Philosophy Questions

Posted: December 22nd, 2022

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Philosophy Questions

Question one

The Historical Revolution That Marx and Engels Associate the Bourgeoisie; and the Historical Significance of the Bourgeoisie for the Overall Theory of History Presented in the Manifesto

The Communist Party Manifesto was written in December 1847 by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx to serve as a Communist League’s policy. The platform by Marx and Engels became one of the main programmatic declarations of the communist and the European Socialist parties in the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries. The party manifesto exemplified Karl and Engels money-oriented notion of history-which was based on class struggles. The two explored the history from the feudalism to capitalist era and declared that a worker’s society had to replace it. Their aim was to overthrow the capitalist society, abolish private properties, and ensure that the proletariat rose to the ruling class position.

The Communist Party Manifesto manuscript was drawn in German and sent for printing in London some weeks before the February 24, 1848  French Revolution. The French Revolution inspired the Germans in different states to protest. This led to the 1848-1849 German revolutions or March Revolution, known in German as the Deutsche Revolution 1848/1849 which were originally part of the 1848 Revolutions that emerged in many European nations. As posited by Marx and Engels, the revolutions were a chain of slackly synchronized rebellions and protest in the Austrian Empire and the German Confederations states. Those who joined the protest were highly discontented with the autocratic nature of the political system of the Confederation States. The middle-class during this period called for liberal philosophies, while the working class sought for radical advances to their living and working conditions.

The overtones of the word bourgeois became significant in the 18^th Century; a time when middle class manufactures, specialists, and their political associates started to call for a political representation that matched their economic status. Karl Marx and Engels were among the philosophers who thought the French Revolution was a bourgeois revolution (Parkin). Marx was against the great industrial changes whereby newly industrialized and overcrowded cities were growing, with most of the working class living in poor conditions.  Engels and Marx saw a society of class struggles whereby the oppressed would go against those who oppressed them, thus paving way for a one class society.

Marx and Engel in the manifesto claimed that the capitalist bourgeoisie heartlessly oppressed the proletariat. They realized that proletariat were used by the capitalist to create wealth and in turn the products were sold to them at a value much higher than the labor itself.  The two theorists according to the manifesto believed that the continuous exploitation by the wealth would lead to a great resentment and eventually, a revolution would arise whereby the proletariat would rebel against the bourgeoisie, thus overthrowing the capitalist economy. Marx and Engels stated that the modern-day capitalist society “is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells” (Marx and Engels).

The Marxist theory points out that the bourgeoisie play a great responsibility by revolutionizing the society and modernizing the industry. The bourgeoisie, however control all benefits achieved from modernization by oppressing the proletariat (propertyless), therefore; creating tensions in the revolutionary process (Aronowitz 6). The outcome, according to Marxist theory is a final uprising, whereby the property of the wealthy is seized and a class conflict, as well as, exploitation of the propertyless are abolished. This would lead to a classless society whereby labor, industry, wealth, and land would be shared amongst all people.  

Question Two
Why Marx and Engels Think That the “Victory of the Proletariat” Is Inevitable and the Played By the Modern Industry and Technology in This Victory

Engels and Marx hold the belief that the “victory of the proletariat” is inevitable. In the manifesto, Karl and Engels write about a revolution, whereby the proletariat working class   would rise to fight against their oppressors; the bourgeoisie (Cohen 66).  Marx and Engels give out a series of events or rather steps that would cause the revolution. The revolution would be as a result of the actions considered by the bourgeoisie.  As the wealthy continuously create new means to revolutionize the means of productions, they unvaryingly shift towards a consequence, in which the proletariat discover the domination and consider a revolution as the only possible way to change. 

The points as explained clearly in this discussion reveal the reason why victory for the working class would be inevitable.  For one, the bourgeoisie are creating a capitalist society that will make it unbearable for the working class to continue to exist and second, the system created by the bourgeoisie forces the working class to unite, hence a guarantee that they will overthrow the bourgeoisie (Cohen 68).

Marx and Engels state that “The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part” (Marx and Engels). This means that the wealthy have done most of the work only for the working class to take over at the end. The authors of the Communist Manifesto explain from the beginning how the bourgeoisie exploit the working class. In some of the steps, they state that the bourgeoisie has brought to an end any patriarchal, feudal, or idyllic connections and left man with only one self-interest which is cash payment. They add that bourgeoisie have converted every occupation into sources of their wealth. The authors state “It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage laborers” (Marx and Engels).  As the authors continue to explain the steps that would cause a revolution, they explain the changing phase of industries where raw materials would be drawn from remote areas and products would be consumed all across the world. They explain how machines would be adopted to replace human labor and how that would make the working class realize the exploitation by their employers.

 In those steps, what Karl and Engens try to explain is that the bourgeoisie are paving way to classless society whereby the working class would also have a say in the means of production and shaping them to become more like them.  They state, “All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life…” (Marx and Engels).

As the bourgeoisie draw all nations even the barbarian ones into civilization, then there will be no turning point.  This is because they will push all nation to adopt their mean of production and pushes them to become civilized.  This according to Karl and Engel means that they are creating “a world after its own image” (Karl and Engel). Given that there will be a lot of ongoing civilization, commerce, industry, and subsistence means, the forces of production will no longer further the developments of the bourgeois conditions as they will be too powerful for them. This will in turn bring disorder and crises to the bourgeois society and any further measures to prevent them would cause destructive and extensive crises and there will be no means to prevent them. The bourgeoisie would then use their own created weapons against the system itself.

