Communist Manifesto Answer

The picture of a Capitalist society created by Marx and Engel is relatively accurate, with a few exceptions. They talk about how the bourgeoisie was originally oppressed, rose up against that oppression, and began oppressing those beneath them, thus starting the cycle all over again. In American society today, each class generally tends to look out for themselves. Marx also talks about how the bourgeoisie has “stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honored and looked up to with reverent awe” (62). Everything has now been reduced to its monetary value, including people and their jobs. In modern day society, the vast majority of jobs are ones held only so a person can feed their family. There are of course many fulfilling occupations, but most people need to work in jobs they hate just to survive. Marx talks about how the old means of exploitation was through religion, but recently it developed into “direct, brutal exploitation” (62). In a sense this is true. Large modern corporations and companies only look out for themselves, exploiting everything around them. Many pay their workers as little as possible, and are interested in quantity, not quality. As we saw with the oilrig leaking into the gulf, many companies are not concerned with the safety of the environment or their workers, only with saving as much money as possible.

Communist Manifesto question

Is Marx and Engels' description of capitalist society accurate? Defend your answer by referring specifically to a characteristic of capitalist society, as Marx and Engels describe it, and with specific reference to modern American (or other capitalist) society. Keep your response brief--a couple hundred words, tops. Feel free to respond to others' posts as well.