Due to the climate of today and the fact that we have more and more people seeing what's happening as a sign of the ideology fighting to take over, I thought it necessary to research everything I could about it.
I decided that I would start with the Communist Manifesto. I am also reading more into the works of Karl Marx. The Manifesto is but a cursory overview and while you can get a pretty good understanding through reading it, I believe it is even more important to read further into his works. You get to know Karl Marx, the man, his thought processes and therefore, his truer intent.
I will try and put as many sources as I can but some of my notes were written as I read through many sources and unfortunately I read so much that I may have missed making note of some of them.
The Manifesto was written in 1848, at the request of the Communist League. This League with the help of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels was organized in 1847. The pamphlet was written in order to "...in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies". Preamble of the Manifesto
Frederick Engels was an apprentice of Karl Marx and one of his more loyal followers. He helped pen the manifesto, as well as other writings, but why Marx is more widely named as the "father" of the manifesto is due to the fact that the ideology solely belongs to Marx.
According to Engels himself:
"The basic thought running through the Manifesto — that economic production, and the structure of society of every historical epoch necessarily arising therefrom, constitute the foundation for the political and intellectual history of that epoch; that consequently (ever since the dissolution of the primaeval communal ownership of land) all history has been a history of class struggles, of struggles between exploited and exploiting, between dominated and dominating classes at various stages of social evolution; that this struggle, however, has now reached a stage where the exploited and oppressed class (the proletariat) can no longer emancipate itself from the class which exploits and oppresses it (the bourgeoisie), without at the same time forever freeing the whole of society from exploitation, oppression, class struggles — this basic thought belongs solely and exclusively to Marx." Preface 1883 German EditionWhy they chose to so name their manifesto after the communist party is because in 1847 there were two kinds of existing socialist groups.
The first group were those adherents of various Utopian systems. This system, the Utopian ideal, was dying out.
The second group were those who wanted to eliminate social abuses through a universal solution without hurting the existing system. I would also compare this to the progressive definition. Progressives are those who outwardly support socialism and reform but not at the expense of capitalism.
Both of these groups were "people who stood outside the labor movement and looked for support from educated classes". In other words, these groups were undesirable representations of the movement.
A third group, however, was beginning to form. This group was a section of the working class that demanded a radical reconstruction of society. They believed that mere political revolutions were not enough. This group, called themselves Communists. Due to the fact that Marx and Engels believed that "the emancipation of the workers must be the act of the working class itself" they aligned themselves with the Communist group.
To them, Socialism was considered to be the "bourgeois movement" and Communism the "proletariat movement". Bourgeois (oppressor) are modern capitalists, owners of the means of production and employers of the proletariat or the wage labourer (oppressed).
Further, the bourgeois is considered the ruling class on which all other aspects of society are based. This includes "religion, family, state, law, morality, science, art, etc." Private Property and Communism
"Law, morality, religion, are to him (proletariat) so many bourgeois prejudices, behind which lurk in ambush just as many bourgeois interests." Chapter 1 Communist ManifestoWhat is communism?
In a bare bones summary, communism is one community of global proportion led by a central governing body with all control of industry, agriculture and property. No one is above or below his neighbor in terms of class. Class distinction is done away with and therefore, wage labor has become unnecessary. All will be provided and controlled by the central government. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
I doubt the majority of people who are not trained in this ideology has actually done much research and continue to imagine this Utopian lifestyle where everyone lives whatever life they want. It won't and never will work this way so long as mankind is corruptible, greedy, prideful, envious,selfish and carnal. Corruptibility is not limited to only the "bourgeois" but to all. Absolute power, corrupts absolutely.
The manifesto is inherently flawed. It has the strategy to bring down the bourgeois but there is no "after you've successfully torn down the oppressors then what" chapter. If you drill a hole in something vital you better have a plan in place or it'll take shape in whatever form it will. This is exactly why we have people like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot etc. Each leader who has tried to implement this type of society has failed and ended up killing millions.
"Well," some say, "they just didn't do socialism right" or "That's communism not socialism" or "They were dictators and that's not communism".
First, the idea that something wasn't "done right" is based upon the idea that there was even a right way to begin with.
Second, socialism is communism. It is the first phase between capitalism and communism. It is used to ease society, namely the overthrown bourgeois, into communism.
