《manifesto of the communist party》

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another。  If the proletariat during its contest with the

bourgeoisie is compelled; by the force of circumstances; to

organise itself as a class; if; by means of a revolution; it

makes itself the ruling class; and; as such; 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。



In place of the old bourgeois society; with its classes and

class antagonisms; we shall have an association; in which the

free development of each is the condition for the free

development of all。









III SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST LITERATURE





1。 REACTIONARY SOCIALISM





A。 Feudal Socialism





Owing to their historical position; it became the vocation of

the aristocracies of France and England to write pamphlets

against modern bourgeois society。  In the French revolution of

July 1830; and in the English reform agitation; these

aristocracies again succumbed to the hateful upstart。

Thenceforth; a serious political contest was altogether out of

the question。  A literary battle alone remained possible。  But

even in the domain of literature the old cries of the restoration

period had become impossible。



In order to arouse sympathy; the aristocracy were obliged to

lose sight; apparently; of their own interests; and to formulate

their indictment against the bourgeoisie in the interest of the

exploited working class alone。  Thus the aristocracy took their

revenge by singing lampoons on their new master; and whispering

in his ears sinister prophecies of coming catastrophe。



In this way arose Feudal Socialism: half lamentation; half

lampoon;

half echo of the past; half menace of the future; at times; by

its bitter;

witty and incisive criticism; striking the bourgeoisie to the

very heart's

core; but always ludicrous in its effect; through total

incapacity to

comprehend the march of modern history。



The aristocracy; in order to rally the people to them; waved the

proletarian alms…bag in front for a banner。  But the people; so

often as it joined them; saw on their hindquarters the old feudal

coats of arms; and deserted with loud and irreverent laughter。



One section of the French Legitimists and 〃Young England〃

exhibited this spectacle。



In pointing out that their mode of exploitation was different to

that of the bourgeoisie; the feudalists forget that they

exploited under circumstances and conditions that were quite

different; and that are now antiquated。  In showing that; under

their rule; the modern proletariat never existed; they forget

that the modern bourgeoisie is the necessary offspring of their

own form of society。



For the rest; so little do they conceal the reactionary

character of their criticism that their chief accusation against

the bourgeoisie amounts to this; that under the bourgeois regime

a class is being developed; which is destined to cut up root and

branch the old order of society。



What they upbraid the bourgeoisie with is not so much that it

creates

a proletariat; as that it creates a revolutionary proletariat。



In political practice; therefore; they join in all coercive

measures against the working class; and in ordinary life; despite

their high falutin phrases; they stoop to pick up the golden

apples dropped from the tree of industry; and to barter truth;

love;

and honour for traffic in wool; beetroot…sugar; and potato

spirits。



As the parson has ever gone band in hand with the landlord;

so has Clerical Socialism with Feudal Socialism。



Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist

tinge。

Has not Christianity declaimed against private property; against

marriage;

against the State?  Has it not preached in the place of these;

charity and

poverty; celibacy and mortification of the flesh; monastic life

and

Mother Church?  Christian Socialism is but the holy; water with

which

the priest consecrates the heart…burnings of the aristocrat。





B。 Petty…Bourgeois Socialism



The feudal aristocracy was not the only class that has ruined by

the bourgeoisie; not the only class whose conditions of existence

pined and perished in the atmosphere of modern bourgeois society。

The mediaeval burgesses and the small peasant proprietors were

the precursors of the modern bourgeoisie。  In those countries

which

are but little developed; industrially and commercially; these

two

classes still vegetate side by side with the rising bourgeoisie。



In countries where modern civilisation has become fully

developed; a new class of petty bourgeois has been formed;

fluctuating between proletariat and bourgeoisie and ever renewing

itself as a supplementary part of bourgeois society。  The

individual members of this class; however; are being constantly

hurled down into the proletariat by the action of competition;

