The Reality of the Communist Manifesto

The Reality of The Communist Manifesto

Prophetic or paranoid, was the future of Europe outlined by Marx and Engels in their Communist Manifesto realized? Had they accurately predicted the course of history taken in the late nineteenth century? Class struggles were undoubtedly a fact of life, with a growing divide between those in power and the working class. Capitalism was in full swing; modes of production were changing, and technology was growing exponentially, yet an inordinate majority of the population was seeing little in the way of profit. But perhaps Marx and Engles oversimplified it, taking too narrow an approach to understanding the growing troubles. Europe was a powder keg and beyond class struggles were the issues of changing political atmospheres, crises of national identity and power struggles between nations to assert themselves. These issues along with the effects of capitalism and class relations all fueled the fire for revolution and warfare during a tumultuous period in European history.

Written in 1847, The Communist Manifesto boils all previous conflicts in history