The Communist Manifesto: A Summary of

Marx 200th birthday celebration in China.

Title: Manifesto of The Communist Party
Author: Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx
Year Published: 1847
Theme: politic, economy, philosophy



Before I start, I would tell you why I was interested to read on communism, early on. I read George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It is a fable that slantly criticizes the russian communist revolution and government. It tells about how bolshevik pigs who initiated the rule of ‘Animal Class’ with benevolent intention and actions, gradually became corrupt. The corruption occurs gradually and slowly. Finally the pigs are indistinguishable with their initial foe, ‘the humans’ who they protested. At the end of the day, their treatments to animals were not better than humans. that is what makes me curious about communism. I heard a lot of critics about communism, chiefly here in Indonesia. But, I know essentially communist intention is the same as many other economic philosophies: to make more people more prosperous and is good. Why on the earth did this system fail to bring prosperity despite its good intentions?


I hope this article can help you answer some of the most critical questions concerning communism and help us to be fairer in judging it.


“A spectre is haunting europe - the spectre of communism”, Marx and Engels warned. Communism is the opposite of capitalism which was the major economic system in europe. It emerged as a critic of capitalism which was causing oppression and exploitation of the working class, slaves, and asian labourers(indonesian people were exploited in the colonization of the Dutch).


For a long period of time in history, the world is divided into two groups: the oppressors and the oppressed. The villain and the victim. What does this mean? Many people get wealth from seizing others. The king who seized their subjects. The loan shark who overburden poor people who need money with overwhelming amounts of interests. The result is the rest of society--other than the riches-- were poor. Most of the people who didn’t do anything wrong and lived honestly were poor.


Then, also is class antagonism, i.e. fight between class throughout the history. The fight between the aristocracy and king initiated the french revolution. As a result, founded a new class, i.e. the industrialist or the capitalist class who benefit from peasants exempt from feudals. The fight between local king in java between foreign overlord of the dutch. This fight between classes went on.


In the industrialist era, there emerged two major classes in the society: the working class and the capitalist class. then, is their turn in the class battle. They have contradicting behalves and interests. The capitalist class wanted to pay the working force less. The working class wanted more wage. Is it impossible that they could settle in their interest. However, even they have contradicting interests, they share some similar interests. If the workers work more effectively, it brings more profit to the company. At the same time, the company can pay the worker more. This what karl marx overlooked.


The industrial revolution changed the economy in such a way that never happened in history. The industrial revolution changed the means of production to be productive as ever possible. It encourages innovations in technology and services. The product is inevitable: the economy enjoys rapid growth, and the companies enjoy more profit. Nay more, The capitalist class enjoys more profit. But, how about the working class? In the 19th century it was obvious that the working class didn’t enjoy as much benefit as the capitalist class did. Vice versa, they tended to be more miserable, more poor, and had less freedom, as they pushed to work harder abiding the harsh factory schedule and protocols, compared to their country predecessors.


Communism intended to solve this problem. Yes, communism intended to improve the well-being of the working class. Karl marx and his friends were disgusted by this phenomenon. You may be disgusted, too. Look how Indonesian working class pushed to work to their boundaries, by the dutch colonist in 19th century. In the development of jalan pantura in Java Island, 1808-1809, by Daendels, 12.000 workers died. You can be sure that in fact more workers died because of overwork in other sectors.


They wanted to end this economic and social inequality by one simple big measure: the abolition of private property. As Karl Marx said, if communism shortened into one sentence it would be “the abolition of private property.” why only some enjoyed the benefit of the industrial revolution is because in capitalism people gain by how much they own, like the capitalist who owns the whole industry will get most of its profit. Since most working class owns nothing but a few bucks that only suffice for basic needs, they got nothing, too. By the abolition of private property how much people gain doesn’t depend by how much they own anymore, but rather by their needs. Hence, the benefit of the revolution can be distributed more evenly.


Karl Marx explained that in communism the economy ran from above, but unfortunately he wrote almost nothing about what is the ideal government. This is the vital part. He wrote just it’s like that the government is ideal: the officer will be honest and will do everything for the people. Unfortunately, what happened in communist countries, for example USSR, many officers committed corruption. This is the achilles heels of communism. Unfortunately, by abolishing private property don’t assure the wealth distributed evenly. The ruling class still had the same character. As a result, founded a new superior class in the communist societies: the communist party elites.


And if the government is corrupt, and the wealth isn't distributed evenly, that’s mean communism's initial intention, to abolish inequality, isn't achieved. I don’t know if Karl Marx wrote more in Das Kapital, I haven't read that. I hope so.


However, Communism, as many other ideologies, inherently has a good intention. I feel sorry many people object to it without ever trying to understand it and read about it. Communism started by good people who want to end the inequality in the world. Communism is a economic and political philosophy, but many people in our country blame it because it abolishes religion or ‘kafir.’ oh, gosh, seriously? It’s like blaming Hitler because he wasn’t a muslim. It’s just ridiculous and isn’t to the point. If you want to blame it because it abolishes religion, many other secular ideologies do so too.


Communism isn’t perfect, but since it is an economic and political system, if you want to criticize it you rather criticize from an economic and political point of view. Say, like you object that the economy almost completely ran from above, and hence it becomes vulnerable to corruption and slows down innovation.


The communist manifesto is one of the most important historical documents in political and economical philosophy, chiefly in early 20th century. It one of the most important document in Communism. Communism, is a economic system where the economy is run by the government, , there’s no private property, and economic profit distributed more evenly.


One key saying in communism “a person contributes according to his ability, gains according to his needs.” It is born as a criticism to capitalist system where the economic gap is immense.


Many criticisms it gets from people in Indonesia according to its religious view isn’t relevant. We have to judge it fairly. While now the condition of the working class is getting better than ever, as since 2018 for the first time in history since the agricultural revolution, most people aren’t poor; it’s inevitable that communism decays gradually. However, this notable school still deserves appreciation because of its concern for the poor condition of workers. It’s inevitable communism leaves a legacy, to the improvement in the condition of the working class.

While now the condition of the working class is getting better than ever, as since 2018 for the first time in history since the agricultural revolution, most people aren’t poor; it’s inevitable that communism decays gradually. However, this notable school still deserves appreciation because of its concern for the poor condition of workers.