"The Communist Manifesto" :- Karl Marx, Friedrich Engles.

The machinery of civilizations work rhythmically when it is made to run after its commonly agreed-upon principles and ideologies. On the surface, it may be multifarious in many ways, but should have few shared beliefs and philosophy to guide it's collective progress.

Friends, by now, the history of humanity has broadly seen 3 such political ideologies which is supposed to work as a guidebook to the society. They are Socialism, Communism and Capitalism. Each of the three has their own nuances and differences but aim to tackle this - How to run human societies most efficiently.

Look, in different parts of the world, due to cultural differences and historic needs of the time etc. we see development and implementation of each of these philosophies.

Most people do have a rough idea of what Capitalism is. Socialism too is intuitive to us, as India is indeed a Socialist Republic - where the Centre works for the Welfare of the State. But Communism is the most misunderstood idea of all three. 

In our today's blog we'll be focused only on Europe's perspective, as our topic will only relate thereafter. Today we'll not go into the ancient Indian or the Egyptian ideas, which too are extremely interesting.

Capitalism was first coined by Adam Smith when Europe was about to witness Industrial Revolution, around in 16th to 17th century.

It is very reasonable for Capitalist ideas to grow around that time in Europe as demand and supply, trade and commerce swept the air of the time. 

But the aftermath of Industrial Revolution paved the origins of an idea called Communism, in 19th century. Again, it was not but a poet's imaginative work - but a theory sprang out of the pressing needs of the society at that time.

After the intense waves of Industrial Revolution, Europe saw extensive labour exploitation and ruthless atrocities of the few powerful and rich people on the labourers and skilled workforce. We can compare this to the Zamindari system of India, where the Zamindars first decieved the labourers to lose their land and then exploited them to work like asses in minimum wage.

Coming back to Europe, the intellectuals of that time clearly saw the need of a radical mutiny of the labourers, who were the actual heroes behind all the progress of Industrial Revolution, to rise against the oppresion of the upper class.

Hence, a German thinker and writer, Karl Marx - today known as the father of Communism, along with Friedrich Engels, published a 30-32 paged book called "The Communist Manifesto". Well, he contributed many books on Communist ideas but today we'll go through 'The Communist Manifesto'.

 The Communist Manifesto is short, taut, and very well written. However, it was written for a very specific time and place: Europe in early 1848. Everything Marx had a hand in writing was usually written as a direct response to the times he was living in.

As I said, Europe in the late 1840s was a place full of revolutionary impulses. Working class people had practically no rights of any kind, and no health and safety regulations, toiling away for long hours in unregulated industries and paid practically nothing to do so. Chattel slavery (one person has total ownership of another) was widespread in the USA. Under the circumstances, a lot of people were feeling like the only solution to their problems was to overturn the entire social order and overthrow the ruling class, because they saw really no other option except to go on enduring oppression.

This is why the Manifesto has its famous opening words:

"A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism."

(On a lighter note - For us Indians, we wonder what a sophisticated problem Europe was facing in the 19th Century. We were fighting Colonialism, Imperialism, Foreign Rule and they were fighting for class disparity after the whole freaking Industrial Revolution happened!)

Well, the book consists of 4 chapters, which we'll summarise here.

1: The Bourgeois and Proletariat Divide.

Marx and Engels argue that capitalism has driven the creation of two classes: the bourgeois (controllers of the means of production) and the proletariat (wage workers). This widening divide has led to the exploitation of the proletariat, dehumanisation and commodisation of labour, and capital concentration and political control in the hands of a small minority.

The main feature of Marxist Communism is that it addresses the class divide and resolutes to fix it for the best.

Our legendary Bhagat Singh was highly influenced by this idea of giving power to the workers and farmers, in the Indian context.

2. The Goal and Objectives of Communism

Communism aims to represent the interests of the proletariat as a whole by centralising the control of the allocation of resources with the State and abolishing private property rights.

Here, most people are bewildered to see the statement 'abolishing private property rights'. They think that the Communists want to snatch away all our properties like land, house and even our toothbrush. But the context which is behind this sentence is not in the modern sense. Here private property meant wild and unregulated industries which practiced chattel slavery and were a huge hindrance in real development of the society.

Basically, Marx's idea was to keep check and control of Capitalism's catalytic growth by organised monitoring of an authority which ensures the conditions of the labourers and represent them, uphold them.

Well, well, now does it not then smell like Socialism? In the next chapter, Marx explains where Socialism fails and Communism differs from it.

3: The Contrasting Types of Socialism.

There are numerous forms of socialism, some of which advocate a return to the feudalist class system, some of which seek the continuation of the bourgeois society, and some of which aspire to the utopia of lifting all members of society. (Which fails practicality). Marx and Engels argue that none of these forms of socialism fully address the issues of capitalism.

My take on this remark why Marx dissuaded Socialism is the results which Socialism in France brought, around 1780s to 1790s in the guise of the French Revolution - which supposedly overthrew monarchy with King Louis XVI and established noble ideas like Equality, Justice and Fraternity but after some time ended up with another ruler in the name of Napolean Bonaparte!

However, the communist revolution that Marx and Engels hoped to inspire did not come about. Protesters in the German states and in Austria-Hungary were shot down en masse by the police and army. By the end of 1849, Marx was advising the the workers of Cologne not to attempt a revolution, pointing out that they would simply be killed if they tried to.

Well, the grim reality is that even Communism, couldn't be an immediate success.

If the Manifesto is still of interest today, it’s because of its rhetorical power, and its ringing turns of phrase—that, and the fact that it’s probably the most optimistic and upbeat thing Karl Marx ever wrote.

Later in history we see the Soviet Union practicing Communism till 1980s. People believe it was the best attempt so far on these lines. Namesake Communist nations like China and North Korea too exists!

To be fair, Communism in 20th century became synonymous to Dictatorship, as in USSR, we saw Lenin, Stalin being too full of themselves in ruling. China and North Korea are shining examples too.

Well, Communism left a resounding impression on India too. Many political parties tried and are still trying to practice it. But to be honest, it appears that our socialist leaders are somehow afraid to hear communism. I have often seen it being disregarded. I don't know why. No comments.

But a very inspiring instance of a Communist practice took place in India, of which we Indians are extremely proud.

The Tata Code of Conducting Labour!

Believe it or not, the first Indians to actually benefit from Communist ideas were Tatas. In the Tata Mills, the workers were treated so marvellously, even the government of India later took notes from it to create its labour policies.

The early emphasis on social stewardship resulted in the introduction of the eight-hour working day in 1912 and free medical aid for staff in 1915. The Tatas pioneered maternity leave, leave with pay, accident compensation and other welfare schemes, many of which were set up before they were introduced in the so-called advanced world.

In 1956, the Tatas decided to involve the employees in the management. Forty-one departmental councils, which included representatives of the workers, were formed to encourage involvement in matters as diverse as production, quality improvement and safety measures.

Hence, with this positive news and a smile on our faces, let's rest our blog here, with the most famous slogan of the book in chapter 4:-

“Workers of the World, Unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains!”

Thanks,

Daksh Parekh.