Reading The Communist Manifesto Part 1 History of the Bourgeoisie A PowerPoint guide for Introduction to Sociology Students

Why read this old document? Example of “Grand Theory” Fundamental work of Social Science Excellent criticism of Capitalism Basic ideas for: Understanding oppression and exploitation Feminism Globalization

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf, guild- master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, In every society some classes dominate and oppress other classes. The oppressed classes fight back The struggle may not be visible but the oppressed struggle with and against domination The dominating classes struggle to hold on to their dominance

…a fight that each time ended either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large or the common ruin of the contending classes. Revolutionary Reconstitution The society is transformed with a new group in power and a different culture The oppressed rise to power and change the society Common Ruin of the Contending Classes Both groups lose the battle for power Society fails Perhaps an outside group or a different class takes control

In the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere a complicated arrangement of society into various orders …a manifold gradation of social rank… In ancient Rome we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves; in the Middle Ages, feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, journeymen, apprentices, serfs; in almost all of these classes, again, subordinate gradations. Marx and Engels are describing societies in which there are multiple classes Each class has higher rank than the one below it Each class has sub-classes inside itself Essentially in this older system compromise is essential No one class has real control over the entirety of society When two powerful classes clash the balance of power changes and society either changes or fails

The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. Our modern world may seem to be less oppressive than the brutal relationships found in many historical societies, but oppression is still here. The new classes struggle for power and control just as the old classes did.

Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinct feature: it has simplified class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other -- bourgeoisie and proletariat. The older system had many powerful classes in struggle Modern society has just two powerful classes in struggle

Who were the Bourgeoisie? From the serfs of the Middle Ages sprang the chartered burghers of the earliest towns. From these burgesses the first elements of the bourgeoisie were developed. The ruling classes of Europe did not see the townsfolk (burgesses) as a threat at first The people of the towns had no land and were descended from the lowest class… serfs. Land was wealth in feudal times Nobles were not threatened because they could not imagine a different form of wealth

A transportation revolution The discovery of America, the rounding of the Cape, opened up fresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie. The East-Indian and Chinese markets, the colonization of America, trade with the colonies, the increase in the means of exchange and in commodities generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulse never before known, and thereby, to the revolutionary element in the tottering feudal society, a rapid development. Ironically it was the very success of feudalism that opened the door to the Bourgeoisie. The existence of new markets Allowed for forms of wealth other than land Encouraged rapid changes in technological development

Changes in the division of labor The feudal system of industry, in which industrial production was monopolized by closed guilds, now no longer suffices for the growing wants of the new markets. The manufacturing system took its place. The guild-masters were pushed aside by the manufacturing middle class; division of labor between the different corporate guilds vanished in the face of division of labor in each single workshop. The feudal guilds slowed or blocked technological development The old system didn’t allow for the kind of specialization necessary for mass production The new system allowed less skilled workers to produce goods Broke difficult jobs into simple tasks

Change from small business to large business The place of manufacture was taken by the giant, MODERN INDUSTRY; the place of the industrial middle class by industrial millionaires, the leaders of the whole industrial armies, the modern bourgeois. When the guilds were broken individuals could grow the businesses they built Successful businessmen became rich and powerful leaders

Changes in communication and transportation Modern industry has established the world market, for which the discovery of America paved the way. This market has given an immense development to commerce, to navigation, to communication by land. This development has, in turn, reacted on the extension of industry; The discovery of far away places encouraged the development of transportation and communication technologies The new lands were new markets The old rules of business had less power in the new markets

…the modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange. Many small social changes had to happen before a modern bourgeois class could develop.