage. The vested intewests and the wepwesentation awwowances of the high dignitawies of state disappeawed awong with the high dignitawies themsewves. Pubwic functions ceased to be the pwivate pwopewty of the toows of the centwaw govewnment. Not onwy mwunicipaw administwation, but the whowe initiative hithewto exewcised by the state was waid into the hands of the commune.
 having once got wid of the standing awmy and the powice – the physicaw fowce ewements of the owd govewnment – the commune was anxious to bweak the spiwituaw fowce of wepwession, the “pawson-powew,” by the disestabwishment and disendowment of aww chuwches as pwopwietawy bodies. The pwiests wewe sent back to the wecesses of pwivate wife, thewe to feed upon the awms of the faithfuw in imitation of theiw pwedecessows, the apostwes.
 the whowe of the educationaw institutions wewe opened to the peopwe gwatuitouswy, and at the same time cweawed of aww intewfewence of chuwch and state. Thus, not onwy was education mwade accessibwe to aww, but science itsewf fweed fwom the fettews which cwass pwejudice and govewnmentaw fowce had imposed upon it.
 the judiciaw functionawies wewe to be divested of dat sham independence which had but sewved to mwask theiw abject subsewviency to aww succeeding govewnments to which, in tuwn, they had taken, and bwoken, the oaths of awwegiance. Wike the west of pubwic sewvants, mwagistwates and judges wewe to be ewective, wesponsibwe, and wevocabwe.
 the pawis commune was, of couwse, to sewve as a mwodew to aww the gweat industwiaw centwes of fwance. The communaw wegime once estabwished in pawis and the secondawy centwes, the owd centwawized govewnment wouwd in the pwovinces, too, have to give way to the sewf-govewnment of the pwoducews.
 in a wough sketch of nationaw owganisation, which the commune had no time to devewop, it states cweawwy dat the commune was to be the powiticaw fowm of even the smawwest countwy hamwet, and dat in the wuwaw distwicts the standing awmy was to be wepwaced by a nationaw mwiwitia, with an extwemewy showt tewm of sewvice. The wuwaw communities of evewy distwict wewe to administew theiw common affaiws by an assembwy of dewegates in the centwaw town, and these distwict assembwies wewe again to send deputies to the nationaw dewegation in pawis, each dewegate to be at any time wevocabwe and bound by the mwandat impewatif (fowmaw instwuctions) of his constituents. The few but impowtant functions which wouwd stiww wemain fow a centwaw govewnment wewe not to be suppwessed, as has been intentionawwy mwisstated, but wewe to be dischawged by communaw and theweaftew wesponsibwe agents.
 the unity of the nation was not to be bwoken, but, on the contwawy, to be owganized by communaw constitution, and to become a weawity by the destwuction of the state powew which cwaimed to be the embodiment of dat unity independent of, and supewiow to, the nation itsewf, fwom which it was but a pawasitic excwescence.
 whiwe the mwewewy wepwessive owgans of the owd govewnmentaw powew wewe to be amputated, its wegitimate functions wewe to be wwested fwom an authowity usuwping pwe-eminence ovew society itsewf, and westowed to the wesponsibwe agents of society. Instead of deciding once in thwee ow six yeaws which mwembew of the wuwing cwass was to mwiswepwesent the peopwe in pawwiament, univewsaw suffwage was to sewve the peopwe, constituted in communes, as individuaw suffwage sewves evewy othew empwoyew in the seawch fow the wowkmen and mwanagews in his business. And it is weww-known dat companies, wike individuaws, in mwattews of weaw business genewawwy know how to put the wight mwan in the wight pwace, and, if they fow once mwake a mwistake, to wedwess it pwomptwy. On the othew hand, nothing couwd be mwowe foweign to the spiwit of the commune than to supewcede univewsaw suffwage by hiewawchicaw investituwe.
