Topic > A Look at Marx and Engel's Promise to the Inevitable Revolution

As the authors of the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are known as the initiators of communist and Marxist theories; many of their ideas are still at the heart of contemporary criticisms of the excesses of capitalism. In their Manifesto, Marx and Engels predicted that one day the world proletariat would rise up in an inevitable revolution against its bourgeois “masters,” so to speak, and that these proletarians would then take control of the means of production for themselves. , abolish property and start communist societies. The problem with this prediction is that almost two centuries have passed since it was proposed in the Manifesto and nothing even remotely approaching an international proletarian revolution has occurred. Even on a smaller scale, no true communist nation arose in this time frame. In light of these facts, some have questioned whether or not Marx and Engels were too bold in believing that a proletarian revolution was inevitable. Has capitalist control over the means of production become so entrenched that it is no longer possible to organize a revolution? Has not enough time passed for the inevitable revolution to occur? Or is economic injustice currently so rampant that members of the proletariat have missed the opportunity to rise up? The answers to these questions are not clear. But in order to more closely explore Marx and Engel's promise of a revolution, this article aims to analyze why Marx and Engels thought a proletarian revolution would occur and how the two thinkers could have been wrong about the revolution envisaged as a result of their miscalculation of human nature. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, let's start by analyzing why Marx and Engels thought a proletarian revolution was inevitable. The two thinkers thought that once workers began to unite and realize that they were being economically exploited by the bourgeoisie, then unions would be formed to organize labor and strengthen its bargaining position: “[The] proletariat not only increases in number; he concentrates in larger masses, his strength grows and he feels it more. The different interests and living conditions in the ranks of the proletariat are increasingly equated... Then the workers begin to form associations [i.e. trade unions] against the bourgeoisie." (Marx & Engels 1948). Here we can see that the formation of trade unions is the first harbinger of the revolution for Marx and Engels, because they see such formation as the catalyst that will show the proletariat that everyone has the same interests and problems. and harassers. The authors thought that this awareness would spread like wildfire among the proletariat until it inevitably decided to rise up against the bourgeoisie and depose its oppressors. And such unions would not be necessary in the first place if the bourgeois did not profit from the surplus labor of their workers. It is precisely this manipulation, or even theft, of workers' surplus labor by the bourgeoisie, that led Marx and Engels to think that a revolution was inevitable, because in their minds the workers would eventually see the inherent injustice of others who they profit from the fruits of their activities. Work. The two theorists therefore thought that the proletariat would arise with the revolution and put an end to bourgeois injustices once and for all (Marx & Engels 1948). Ultimately, Marx and Engels thought that trade unions would lead to the decline of nationalism, which in turn would place the, / #1