What is the central thesis of the Communist Manifesto?
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
What is the recurring outcome of class struggles?
Either revolutionary transformation of society or the common ruin of the contending classes.
Which two main classes define modern society?
The bourgeoisie (capitalists) and the proletariat (workers).
How did the bourgeoisie emerge historically?
From the decline of feudalism, through trade, colonization, industrialization, and new markets.
How did the bourgeoisie transform social relations?
By reducing ties to cash payment and exchange value, and replacing feudal ties with capitalist ones.
Why is capitalism inherently unstable?
Because it constantly revolutionizes production and creates crises of overproduction.
What is meant by ‘all that is solid melts into air’?
The instability of capitalist society, where traditions and stable relations are dissolved by constant change.
How does capitalism spread globally?
It compels all nations to adopt capitalist production and creates a world in its own image.
How are workers treated under capitalism?
They become commodities, selling their labor, exposed to market fluctuations.
What effect does machinery and division of labor have on workers?
Their work loses individuality and charm; they become appendages of the machine.
Why does the proletariat become revolutionary?
It grows in number and strength, equalizes conditions, and develops class consciousness.
How do workers begin to resist bourgeois power?
Through unions, strikes, and political organization, even forming parties.
Why is the proletariat considered the only revolutionary class?
Because it cannot rise without abolishing class distinctions entirely.
What distinguishes communism from other ideologies?
It seeks the abolition of bourgeois private property, not property in general.
How will the proletariat use political power in revolution?
By centralizing means of production under collective control, organized as the ruling class.
What happens when class distinctions disappear?
Political power loses its oppressive character, and society becomes classless.
What is the ultimate utopian goal of communism?
An association where the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.