and; as modern industry develops; they even see the moment

approaching when they will completely disappear as an independent

section of modern society; to be replaced; in manufactures;

agriculture and commerce; by overlookers; bailiffs and shopmen。



In countries like France; where the peasants constitute far more

than half of the population; it was natural that writers who

sided with the proletariat against the bourgeoisie; should use;

in their criticism of the bourgeois regime; the standard of the

peasant and petty bourgeois; and from the standpoint of these

intermediate classes should take up the cudgels for the working

class。  Thus arose petty…bourgeois Socialism。  Sismondi was the

head of this school; not only in France but also in England。



This school of Socialism dissected with great acuteness the

contradictions in the conditions of modern production。  It laid

bare the hypocritical apologies of economists。  It proved;

incontrovertibly; the disastrous effects of machinery and

division of labour; the concentration of capital and land in a

few hands; overproduction and crises; it pointed out the

inevitable ruin of the petty bourgeois and peasant; the misery of

the proletariat; the anarchy in production; the crying

inequalities in the distribution of wealth; the industrial war of

extermination between nations; the dissolution of old moral

bonds; of the old family relations; of the old nationalities。



In its positive aims; however; this form of Socialism aspires

either to restoring the old means of production and of exchange;

and with them the old property relations; and the old society; or

to cramping the modern means of production and of exchange;

within the framework of the old property relations that have

been; and were bound to be; exploded by those means。  In either

case; it is both reactionary and Utopian。



Its last words are: corporate guilds for manufacture;

patriarchal relations in agriculture。



Ultimately; when stubborn historical facts had dispersed all

intoxicating effects of self…deception; this form of Socialism

ended in a miserable fit of the blues。





C。 German; or 〃True;〃 Socialism



The Socialist and Communist literature of France; a literature

that originated under the pressure of a bourgeoisie in power; and

that was the expression of the struggle against this power; was

introduced into Germany at a time when the bourgeoisie; in that

country; had just begun its contest with feudal absolutism。



German philosophers; would…be philosophers; and beaux esprits;

eagerly seized on this literature; only forgetting; that when

these writings immigrated from France into Germany; French social

conditions had not immigrated along with them。  In contact with

German social conditions; this French literature lost all its

immediate practical significance; and assumed a purely literary

aspect。  Thus; to the German philosophers of the eighteenth

century; the demands of the first French Revolution were nothing

more than the demands of 〃Practical Reason〃 in general; and the

utterance of the will of the revolutionary French bourgeoisie

signified in their eyes the law of pure Will; of Will as it was

bound to be; of true human Will generally。



The world of the German literate consisted solely in bringing

the new French ideas into harmony with their ancient

philosophical conscience; or rather; in annexing the French ideas

without deserting their own philosophic point of view。



This annexation took place in the same way in which a foreign

language is appropriated; namely; by translation。



It is well known how the monks wrote silly lives of Catholic

Saints over the manuscripts on which the classical works of

ancient heathendom had been written。  The German literate

reversed this process with the profane French literature。  They

wrote their philosophical nonsense beneath the French original。

For instance; beneath the French criticism of the economic

functions of money; they wrote 〃Alienation of Humanity;〃 and

beneath the French criticism of the bourgeois State they wrote

〃dethronement of the Category of the General;〃 and so forth。



The introduction of these philosophical phrases at the back of

the French historical criticisms they dubbed 〃Philosophy of

Action;〃 〃True Socialism;〃 〃German Science of Socialism;〃

〃Philosophical Foundation of Socialism;〃 and so on。



The French Socialist and Communist literature was thus

completely emasculated。  And; since it ceased in the hands of the

German to express the struggle of one class with the other; he

felt conscious of having overcome 〃French one…sidedness〃 and of

representing; not true requirements; but the requirements of

truth;

not the interests of the proletariat; but the interests of Human

Nature;

of Man in general; who belongs to no class; has no reality; who

exists

only in the misty realm of philos
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