00:00:04
the Communist Manifesto is a fiery
00:00:07
political text written by marks and
00:00:09
angles in 1848 it's significant in the
00:00:12
study of politics in IR for at least
00:00:14
three reasons first the ideas it
00:00:18
espouses have had a major impact on real
00:00:20
world developments inspiring political
00:00:23
leaders and social revolutionaries
00:00:25
across the globe from the mid 1800s till
00:00:28
today second it was one of the first
00:00:31
political texts to focus squarely on
00:00:33
economic exploitation and inequality its
00:00:37
insights into how capitalism might
00:00:39
create and perpetuate these problems are
00:00:42
as relevant today as they were in the
00:00:44
1800's third the manifesto offered a new
00:00:48
kind of theory that was inherently
00:00:50
political Marx and Engels wanted to do
00:00:53
more than explain the social world they
00:00:56
wanted to intervene in it to challenge
00:00:58
and transform existing power relations
00:01:00
and change the world for the better the
00:01:03
belief that theorizing is a
00:01:05
revolutionary act informs all of the
00:01:07
critical theories of today from feminism
00:01:10
to post colonialism and Beyond the
00:01:13
manifesto provided an entirely new
00:01:16
theory of social relations and social
00:01:18
progress the theory of historical
00:01:20
materialism the theory posits that since
00:01:23
ancient times societies have been
00:01:26
divided into opposing classes that exist
00:01:29
in perpetual conflict with one another
00:01:32
conflict between these classes between
00:01:35
the oppressors and the oppressed drives
00:01:37
history relentlessly towards its
00:01:39
ultimate destination a social system
00:01:42
finally liberated from exploitation and
00:01:44
class conflict that destination is
00:01:47
communism for historical materialists
00:01:51
like marx and engels class relations
00:01:53
reflect production relations or how
00:01:56
people organize to produce material
00:01:58
things the things that humans need and
00:02:00
want the theory holds that throughout
00:02:03
history control over the means of
00:02:05
production the things that we use to
00:02:07
make stuff from land and raw materials
00:02:10
to tools technology and human knowledge
00:02:13
and skills has been a highly unequal
00:02:15
affair
00:02:16
in every mode of production from the
00:02:19
ancient times of slavery to feudalism
00:02:21
and then to capitalism some social
00:02:24
classes have controlled the means of
00:02:26
production while others have been forced
00:02:29
into positions of subordination and
00:02:31
exploitation what drives history forward
00:02:35
from slavery to feudalism to capitalism
00:02:38
and eventually to socialism and
00:02:40
communism is conflict between the
00:02:43
classes that control the means of
00:02:45
production and those that don't
00:02:48
in this sense the manifesto offers a
00:02:51
scientific theory of historical
00:02:53
development it purports to identify a
00:02:56
set of general laws that underpin social
00:02:59
dynamics and evolution this was a really
00:03:02
revolutionary way of thinking about the
00:03:04
social world at the time in keeping with
00:03:07
this scientific theme the manifesto also
00:03:09
identified a set of conditions and
00:03:12
contradictions within capitalism that
00:03:15
will ensure its inevitable demise for
00:03:18
example it argues that capitalism has
00:03:21
simplified class antagonisms
00:03:23
and split society into two great and
00:03:26
hostile camps the bourgeoisie who
00:03:29
privately are in the means of production
00:03:31
and the proletariat who must sell their
00:03:34
labor for a wage to survive
00:03:37
moreover the wages paid to workers are
00:03:39
always less than the value of the goods
00:03:42
that they produce this is the great
00:03:44
exploitation that sits at the heart of
00:03:46
capitalism the profits at the
00:03:48
capitalists enjoy come from them
00:03:50
extracting the surplus value created by
00:03:53
workers and because they are profit
00:03:56
driven capitalists are constantly
00:03:58
seeking to minimize wages to increase
00:04:01
their profit margins technological
00:04:04
advancement including the use of
00:04:06
machines in production further drives
00:04:09
wages down and displaces labor driving
00:04:12
the working class into poverty finally
00:04:16
ever-increasing productive capacity
00:04:18
combined with falling wages and
00:04:20
employment leads to over production and
00:04:23
under consumption tending capitalism
00:04:26
towards crisis so is capitalism develops
00:04:30
get a smaller and smaller richer and
00:04:32
richer capitalist class and a bigger and
00:04:35
better poorer and poorer working-class
00:04:38
sewing the conditions ripe for conflict
00:04:41
and revolution in these ways the
00:04:45
manifesto speaks directly and powerfully