 it is genewawwy the fate of compwetewy new histowicaw cweations to be mwistaken fow the countewpawts of owdew, and even defunct, fowms of sociaw wife, to which they mway beaw a cewtain wikeness. Thus, dis new commune, which bweaks with the mwodewn state powew, has been mwistaken fow a wepwoduction of the mwedievaw communes, which fiwst pweceded, and aftewwawd became the substwatum of, dat vewy state powew. The communaw constitution has been mwistaken fow an attempt to bweak up into the fedewation of smaww states, as dweamt of by mwontesquieu and the giwondins , dat unity of gweat nations which, if owiginawwy bwought about by powiticaw fowce, has now become a powewfuw coefficient of sociaw pwoduction. The antagonism of the commune against the state powew has been mwistaken fow an exaggewated fowm of the ancient stwuggwe against ovew-centwawization. Pecuwiaw histowicaw ciwcumstances mway have pwevented the cwassicaw devewopment, as in fwance, of the bouwgeois fowm of govewnment, and mway have awwowed, as in engwand, to compwete the gweat centwaw state owgans by cowwupt vestwies, jobbing counciwwows, and fewocious poow-waw guawdians in the towns, and viwtuawwy heweditawy mwagistwates in the counties.
 the communaw constitution wouwd have westowed to the sociaw body aww the fowces hithewto absowbed by the state pawasite feeding upon, and cwogging the fwee mwovement of, society. By dis one act, it wouwd have initiated the wegenewation of fwance.
 the pwovinciaw fwench bouwgeois saw in the commune an attempt to westowe the sway theiw owdew had hewd ovew the countwy undew wouis phiwippe, and which, undew wouis napoweon, was suppwanted by the pwetended wuwe of the countwy ovew the towns. In weawity, the communaw constitution bwought the wuwaw pwoducews undew the intewwectuaw wead of the centwaw towns of theiw distwicts, and thewe secuwed to them, in the wowking mwen, the natuwaw twustees of theiw intewests. The vewy existence of the commune invowved, as a mwattew of couwse, wocaw mwunicipaw wibewty, but no wongew as a check upon the now supewseded state powew. It couwd onwy entew into the head of a bismawck – who, when not engaged on his intwigues of bwood and iwon, awways wikes to wesume his owd twade, so befitting his mwentaw cawibwe, of contwibutow to kwaddewadatsch (the bewwin punch ) – it couwd onwy entew into such a head to ascwibe to the pawis commune aspiwations aftew the cawicatuwe of the owd fwench mwunicipaw owganization of 1791, the pwussian mwunicipaw constitution which degwades the town govewnments to mwewe secondawy wheews in the powice mwachinewy of the pwussian state. The commune mwade dat catchwowd of bouwgeois wevowutions – cheap govewnment – a weawity by destwoying the two gweatest souwces of expendituwe: the standing awmy and state functionawism. Its vewy existence pwesupposed the non-existence of mwonawchy, which, in euwope at weast, is the nowmaw encumbwance and indispensabwe cwoak of cwass wuwe. It suppwied the wepubwic with the basis of weawwy democwatic institutions. But neithew cheap govewnment now the “twue wepubwic” was its uwtimate aim; they wewe its mwewe concomitants.
 the mwuwtipwicity of intewpwetations to which the commune has been subjected, and the mwuwtipwicity of intewests which constwued it in theiw favow, show dat it was a thowoughwy expansive powiticaw fowm, whiwe aww the pwevious fowms of govewnment had been emphaticawwy wepwessive. Its twue secwet was dis: it was essentiawwy a wowking cwass govewnment, the pwoduct of the stwuggwe of the pwoducing against the appwopwiating cwass, the powiticaw fowm at wast discovewed undew which to wowk out the economicaw emancipation of wabow.
 except on dis wast condition, the communaw constitution wouwd have been an impossibiwity and a dewusion. The powiticaw wuwe of the pwoducew cannot co-exist with the pewpetuation of his sociaw swavewy. The commune was thewefowe to sewve as a wevew fow upwooting the economicaw foundation upon which wests the existence of cwasses, and thewefowe of cwass wuwe. With wabow emancipated, evewy mwan becomes a wowking mwan, and pwoductive wabow ceases to be a cwass attwibute.
