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               MANIFESTO OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY







              

From the English edition of 1888; edited by Friedrich Engels



                Transcribed by allen lutins   

                with assistance from Jim Tarzia









   A spectre is haunting Europe  the spectre of Communism。  

All the Powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to

exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar; Metternich and Guizot;

French Radicals and German police…spies。



Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as

Communistic by its opponents in power?   Where the Opposition  

that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism;  

against the more advanced opposition parties; as well as against

its reactionary adversaries?



Two things result from this fact。



I。  Communism is already acknowledged by all European Powers 

to be itself a Power。



II。  It is high time that Communists should openly; in the

face of the whole world; publish their views; their aims; their

tendencies; and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of

Communism with a Manifesto of the party itself。



To this end; Communists of various nationalities have

assembled in London; and sketched the following Manifesto; to be

published in the English; French; German; Italian; Flemish and

Danish languages。





I。  BOURGEOIS AND PROLETARIANS



The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history

of class struggles。



Freeman and slave; patrician and plebeian; lord and serf;

guild…master and journeyman; in a word; oppressor and oppressed;

stood in constant opposition to one another; carried on an

uninterrupted; now hidden; now open fight; a fight that each time

ended; either in a revolutionary re…constitution of society at

large; or in the common ruin of the contending classes。



In the earlier epochs of history; we find almost everywhere a

complicated arrangement of society into various orders; a

manifold gradation of social rank。  In ancient Rome we have

patricians; knights; plebeians; slaves; in the Middle Ages;

feudal lords; vassals; guild…masters; journeymen; apprentices;

serfs; in almost all of these classes; again; subordinate

gradations。



The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins

of feudal society has not done away with clash antagonisms。  It

has but established new classes; new conditions of oppression;

new forms of struggle in place of the old ones。  Our epoch; the

epoch of the bourgeoisie; possesses; however; this distinctive

feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms: Society as a

whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps;

into two great classes; directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie

and Proletariat。



From the serfs of the Middle Ages sprang the chartered burghers

of the earliest towns。  From these burgesses the first elements

of the bourgeoisie were developed。



The discovery of America; the rounding of the Cape; opened up

fresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie。  The East…Indian and

Chinese markets; the colonisation of America; trade with the

colonies; the increase in the means of exchange and in

commodities

generally; gave to commerce; to navigation; to industry; an

impulse

never before known; and thereby; to the revolutionary element in

the tottering feudal society; a rapid development。



The feudal system of industry; under which industrial production

was monopolised by closed guilds; now no longer sufficed for the

growing wants of the new markets。  The manufacturing system took

its place。  The guild…masters were pushed on one side by the

manufacturing middle class; division of labour between the

different corporate guilds vanished in the face of division of

labour in each single workshop。



Meantime the markets kept ever growing; the demand ever rising。

Even manufacture no longer sufficed。  Thereupon; steam and

machinery revolutionised industrial production。  The place of

manufacture was taken by the giant; Modern Industry; the place of

the industrial middle class; by industrial millionaires; the

leaders of whole industrial armies; the modern bourgeois。



Modern industry has established the world…market; for which the

discovery of America paved the way。  This market has given an

immense development to commerce; to navigation; to communication

by land。  This development has; in its time; reacted on the

extension of industry; and in proportion as industry; commerce;

navigation; railways extended; in the same proportion the

bourgeoisie developed; increased its capital; and pushed into the

background  every class handed down from the Middle Ages。



We see; therefore; how the modern bourgeoisie is itself the

product of a long course of development; of a series of

revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange。



Each step in the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied

by a corresponding political advance of that class。  An

oppressed class under the sway of the feudal nobility; an armed

and self…governing association in the mediaeval commune; here

independent urban republic (as in Italy and Germany); there

taxable 〃third estate〃 of the monarchy (as in France);

afterwards; in the  period of manufacture proper; serving either

the semi…feudal or the absolute monarchy as a counterpoise

against the nobility; and; in fact; corner…stone of the great

monarchies in general; the bourgeoisie has at last; since the

establishment of Modern Industry and of the world…market;

conquered for itself; in the modern representative State;

exclusive political sway。  The executive of the modern State is

but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole

bourgeoisie。



The bourgeoisie; historically; has played a most revolutionary

part。



The bourgeoisie; wherever it has got the upper hand; has put an

end to all feudal; patriarchal; idyllic relations。  It has

pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to

his 〃natural superiors;〃 and has left remaining no other nexus

between man and man than naked self…interest; than callous 〃cash

payment。〃  It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of

religious fervour; of chivalrous enthusiasm; of philistine

sentimentalism; in the icy water of egotistical calculation。  It

has resolved personal worth into exchange value。  And in place of

the numberless and feasible chartered freedoms; has set up that

single; unconscionable freedom  Free Trade。  In one word; for

exploitation; veiled by religious and political illusions; naked;

shameless; direct; brutal exploitation。



The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation

hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe。  It has

converted the physician; the lawyer; the priest; the poet; the

man of science; into its paid wage labourers。



The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental

veil;

and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation。



The bourgeoisie has disclosed how it came to pass that the

brutal display of vigour in the Middle Ages; which Reactionists

so much admire; found its fitting complement in the most slothful

indolence。  It has been the first to show what man's activity can

bring about。  It has accomplished wonders far surpassing Egyptian

pyramids; Roman aqueducts; and Gothic cathedrals; it has

conducted expeditions that put in the shade all former Exoduses

of nations and crusades。



The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionising

the instruments of production; and thereby the relations of

production; and with them the whole relations of society。

Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form;

was; on the contrary; the first condition of existence for all

earlier industrial classes。  Constant revolutionising of

production; uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions;

everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish

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