Third, Lenin believed that, "the dictatorship of the proletariat alone can emancipate humanity...it means replacing...the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie (a dictatorship hypocritically cloaked in the forms of the democratic bourgeois republic) by the dictatorship of the proletariat".
I would also venture to say that Lenin probably understood Marx's goals better than most. He writes:
"It is often said and written that the main point in Marx's theory is the class struggle. But this is wrong. And this wrong notion very often results in an opportunist distortion of Marxism...Those who recognize only the class struggle are not yet Marxists; they may be found to be still within the bounds of bourgeois thinking and bourgeois politics. To confine Marxism to the theory of the class struggle means curtailing Marxism, distorting it, reducing it to something acceptable to the bourgeoisie. Only he is a Marxist who extends the recognition of the class struggle to the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat. That is what constitutes the most profound distinction between the Marxist and the ordinary petty [lower middle class] (as well as big) bourgeois. This is the touchstone on which the real understanding and recognition of Marxism should be tested...The transition from capitalism to communism is certainly bound to yield a tremendous abundance and variety of political forms, but the essence will inevitably be the same: the dictatorship of the proletariat." Vladimir Lenin's The State of Revolution
"They (Communists) openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions". Chapter 4 of the ManifestoWhy do you think that Marxism-Leninism are always linked together?
Chapter 1 of the Manifesto lines up the history of the Bourgeois and the Proletarian. I am not going to touch on everything just the most poignant parts.
He refers to the Bourgeois society and the rapid growth and production as being like "the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells."
In summation, too fast too soon will lead to eventual collapse of the system. In that way, the Bourgeois has created the weapon that will destroy them and the group that will wield those weapons will be the proletariat, the modern working class.
These are those, "who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital. These labourers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market". He refers to them as "slaves of the bourgeois class and of the bourgeois state and daily and hourly enslaved by the machine".
He also goes on to say, that they erroneously turn against the instruments of production. In earlier revolutions they simply destroyed the means of production or the imported goods that came in as a result of free trade.
Marx refers to this stage of the proletariat as "an incoherent mass scattered over the whole country, and broken up by their mutual competition. If anywhere they unite to form more compact bodies, this is not yet the consequence of their own active union, but of the union of the bourgeoisie...the proletarians do not fight their enemies, but the enemies of their enemies".
The proletariat strength lies in numbers ie together as a class consciousness, a collective. As they band together into one massive group of people with the same economic status, same interests, same goals in national proportions they will form their own class and be able to enter into the political arena because "every class struggle is a political struggle". He goes on: "It [proletariat class] ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier. It compels legislative recognition of particular interests of the workers, by taking advantage of the divisions among the bourgeoisie itself".
He also states that the movement will first start out as "a national struggle. The proletariat of each country must...settle matters with its own bourgeoisie". From this I must infer if he were to finish that sentence, he would've added, "before the proletariat can form a global union".
So how will the movement start getting a foothold? By "taking advantage of the divisions".
When these divisions of the bourgeois "assumes such a violent, glaring character, that a small section of the ruling class cuts itself adrift, and joins the revolutionary class (proletariat)", when, "a portion of the bourgeoisie goes over to the proletariat, and in particular, a portion of the bourgeois ideologists, who have raised themselves to the level of comprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole", this is the time for the proletariat to take advantage.
The system is beginning to crumble, all they need do is "abolish their own previous mode of appropriation, and thereby also every other previous mode of appropriation...their mission is to destroy all previous securities for, and insurances of, individual property." To clarify, Marx states that all previous modes of production were as a result of appropriation and therefore the bourgeois took everything, left the proletariat with nothing and the only way to "become masters of the productive forces" is to completely abolish the system created by the bourgeois and everything that bourgeois hold as essential to society ie law, morality, religion, marriage etc.
This next section is important for me to mention. It breaks the flow a little bit even within the Manifesto itself but needs to be included here.
He mentions the lower middle class of the bourgeois or the petty (petit) bourgeois. He refers to them as "not revolutionary, but conservative...more [so] they are reactionary". They are only defending their future interests by joining the revolution. They are a group "located between these two classes in terms of its interests as well as its social situation. It represents a distinctive form of social organization in which petty productive property is mixed with, and owned by, family labour. Small shopkeepers and self-employed artisans". Encyclopedia.com Petite Bourgeoisie
These are small business owners that to save themselves from extinction fight against the upper bourgeois. However, they are a problem to the communist society because "the urge to self-employment, to own the means of livelihood, coupled with the growth of the services sector and the persistence of ‘shopkeepers’, mean that this class continues to defy not only elimination but also neat categorization into the proletariat". Encyclopedia.com Petite Bourgeoisie
These cannot be allowed to survive the revolution. Entrepreneurship is part of the bourgeoisie.