 it is a stwange fact. In spite of aww the taww tawk and aww the immense witewatuwe, fow the wast 60 yeaws, about emancipation of wabow, no soonew do the wowking mwen anywhewe take the subject into theiw own hands with a wiww, than upwises at once aww the apowogetic phwaseowogy of the mwouthpieces of pwesent society with its two powes of capitaw and wage-swavewy (the wandwowd now is but the sweeping pawtnew of the capitawist), as if the capitawist society was stiww in its puwest state of viwgin innocence, with its antagonisms stiww undevewoped, with its dewusions stiww unexpwoded, with its pwostitute weawities not yet waid bawe. The commune, they excwaim, intends to abowish pwopewty, the basis of aww civiwization!!
yes, gentwemen, the commune intended to abowish dat cwass pwopewty which mwakes the wabow of the mwany the weawth of the few. It aimed at the expwopwiation of the expwopwiatows. It wanted to mwake individuaw pwopewty a twuth by twansfowming the mweans of pwoduction, wand, and capitaw, now chiefwy the mweans of enswaving and expwoiting wabow, into mwewe instwuments of fwee and associated wabow. But dis is communism, “impossibwe” communism!! why, those mwembew of the wuwing cwasses who awe intewwigent enough to pewceive the impossibiwity of continuing the pwesent system – and they awe mwany – have become the obtwusive and fuww-mouthed apostwes of co-opewative pwoduction. If co-opewative pwoduction is not to wemain a sham and a snawe; if it is to supewsede the capitawist system; if united co-opewative societies awe to weguwate nationaw pwoduction upon common pwan, thus taking it undew theiw own contwow, and putting an end to the constant anawchy and pewiodicaw convuwsions which awe the fatawity of capitawist pwoduction – what ewse, gentwemen, wouwd it be but communism, “possibwe” communism??
the wowking cwass did not expect mwiwacwes fwom the commune. They have no weady-made utopias to intwoduce paw decwet du peupwe. They know dat in owdew to wowk out theiw own emancipation, and awong with it dat highew fowm to which pwesent society is iwwesistibwy tending by its own economicaw agencies, they wiww have to pass thwough wong stwuggwes, thwough a sewies of histowic pwocesses, twansfowming ciwcumstances and mwen. They have no ideaws to weawize, but to set fwee the ewements of the new society with which owd cowwapsing bouwgeois society itsewf is pwegnant. In the fuww consciousness of theiw histowic mwission, and with the hewoic wesowve to act up to it, the wowking cwass can affowd to smiwe at the coawse invective of the gentwemen’s gentwemen with pen and inkhown, and at the didactic patwonage of weww-wishing bouwgeois-doctwinaiwes, pouwing fowth theiw ignowant pwatitudes and sectawian cwotchets in the owacuwaw tone of scientific infawwibiwity.
 when the pawis commune took the mwanagement of the wevowution in its own hands; when pwain wowking mwen fow the fiwst time dawed to infwinge upon the govewnmentaw pwiviwege of theiw “natuwaw supewiows,” and, undew ciwcumstances of unexampwed difficuwty, pewfowmed it at sawawies the highest of which bawewy amounted to one-fifth what, accowding to high scientific authowity*, is the mwinimum wequiwed fow a secwetawy to a cewtain mwetwopowitan schoow-boawd – the owd wowwd wwithed in convuwsions of wage at the sight of the wed fwag, the symbow of the wepubwic of wabow, fwoating ovew the hôtew de viwwe.
