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the Communist Manifesto is a fiery
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political text written by marks and
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angles in 1848 it's significant in the
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study of politics in IR for at least
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three reasons first the ideas it
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espouses have had a major impact on real
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world developments inspiring political
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leaders and social revolutionaries
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across the globe from the mid 1800s till
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today second it was one of the first
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political texts to focus squarely on
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economic exploitation and inequality its
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insights into how capitalism might
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create and perpetuate these problems are
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as relevant today as they were in the
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1800's third the manifesto offered a new
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kind of theory that was inherently
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political Marx and Engels wanted to do
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more than explain the social world they
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wanted to intervene in it to challenge
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and transform existing power relations
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and change the world for the better the
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belief that theorizing is a
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revolutionary act informs all of the
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critical theories of today from feminism
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to post colonialism and Beyond the
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manifesto provided an entirely new
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theory of social relations and social
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progress the theory of historical
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materialism the theory posits that since
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ancient times societies have been
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divided into opposing classes that exist
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in perpetual conflict with one another
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conflict between these classes between
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the oppressors and the oppressed drives
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history relentlessly towards its
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ultimate destination a social system
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finally liberated from exploitation and
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class conflict that destination is
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communism for historical materialists
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like marx and engels class relations
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reflect production relations or how
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people organize to produce material
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things the things that humans need and
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want the theory holds that throughout
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history control over the means of
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production the things that we use to
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make stuff from land and raw materials
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to tools technology and human knowledge
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and skills has been a highly unequal
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affair
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in every mode of production from the
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ancient times of slavery to feudalism
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and then to capitalism some social
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classes have controlled the means of
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production while others have been forced
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into positions of subordination and
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exploitation what drives history forward
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from slavery to feudalism to capitalism
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and eventually to socialism and
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communism is conflict between the
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classes that control the means of
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production and those that don't
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in this sense the manifesto offers a
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scientific theory of historical
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development it purports to identify a
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set of general laws that underpin social
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dynamics and evolution this was a really
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revolutionary way of thinking about the
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social world at the time in keeping with
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this scientific theme the manifesto also
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identified a set of conditions and
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contradictions within capitalism that
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will ensure its inevitable demise for
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example it argues that capitalism has
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simplified class antagonisms
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and split society into two great and
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hostile camps the bourgeoisie who
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privately are in the means of production
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and the proletariat who must sell their
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labor for a wage to survive
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moreover the wages paid to workers are
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always less than the value of the goods
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that they produce this is the great
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exploitation that sits at the heart of
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capitalism the profits at the
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capitalists enjoy come from them
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extracting the surplus value created by
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workers and because they are profit
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driven capitalists are constantly
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seeking to minimize wages to increase
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their profit margins technological
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advancement including the use of
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machines in production further drives
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wages down and displaces labor driving
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the working class into poverty finally
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ever-increasing productive capacity
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combined with falling wages and
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employment leads to over production and
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under consumption tending capitalism
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towards crisis so is capitalism develops
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get a smaller and smaller richer and
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richer capitalist class and a bigger and
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better poorer and poorer working-class
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sewing the conditions ripe for conflict
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and revolution in these ways the
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manifesto speaks directly and powerfully
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to the core questions of the discipline
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of international relations and
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international political economy in
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particular what is the relationship
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between wealth and power and who gets
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what where when and how people also find
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the manifesto so relevant today because
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it represents the first systematic
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response to and critique of liberal
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ideas about capitalism and its winners
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and losers in the liberal view the
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global spread of free-market capitalism
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is an overwhelmingly positive
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development this is because capitalism
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is a win-win game in which free
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individuals enter into mutually
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beneficial relations of production and
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exchange so the spread of capitalism
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through free trade and the globalisation
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of production will lift all boats over
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the past 30 years liberal ideas have
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powerfully shaped political discourses
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and policy practices across the globe
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but for many people's capitalist
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transformation has not been associated
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with positive economic or social
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outcomes as liberalism promised the
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manifesto is helpful because it provides
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an entry point into interrogating
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liberal assumptions it represents the
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first systematic attempt to explain how
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and why capitalism might produce and
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reproduce inequality and exploitation
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rather than mutual gains and liberation
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you don't have to agree with all of the
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manifestos assumptions and conclusions
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to appreciate the value of its message
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the importance of questioning dominant
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understandings of who gets what and of
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the relationship between economic and
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political power in a capitalist society
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which brings us to the ideas of power
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order and justice in the manifesto Marx
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Engels clearly believed that under
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capitalism the capitalist class holds
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economic power which translates into
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political power including control of the
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state itself but if that was the end of
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their story there would have been little
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point in writing a book like the
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Communist Manifesto or in calling for
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the workers of the world to unite in
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fact for marx and engels both classes
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have power resources and these resources
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exist in different spheres not just in
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the economic arena but also in the
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political social cultural and legal
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arenas and in the various spheres of
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knowledge production these are all
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venues where class conflict can manifest
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and where power resources can be
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mustered and deployed
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so while Marx and Engels explain why
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capital and labor are in conflict they
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don't try to predict how these conflicts
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will play out it's always social power
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the ability of each class to mobilize
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and deploy different power resources
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that determines how conflict will unfold
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when it comes to social order this is
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shaped by the mode of production under
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capitalism the key dynamic shaping
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social order is capitalist ownership of
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the means of production and their
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relentless pursuit of profit through the
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exploitation of wage labor but again
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this is just the starting point for
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their examination of order because Marx
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and Engels see a constant back-and-forth
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between the economic the ideational and
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the political spheres of social life for
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example through ideas class
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consciousness becomes possible and by
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consciously identifying and unifying as
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a class workers can go on strike and
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demand better pay building their
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economic power with that economic power
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the working class can shape ideas and
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political outcomes so Marx and Engels
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present a very fluid image of social
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order we're challenged and change is
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possible on justice Marx and Engels saw
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history is marked by inherently
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exploitative human relations yet they
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believed that this state of
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Phares was not insurmountable social
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justice could be achieved and adjust
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society free of exploitation could exist
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while they made no predictions or
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guarantees they gave good reasons to
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believe that history tended towards
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justice in a long and sweeping sense for
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them the key to change was to encourage
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the working class to become conscious of
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itself and through revolution to create
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a just society
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you
