DISCUSSION TOPIC: COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
Some Questions
When was the Manifesto written? When was it published? What else happened on the European continent during its year of publication?
How do Marx and Engels define the "bourgeoisie" and the "proletariat?"
What explains history according to the manifesto? How do Marx and Engels support their position here? To what extent do they characterize the bourgeoisie as a reactionary force?
How do Marx and Engels characterize the current age? What is in the process of happening? Why do they say that the bourgeoisie inevitably produces its own gravediggers? Why do they believe the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat will have a different result from all previous class struggles in recorded history? What do Marx and Engels have to say about property? what do they have to say about nationalism?
What role does free will play in the theories of the Communist Manifesto?
What role does "morality" play in the theories of Marx and Engels?
How do Marx and Engels characterize the relationship between communists and the proletariat?
To what extent is this a totalitarian document? Can the Communist Manifesto be seen as laying the groundwork for the dictatorships of the 20th century or should the "communism" that developed in that century be seen as a betrayal of the principles of the Communist Manifesto?
Are Marx and Engels correct in arguing that human consciousness -- ideas, values and conceptions -- inevitably change with material conditions? Is an independent basis for human morality possible?
How would you begin to assess the Communist Manifesto? Was it worth all the fuss? What are the most positive and most troubling features of the document?
Does the Communist Manifesto have relevance today? Can parts of it still be used to analyze capitalism as a system or is it a take-it-all-or-leave-it-all comprehensive theory? Should the manifesto be relegated to the "trash heap" of history?
Common Required Reading
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "Manifesto of the Communist Party," 1848. [Note that there is an introduction and four separate sections]