There's also the "dangerous class" or the lumpenproletariat. He refers to them as "social scum". They are the lower stratum of the proletariat "the unorganized and unpolitical lower orders of society who are not interested in revolutionary advancement". Definition Lexico.com
Marx continues to describe them as the "passively rotting mass thrown off by the lowest layers of the old society, [that] may, here and there, be swept into the movement by a proletarian revolution; its conditions of life, however, prepare it far more for the part of a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue".
The Communist party USA defines them as "generally unemployable people who make no positive contribution to an economy. Sometimes described as the bottom layer of a capitalist society. May include criminal and mentally unstable people. Some activists consider them "most radical" because they are "most exploited," but they are un-organizable and more likely to act as paid agents than to have any progressive role in class struggle".
So what, I wonder, do they do with the "social scum" if they serve no viable purpose in either society?
In the final paragraphs of Chapter 1, Marx again reiterates that "every form of society has been based...on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes...that the bourgeoisie is unfit...to be the ruling class in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as an over-riding law...Society can no longer live under this bourgeoisie, in other words, its existence is no longer compatible with society...Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable".
Which brings us to Chapter II. Proletarians and Communists
This Chapter is a more straight forward outline of what the party stands for and what they want.
He describes the Communist party as only being separate to the proletarians as a whole in 2 ways.
- They point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality.
- They always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole.
They are, according to Marx, "practically, the most advanced and resolute section of the working-class parties of every country...which push forward all others", that they, "have over the great mass...the advantage of clearly understanding the line of march [the route to revolution], the conditions, and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement".
So basically the Communist Party runs the whole movement because they have the advantage of seeing the "whole picture".
"The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat."
He begins a section of oppositions to communism. They are:
- the abolition of private property
- wage labour
- individuality and freedom
- the abolition of the family
- education
- abolition of nationalities and countries
- religion, namely Christianity
To Marx, everything rooted within the bourgeois society needs to be abolished. I will touch on everything separately as there's much to be explained in these topics and this post will be long enough as it is.
Of these, I can summarize Marx's feelings towards those who disagree with what communists want using these words from the Manifesto:
So far we know that the first step towards revolution is to organize the proletariat.
Of these, I can summarize Marx's feelings towards those who disagree with what communists want using these words from the Manifesto:
"...don’t wrangle with us so long as you apply, to our intended abolition of bourgeois property, the standard of your bourgeois notions of freedom, culture, law, &c. Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class made into a law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economical conditions of existence of your class." [You are the enemy we are fighting so be quiet, your opinion doesn't matter.]
"The Communist revolution is the most radical rupture with traditional property relations; no wonder that its development involved the most radical rupture with traditional ideas."I have noticed that Marx contributes man's relationship with property, in all its forms, as the birth of the bourgeois system and if that is destroyed first then all other traditional aspects of the bourgeoisie will naturally reach the same desired abolition.
So far we know that the first step towards revolution is to organize the proletariat.
"...to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class [is] to win the battle of democracy."Once that occurs and the proletariat gains political supremacy, they will:
"wrest [forcibly pull], by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie...centralise all instruments of production in the hands of the State [the State being the dictatorship of the proletariat]...and...increase the total productive forces as rapidly as possible."
"...In the beginning, this cannot be effected [accomplished] except by means of despotic inroads [tyrannical attacks] on the rights of property, and on the conditions of bourgeois production; by means of measures [by degrees, a plan or course of action], therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip [move faster than and overtake, exceed] themselves, necessitate further inroads [attacks] upon the old social order, and are unavoidable as a means of entirely revolutionising the mode of production."
If you remember in Chapter 1 of the Manifesto, Marx states that why capitalism is doomed to failure is because they are "like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells". To add to that, they "conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange...[that] there breaks out an epidemic...the epidemic of over-production".
So tell me why the first step would be to increase the total productive forces as rapidly as possible?