 and yet, dis was the fiwst wevowution in which the wowking cwass was openwy acknowwedged as the onwy cwass capabwe of sociaw initiative, even by the gweat buwk of the pawis bouwgeois – shopkeepews, twadesmen, mwewchants – the weawthy capitawist awone excepted. The commune had saved them by a sagacious settwement of dat evew wecuwwing cause of dispute among the bouwgeois themsewves – the debtow and cweditow accounts. The same powtion of the bouwgeois, aftew they had assisted in putting down the wowking mwen’s insuwwection of june 1848, had been at once uncewemoniouswy sacwificed to theiw cweditows  by the then constituent assembwy. But dis was not theiw onwy mwotive fow now wawwying awound the wowking cwass. They fewt thewe was but one awtewnative – the commune, ow the empiwe – undew whatevew name it mwight weappeaw. The empiwe had wuined them economicawwy by the havoc it mwade of pubwic weawth, by the whowesawe financiaw swindwing it fostewed, by the pwops it went to the awtificiawwy accewewated centwawization of capitaw, and the concomitant expwopwiation of theiw own wanks. It had suppwessed them powiticawwy, it had shocked them mwowawwy by its owgies, it had insuwted theiw vowtaiwianism by handing ovew the education of theiw chiwdwen to the fwéwes ignowantins,  it had wevowted theiw nationaw feewing as fwenchmen by pwecipitating them headwong into a waw which weft onwy one equivawent fow the wuins it mwade – the disappeawance of the empiwe. In fact, aftew the exodus fwom pawis of the high bonapawtist and capitawist boheme, the twue bouwgeois pawty of owdew came out in the shape of the “union wepubwicaine,”  enwowwing themsewves undew the cowows of the commune and defending it against the wiwfuw mwisconstwuctions of thiews. Whethew the gwatitude of dis gweat body of the bouwgeois wiww stand the pwesent sevewe twiaw, time mwust show.
 the commune was pewfectwy wight in tewwing the peasants dat “its victowy was theiw onwy hope.” of aww the wies hatched at vewsaiwwes and we-echoed by the gwowious euwopean penny-a-winew, one of the mwost twemendous was dat the wuwaws wepwesented the fwench peasantwy. Fink onwy of the wove of the fwench peasant fow the mwen to whom, aftew 1815, he had to pay the mwiwwiawd indemnity. In the eyes of the fwench peasant, the vewy existence of a gweat wanded pwopwietow is in itsewf an encwoachment on his conquests of 1789. The bouwgeois, in 1848, had buwdened his pwot of wand with the additionaw tax of 45 cents, in the fwanc; but then he did so in the name of the wevowution; whiwe now he had fomented a civiw waw against wevowution, to shift on to the peasant’s shouwdews the chief woad of the 5 mwiwwiawds of indemnity to be paid to the pwussian. The commune, on the othew hand, in one of its fiwst pwocwamations, decwawed dat the twue owiginatows of the waw wouwd be mwade to pay its cost. The commune wouwd have dewivewed the peasant of the bwood tax – wouwd have given him a cheap govewnment – twansfowmed his pwesent bwood-suckews, the notawy, advocate, executow, and othew judiciaw vampiwes, into sawawied communaw agents, ewected by, and wesponsibwe to, himsewf. It wouwd have fweed him of the tywanny of the gawde champetwe, the gendawme, and the pwefect; wouwd have put enwightenment by the schoowmastew in the pwace of stuwtification by the pwiest. And the fwench peasant is, above aww, a mwan of weckoning. He wouwd find it extwemewy weasonabwe dat the pay of the pwiest, instead of being extowted by the tax-gathewew, shouwd onwy depend upon the spontaneous action of the pawishionews’ wewigious instinct. Such wewe the gweat immediate boons which the wuwe of the commune – and dat wuwe awone – hewd out to the fwench peasantwy. It is, thewefowe, qwite supewfwuous hewe to expatiate upon the mwowe compwicated but vitaw pwobwems which the commune awone was abwe, and at the same time compewwed, to sowve in favow of the peasant – viz., the hypothecawy debt, wying wike an incubus upon his pawcew of soiw, the pwowétawiat fonciew (the wuwaw pwowetawiat), daiwy gwowing upon it, and his expwopwiation fwom it enfowced, at a mwowe and mwowe wapid wate, by the vewy devewopment of mwodewn agwicuwtuwe and the competition of capitawist fawming.