00:04:47
to the core questions of the discipline
00:04:50
of international relations and
00:04:52
international political economy in
00:04:54
particular what is the relationship
00:04:57
between wealth and power and who gets
00:05:00
what where when and how people also find
00:05:04
the manifesto so relevant today because
00:05:07
it represents the first systematic
00:05:09
response to and critique of liberal
00:05:12
ideas about capitalism and its winners
00:05:15
and losers in the liberal view the
00:05:18
global spread of free-market capitalism
00:05:21
is an overwhelmingly positive
00:05:22
development this is because capitalism
00:05:25
is a win-win game in which free
00:05:27
individuals enter into mutually
00:05:29
beneficial relations of production and
00:05:32
exchange so the spread of capitalism
00:05:35
through free trade and the globalisation
00:05:37
of production will lift all boats over
00:05:40
the past 30 years liberal ideas have
00:05:43
powerfully shaped political discourses
00:05:45
and policy practices across the globe
00:05:48
but for many people's capitalist
00:05:51
transformation has not been associated
00:05:53
with positive economic or social
00:05:55
outcomes as liberalism promised the
00:05:59
manifesto is helpful because it provides
00:06:02
an entry point into interrogating
00:06:04
liberal assumptions it represents the
00:06:07
first systematic attempt to explain how
00:06:10
and why capitalism might produce and
00:06:12
reproduce inequality and exploitation
00:06:15
rather than mutual gains and liberation
00:06:18
you don't have to agree with all of the
00:06:21
manifestos assumptions and conclusions
00:06:23
to appreciate the value of its message
00:06:26
the importance of questioning dominant
00:06:29
understandings of who gets what and of
00:06:32
the relationship between economic and
00:06:34
political power in a capitalist society
00:06:36
which brings us to the ideas of power
00:06:39
order and justice in the manifesto Marx
00:06:43
Engels clearly believed that under
00:06:45
capitalism the capitalist class holds
00:06:47
economic power which translates into
00:06:50
political power including control of the
00:06:53
state itself but if that was the end of
00:06:56
their story there would have been little
00:06:58
point in writing a book like the
00:06:59
Communist Manifesto or in calling for
00:07:02
the workers of the world to unite in
00:07:04
fact for marx and engels both classes
00:07:07
have power resources and these resources
00:07:10
exist in different spheres not just in
00:07:13
the economic arena but also in the
00:07:15
political social cultural and legal
00:07:17
arenas and in the various spheres of
00:07:19
knowledge production these are all
00:07:22
venues where class conflict can manifest
00:07:24
and where power resources can be
00:07:27
mustered and deployed
00:07:28
so while Marx and Engels explain why
00:07:31
capital and labor are in conflict they
00:07:33
don't try to predict how these conflicts
00:07:36
will play out it's always social power
00:07:38
the ability of each class to mobilize
00:07:41
and deploy different power resources
00:07:44
that determines how conflict will unfold
00:07:47
when it comes to social order this is
00:07:50
shaped by the mode of production under
00:07:52
capitalism the key dynamic shaping
00:07:55
social order is capitalist ownership of
00:07:58
the means of production and their
00:08:00
relentless pursuit of profit through the
00:08:02
exploitation of wage labor but again
00:08:06
this is just the starting point for
00:08:08
their examination of order because Marx
00:08:10
and Engels see a constant back-and-forth
00:08:12
between the economic the ideational and
00:08:15
the political spheres of social life for
00:08:17
example through ideas class
00:08:21
consciousness becomes possible and by
00:08:24
consciously identifying and unifying as
00:08:27
a class workers can go on strike and
00:08:30
demand better pay building their
00:08:32
economic power with that economic power
00:08:35
the working class can shape ideas and
00:08:38
political outcomes so Marx and Engels
00:08:42
present a very fluid image of social
00:08:44
order we're challenged and change is
00:08:46
possible on justice Marx and Engels saw
00:08:50
history is marked by inherently
00:08:52
exploitative human relations yet they
00:08:55
believed that this state of
00:08:56
Phares was not insurmountable social
00:08:59
justice could be achieved and adjust
00:09:02
society free of exploitation could exist
00:09:05
while they made no predictions or
00:09:07
guarantees they gave good reasons to
00:09:09
believe that history tended towards
00:09:11
justice in a long and sweeping sense for
00:09:16
them the key to change was to encourage
00:09:19
the working class to become conscious of
00:09:21
itself and through revolution to create
00:09:24
a just society
00:09:33
you