The modern technology and industry will play a role in the victory of the proletariat against bourgeoisie in that the division of labor and the use of machinery will cause the work of the proletarians to lose all its individual character. The worker will become attached to the machines and their tasks will become monotonous. As the use of machines increases, so does the decrease in wages. Technology will cause little workshops to be converted into large industries. Workers will be crowded in those factories and placed under authority, thus will become slaves to the industry owners as they will everyday be enslaved to the machines. The more this exploitation increases, the more the proletariats become bitter and hateful. Given the modernization in the employment sector, women will supersede men in terms of labor and differences of sex and gender will no longer determine the terms of work. The middle class people who comprise of the shopkeepers, small scale, and retired tradesmen will slowly sink into the proletariat because their capital will no longer match the level at which the contemporary industry is carried on. With such development, the Proletariat begins to contest against the wealthy. They first rebel against their autocrats, attack the industrial conditions as well as the mechanisms of work, damage all imported wares and machineries, burn workshops, and seek to vehemently reinstate the position of the Middle Age workman. As all Proletariat unite together to engage in constant battles against the bourgeoisie, they eventually achieve their goal, which is having equality in all aspects of life, in other words, a class-less society.

Question Three

Bourgeoisie Has “Simplified “Class Antagonisms and Has Produced the Two Great Classes of Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. The Basis in Which They Make This Claim, and If These Two Great Classes Can Still Be Identified In Present Day British Society

Marx and Engels make a claim that the bourgeoisie era has simplified class antipathy and has produced two great classes namely the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. The bourgeois according to Karl and Engels state that that the bourgeoisie during the 18^th Century ruled the economy and owned the production means (land and capital). They also controlled all coercion means (prison system, police forces, legal system, and armed forces). The two make this claim to show how the society is divided into two classes: The wealthy and the working class (Poulantzas 68). In such class, the wealthy employ and oppress those who earn wages. These are the people who depend on labor as their only economic means. Marx and Engels claim that in the course of economic connections, the bourgeoisie and the working class continuously participate in class struggle, whereby the capitalist exploit the proletariats who in return repel against the economic manipulation, which is due to the fact that workers do not own any production means. For them to earn a living, they must work for the bourgeois capitalist by offering goods and services which are the employers’ property, who in return sells them to make profits. Marx and Engels in the Manifesto acknowledge that the industrious nature of the bourgeois helped create wealth; however, they criticize the ethical hypocrisy since they deny the fact that they exploit the working class, both the rural and urban workers. 

The two great classes continue to exist in the modern day British society and are considered as important elements of British life. A British sociologist once said that class distinctions never die; they lust find innovative means of expressing themselves.  As stated by Robson, even though the two classes still exist, major changes have occurred in the structure of the class system. The contemporary British society has a distinct strata, each with diverse levels of monetary, cultural, and social capital. Given elements like home ownership, education, occupations, and income, class levels still exist, with the elite representing about seven percent of the total population. The elite reside above a wider spectrum of middle and working classes (Robson).

Some of the people are however moving past the classes. For instance, some individuals born in the working class are making their way to the top through discipline and hard work. This means that there are several successful rags to riches” stories.  The notion that hard word leads to success is seen as a lie, but to many Britain citizens, it is a reality. Currently, individuals make minimum wages which are hardly sufficient to support one person, leave alone an entire family. Many individuals still ignore the fact that a proletariat and a bourgeoisie still exists in Britain as explained by Marx and Engels in the Communist Party Manifesto. In the nation, technology and taxes are among the most vital factors that contribute largely to the existence of the two classes.

In the UK, the working class keeps shrinking each year. The top ten per cent of UK citizens continually pay high taxes implying that they still make a lot of money (Robson). As this keeps happening, the rich demand to heighten profits by searching for foreign supplies so as to increase prices. This then causes an increasing spread between classes, hence leading to a more divide. Today, the wealthy continue to see the proletariat as a mere money connection.

Works Cited

Aronowitz, Stanley. The crisis in historical materialism: Class, politics and culture in Marxist theory. Springer, 2016. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=d-a-DAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR8&dq=The+marxist+theory&ots=pJe7RTYxeb&sig=lGs7tsPDgRXKAr1uDWHaJHq9WFs&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=The%20marxist%20theory&f=false. Accessed 22 October 2019.

Cohen, G. A. “Historical inevitability and human agency in Marxism.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences 407.1832 (1986): 65-87. http://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1986.0085. Accessed 22 October 2019.

Marx Karl and Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1848. Marx/Engels Selected Works, Vol. One, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1969, pp. 98-137

Parkin, Frank. Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique. No. 217. London: Tavistock, 1979. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=h5kKMnESLXQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA119&dq=bourgeoisie+and+proletariat&ots=6kTUgoLMP_&sig=UVovge1o7ewEo5KV5ykVA3Nby_g&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=bourgeoisie%20and%20proletariat&f=false. Accessed 22 October 2019.

Poulantzas, Nicos. “The problem of the capitalist state.” New left review 58.1 (1969): 67-78. https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/Soc924-2011/Poulantzas%20–%20the%20problem%20of%20the%20capitalist%20state.pdf. Robson, David. How important is social class in Britain today? 2016, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160406-how-much-does-social-class-matter-in-britain-today. Accessed 22 October 2019.