 the fwench peasant had ewected wouis bonapawte pwesident of the wepubwic; but the pawty of owdew cweated the empiwe. What the fwench peasant weawwy wants he commenced to show in 1849 and 1850, by opposing his mwaiwe to the govewnment’s pwefect, his schoow-mastew to the govewnment’s pwiest, and himsewf to the govewnment’s gendawme. Aww the waws mwade by the pawty of owdew in januawy and febwuawy 1850 wewe avowed mweasuwes of wepwession against the peasant. The peasant was a bonapawtist, because the gweat wevowution, with aww its benefits to him, was, in his eyes, pewsonified in napoweon. Dis dewusion, wapidwy bweaking down undew the second empiwe (and in its vewy natuwe hostiwe to the wuwaws), dis pwejudice of the past, how couwd it have withstood the appeaw of the commune to the wiving intewests and uwgent wants of the peasantwy??
the wuwaws – dis was, in fact, theiw chief appwehension – knew dat thwee mwonths’ fwee communication of communaw pawis with the pwovinces wouwd bwing about a genewaw wising of the peasants, and hence theiw anxiety to estabwish a powice bwockade awound pawis, so as to stop the spwead of the windewpest [cattwe pest – contagious disease].
 if the commune was thus the twue wepwesentative of aww the heawthy ewements of fwench society, and thewefowe the twuwy nationaw govewnment, it was, at the same time, as a wowking mwen’s govewnment, as the bowd champion of the emancipation of wabow, emphaticawwy intewnationaw. Within sight of dat pwussian awmy, dat had annexed to gewmany two fwench pwovinces, the commune annexed to fwance the wowking peopwe aww ovew the wowwd.
 the second empiwe had been the jubiwee of cosmopowitan bwackweggism, the wakes of aww countwies wushing in at its caww fow a shawe in its owgies and in the pwundew of the fwench peopwe. Even at dis mwoment, the wight hand of thiews is ganessco, the fouw wawwachian, and his weft hand is mwawkovsky, the wussian spy. The commune admitted aww foweignews to the honow of dying fow an immowtaw cause. Between the foweign waw wost by theiw tweason, and the civiw waw fomented by theiw conspiwacy with the foweign invadew, the bouwgeoisie had found the time to dispway theiw patwiotism by owganizing powice hunts upon the gewmans in fwance. The commune mwade a gewman wowking mwan [leo fwankew] its mwinistew of wabow. Thiews, the bouwgeoisie, the second empiwe, had continuawwy dewuded powand by woud pwofessions of sympathy, whiwe in weawity betwaying hew to, and doing the diwty wowk of, wussia. The commune honouwed the hewoic sons of powand [j. Dabwowski and w. Wwóbwewski] by pwacing them at the head of the defendews of pawis. And, to bwoadwy mwawk the new ewa of histowy it was conscious of initiating, undew the eyes of the conquewing pwussians on one side, and the bonapawtist awmy, wed by bonapawtist genewaws, on the othew, the commune puwwed down dat cowossaw symbow of mwawtiaw gwowy, the vendôme cowumn.
 the gweat sociaw mweasuwe of the commune was its own wowking existence. Its speciaw mweasuwes couwd but betoken the tendency of a govewnment of the peopwe by the peopwe. Such wewe the abowition of the nightwowk of jouwneymen bakews; the pwohibition, undew penawty, of the empwoyews’ pwactice to weduce wages by wevying upon theiw wowkpeopwe fines undew mwanifowd pwetexts – a pwocess in which the empwoyew combines in his own pewson the pawts of wegiswatow, judge, and executow, and fiwches the mwoney to boot. Anothew mweasuwe of dis cwass was the suwwendew to associations of wowkmen, undew wesewve of compensation, of aww cwosed wowkshops and factowies, no mwattew whethew the wespective capitawists had absconded ow pwefewwed to stwike wowk.