They don't say increase the proletariat, the proletariat is already the ruling class at this point. If I am comprehending correctly, as part of the plan, they will simply speed up the process of collapse by purposefully over-producing, over-spending, and <oh, I don't know> putting in programs that will no doubt bankrupt society?
While there is no true, "after" plan there are at least 10 things that Marx would like to happen.
They are:
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c.
You destabilize and collapse a whole economy of millions of people and leave it this ambiguous?
At the end of Chapter II, Marx tells us what he envisions at the end of all this. He envisions a time after the abolition of the bourgeois that the dictatorship of the proletariat will naturally fall away.
He states, "If the proletariat...by means of a revolution...makes itself the ruling class, and...sweeps away by force the old conditions of production, then it will, along with these conditions, have swept away the conditions for the existence of class antagonisms and of classes generally, and will thereby have abolished its own supremacy as a class."
Can you see where that could inevitably go awry? He works under the assumption that they'll let go of that power.
Have we even seen this "angels singing moment" in any country that this has been tried in?
So what does this look like today? What form does this take?
Are the people who desire the destruction of their current society more enlightened today than they were during Marx's time? Are people less likely to exert power and more likely to let it go once they get it?
The aims of the Communist Party are only to tear down.
"The Communists fight for the attainment of the immediate aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class but in the movement...they also represent and take care of the future of that movement...they never cease, for a single instant, to instill into the working class the clearest possible recognition of the hostile antagonism between bourgeoisie and proletariat...They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution." Chapter IVThe system of reconstruction is intentionally ambiguous. Why? Because what comes after doesn't matter so much as long as the "old society" is abolished and those 10 steps are nothing but a stop gap to make you think they care about the working class. The working class is nothing but a tool to bring about destruction. They will, not soon after they get what they want, throw them to the wolves along with everyone else.
The most effective strategy towards abolition of the bourgeois, is whatever can be used to rouse the majority of the proletariat to action. You can simply plug in oppressor for bourgeois and oppressed for proletariat. Whether they really are oppressed or not, doesn't matter.
Today?
The language is everywhere. The ideology has permeated itself into almost every aspect of our lives, camouflaged within the education system, social media, main stream media, entertainment and has become lodged within our government. It is within the battle cry of the SJW "woke".
The majority of people may not know they are agents of communism but their handlers sure do.
The most effective strategy right now? Race. They also use, sexual preference, gender preference; they still use feminism and wages etc but they concentrate on the one that causes the most reactions and stoke those flames as often as they can.
I can think of a pretty big Vanguard and they don't hide the fact they are Marxists.
"As far back as 1928, the communists declared that the cultural, economic, and social differences between the races in America could be exploited by them to create the animosity, fear, and hatred between large segments of our people that would be necessary beginning ingredients for their revolution.
Briefly, the three broad objectives were--and are--as follows:
Create Hatred
Trigger Violence
Overthrow Established Government
1. Create Hatred. Use any means to agitate blacks into hating whites and whites into hating blacks. Work both sides of the split. Play up and exaggerate real grievances. If necessary, don't hesitate to manufacture false stories and rumors about injustices and brutality. Create martyrs for both sides. Play upon mass emotions until they smolder with resentment and hatred.
2. Trigger Violence. Put the emotional masses into the streets in the form of large mobs, the larger the better. It makes no difference if the mob is told to demonstrate "peacefully" so long as it is brought into direct confrontation with the antagonist. Merely bringing the two emotionally charged groups together is like mixing oxygen and hydrogen. All that is needed is one tiny spark. If the spark is not forthcoming from purely spontaneous causes, create it.
3. Overthrow Established Government. Once mob violence becomes widespread and commonplace, condition those who are emotionally involved to accept violence as the only way to "settle the score" once and for all. Provide leadership and training for guerrilla warfare. Institute discipline and terrorism to insure at least passive support from the larger inactive segment of the population. Train and battle-harden leadership through sporadic riots and battles with police. Finally, at the appointed time, launch an all-out simultaneous offensive in every city." Tool of Communist Deception Ezra Taft BensonThat, was from 1967.
We are in danger no doubt but there is still hope.
Learn, research like I've been doing. I have immersed myself in nothing but this for a month. I have been reading everything I can. It has been overwhelming at times, surprising at others but I'm grateful for the knowledge I now have.
Knowledge is power.
Stay tuned for part 2
*note: Chapter III is talking about the three types of socialists groups, I left this out as it is merely him pointing out what they are and why they don't work
