Cities 07

The first time I read the extract from The Communist Manifesto I took it in a very literal sense. I did my best to simply read what Marx had to say and understand it as he was saying it without looking for implicit meaning. I didn’t look at his writings as a persuasive piece but rather an informative one. Then we went over it in class and the sarcasm that Marx used became quite evident and unavoidable. Marx takes many jabs at the Bourgeoisie and the capitalistic way of life that can be quite transparent once one starts to look at his works as a piece of literature coming from a bitter and jaded man that seeks revolution. Marx never says he hates the Bourgeoisie or that he favors the Feudal system but it became quite obvious to me, as I looked closer at the excerpt.
Near the end of the fourth paragraph Marx speaks of the “great” classes and “great” hostile camps that capitalism has given birth to. This is the first time that his bitterness shines through but certainly not the last. During feudal times there were many classes but the Bourgeoisie have since “simplified” the antagonisms these classes held to one another. I believe Marx is using a very sarcastic tone here. The simplification of the classes isn’t a good one, at least that is the vibe I get from Marx. The lord/serf relation was one of force and control but also with a sort of benevolence. Lords were to make sure their subordinates were taken care of so that they might, in turn, have a successful reign. Also, while rare, there was a chance of upward mobility in non-capitalist nations. An apprentice could train and learn and soon become a master. The Bourgeoisie and capitalism brought free trade and individual success for the few. There was no longer codependence or even a chance of mobility. Indeed Marx sites that very moment in history when the oligarchy of the modern day Bourgeoisie was born “…the place of the industrial middle class, by industrial millionaires, the leaders of whole industrial armies, the modern Bourgeois.” No longer was being a doctor, a lawyer, priest or a poet of any meaning. These former classes were relegated to the simplicity of the paid wage-laborers. Obviously, this would upset Marx since he himself was a writer therefore merely a Proletariat.
Marx talks about the “idiocy” of rural life with a definite tone of sarcasm. The Bourgeoisie have “rescued” the barbarians from their lives of toil in farms so that they might toil in factories for the faceless Bourgeoisie instead. I believe Marx admires the hard worker of the lower class and feels as thought the forced change that the Bourgeoisie require of all nations is unfair. A nation must bow down to the capitalistic regime or it will be run over. Marx sites that “It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the Bourgeoisie mode of production …”
Finally, Marx speaks about how the Bourgeoisie must expand everywhere in order to survive. The constantly changing market requires that the Bourgeoisie “nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, and establish connections everywhere.” A nation and its people are not given a choice to be a part of the capitalistic system. It is thrust upon them. Those who resist, perish. So, in conclusion, Marx definitely doesn’t like the 2-class system even though he never actually states that he favors or disfavors it over Feudal systems over it.

Dorian Stanasel