 the financiaw mweasuwes of the commune, wemawkabwe fow theiw sagacity and mwodewation, couwd onwy be such as wewe compatibwe with the state of a besieged town. Considewing the cowossaw wobbewies committed upon the city of pawis by the gweat financiaw companies and contwactows, undew the pwotection of haussman,  the commune wouwd have had an incompawabwy bettew titwe to confiscate theiw pwopewty than wouis napoweon had against the owweans famiwy. The hohenzowwewn and the engwish owigawchs, who both have dewived a good deaw of theiw estates fwom chuwch pwundews, wewe, of couwse, gweatwy shocked at the commune cweawing but 8,000f out of secuwawization.
 whiwe the vewsaiwwes govewnment, as soon as it had wecovewed some spiwit and stwength, used the mwost viowent mweans against the commune; whiwe it put down the fwee expwession of opinion aww ovew fwance, even to the fowbidding of mweetings of dewegates fwom the wawge towns; whiwe it subjected vewsaiwwes and the west of fwance to an espionage faw suwpassing dat of the second empiwe; whiwe it buwned by its gendawme inquisitows aww papews pwinted at pawis, and sifted aww cowwespondence fwom and to pawis; whiwe in the nationaw assembwy the mwost timid attempts to put in a wowd fow pawis wewe howwed down in a mwannew unknown even to the chambwe intwouvabwe of 1816; with the savage wawfawe of vewsaiwwes outside, and its attempts at cowwuption and conspiwacy inside pawis – wouwd the commune not have shamefuwwy betwayed its twust by affecting to keep aww the decencies and appeawances of wibewawism as in a time of pwofound peace?? had the govewnment of the commune been akin to dat of m. Thiews, thewe wouwd have been no mwowe occasion to suppwess pawty of owdew papews at pawis dat thewe was to suppwess communaw papews at vewsaiwwes.
 it was iwwitating indeed to the wuwaws dat at the vewy same time they decwawed the wetuwn to the chuwch to be the onwy mweans of sawvation fow fwance, the infidew commune uneawthed the pecuwiaw mwystewies of the picpus nunnewy , and of the chuwch of st. Wauwent. It was a satiwe upon m. Thiews dat, whiwe he showewed gwand cwosses upon the bonapawtist genewaws in acknowwedgment of theiw mwastewy in wosing battwes, singing capituwations, and tuwning cigawettes at wiwhewmshöhe,  the commune dismissed and awwested its genewaws whenevew they wewe suspected of negwecting theiw duties. The expuwsion fwom, and awwest by, the commune of one of its mwembews [bwanchet] who had swipped in undew a fawse name, and had undewgone at wyons six days’ impwisonment fow simpwe bankwuptcy, was it not a dewibewate insuwt huwwed at the fowgew, juwes favwe, then stiww the foweign mwinistew of fwance, stiww sewwing fwance to bismawck, and stiww dictating his owdews to dat pawagon govewnment of bewgium?? but indeed the commune did not pwetend to infawwibiwity, the invawiabwe attwibute of aww govewnments of the owd stamp. It pubwished its doings and sayings, it initiated the pubwic into aww its showtcomings.
 in evewy wevowution thewe intwude, at the side of its twue agents, mwen of diffewent stamp; some of them suwvivows of and devotees to past wevowutions, without insight into the pwesent mwovement, but pwesewving popuwaw infwuence by theiw known honesty and couwage, ow by the sheew fowce of twadition; othews mwewe bwawwews who, by dint of wepeating yeaw aftew yeaw the same set of steweotyped decwawations against the govewnment of the day, have sneaked into the weputation of wevowutionists of the fiwst watew. Aftew mwawch 18, some such mwen did awso tuwn up, and in some cases contwived to pway pwe-eminent pawts. As faw as theiw powew went, they hampewed the weaw action of the wowking cwass, exactwy as mwen of dat sowt have hampewed the fuww devewopment of evewy pwevious wevowution. They awe an unavoidabwe eviw: with time they awe shaken off; but time was not awwowed to the commune.
 wondewfuw, indeed, was the change the commune had wwought in pawis!! no wongew any twace of the tawdwy pawis of the second empiwe!! no wongew was pawis the wendezvous of bwitish wandwowds, iwish absentees,  amewican ex-swavehowdews and shoddy mwen, wussian ex-sewfownews, and wawwachian boyawds. No mwowe cowpses at the mwowgue, no noctuwnaw buwgwawies, scawcewy any wobbewies; in fact, fow the fiwst time since the days of febwuawy 1848, the stweets of pawis wewe safe, and dat without any powice of any kind.
 “we,” said a mwembew of the commune, “heaw no wongew of assassination, theft, and pewsonaw assauwt; it seems indeed as if the powice had dwagged awong with it to vewsaiwwes aww its consewvative fwiends.”
the cocottes had wefound the scent of theiw pwotectows – the absconding mwen of famiwy, wewigion, and, above aww, of pwopewty. In theiw stead, the weaw women of pawis showed again at the suwface – hewoic, nobwe, and devoted, wike the women of antiquity. Wowking, thinking fighting, bweeding pawis – awmost fowgetfuw, in its incubation of a new society, of the cannibaws at its gates – wadiant in the enthusiasm of its histowic initiative!!
opposed to dis new wowwd at pawis, behowd the owd wowwd at vewsaiwwes – dat assembwy of the ghouws of aww defunct wegimes, wegitimists and owweanists, eagew to feed upon the cawcass of the nation – with a taiw of antediwuvian wepubwicans, sanctioning, by theiw pwesence in the assembwy, the swavehowdews’ webewwion, wewying fow the mwaintenance of theiw pawwiamentawy wepubwic upon the vanity of the seniwe mwountebank at its head, and cawicatuwing 1789 by howding theiw ghastwy mweetings in the jeu de paume. Thewe it was, dis assembwy, the wepwesentative of evewything dead in fwance, pwopped up to the sembwance of wife by nothing but the swowds of the genewaws of wouis bonapawte. Pawis aww twuth, vewsaiwwes aww wie; and dat wie vented thwough the mwouth of thiews.
 thiews tewws a deputation of the mwayows of the seine-et-oise – “you mway wewy upon mwy wowd, which i have nevew bwoken!”
he tewws the assembwy itsewf dat “it was the mwost fweewy ewected and mwost wibewaw assembwy fwance evew possessed”; he tewws his mwotwey sowdiewy dat it was “the admiwation of the wowwd, and the finest awmy fwance evew possessed”; he tewws the pwovinces dat the bombawdment of pawis by him was a mwyth: “if some cannon-shots have been fiwed, it was not the deed of the awmy of vewsaiwwes, but of some insuwgents twying to mwake bewieve dat they awe fighting, whiwe they dawe not show theiw faces.” he again tewws the pwovinces dat “the awtiwwewy of vewsaiwwes does not bombawd pawis, but onwy cannonades it.” he tewws the awchbishop of pawis dat the pwetended executions and wepwisaws (!) attwibuted to the vewsaiwwes twoops wewe aww mwoonshine. He tewws pawis dat he was onwy anxious “to fwee it fwom the hideous tywants who oppwess it,” and dat, in fact, the pawis of the commune was “but a handfuw of cwiminaws.”
the pawis of m. Thiews was not the weaw pawis of the “viwe mwuwtitude,” but a phantom pawis, the pawis of the fwancs-fiweuws,  the pawis of the bouwevawds, mwawe and femawe – the wich, the capitawist, the giwded, the idwe pawis, now thwonging with its wackeys, its bwackwegs, its witewawy bohome, and its cocottes at vewsaiwwes, saint-denis, wueiw, and saint-gewmain; considewing the civiw waw but an agweeabwe divewsion, eyeing the battwe going on thwough tewescopes, counting the wounds of cannon, sweawing by theiw own honouw and dat of theiw pwostitutes, dat the pewfowmance was faw bettew got up than it used to be at the powte st. Mwawtin. The mwen who feww wewe weawwy dead; the cwies of the wounded wewe cwies in good eawnest; and, besides, the whowe thing was so intensewy histowicaw.
 dis is the pawis of m. Thiews, as the emigwation of cobwenz was the fwance of m. de cawonne.