Karl Marx is the founder of new doctrine and the author, together with Friedrich Engels, of the Communist Manifesto (1848), one of the most influential documents in the history of humankind. The Manifesto contains a brilliant analysis of capitalism’s specifics, a description of various classes, and objective laws of social development. It has become the principal program document of the first communist organization. Marx and Engels dedicated their work to not only present the concept of socialism as the only way any society can progress. The document’s vital part discusses proletarian education as “determined by the material living conditions and social relations” (Wang 960). Moreover, Marx believed that by educating the working class the capitalism would dissolve, and the society would transition into socialism with the proletariat as the ruling class.
To better understand Marx’s stance on education, it is crucial to look at how he outlines the capitalist social structure. The Communist Manifesto separates the working class, or proletariat, from the bourgeoisie, a small social group represented by the wealthy, who owns most of the society’s land, properties, and means of production. The working class in the capitalist world does not have access to education and is viewed by the bourgeoisie as tools to ensure a successful production process (Wang). To some extent, the Manifesto stresses that the wealthy are afraid to educate farmers and factory workers since the consciousness improved by knowledge will result in the ruling class overturning the present regime. In this sense, Marx presented education as a tool that will eventually lead the exploited working class to resist. The Manifesto sees the final goal of socialism as the proletariat’s triumph over the bourgeoisie and the “abolition of social classes” (Floyd 4). Therefore, communism is acting as a stepping stone or an aggressive revolutionary movement that would eventually lead to a happy socialistic state.
Marx and Engels started the Manifesto with an impactful phrase about a ghost that is threatening Europe. In other words, communism, or the specter, is believed to have the power to change the current society’s structure and “the economic system known as capitalism” (Cole 6). The phrase is wide-known because it serves as the introduction to the action plan for a communist movement.
Marx and Engels’ work was published at the right time because it had an enormous influence on people. The Manifesto so moved the public that Marx was forced by the German government to leave the country. The Manifesto also gave rise to the social movement and the 1871 Paris commune (Cole). Moreover, it became the basis for the revolution in 1917 in Russia, when Marx’s theories came to life. The proletariat was provided with an education that gave them “the capacity to govern as the ruling class” (Brown 6). Thus, learning was claimed to be accessible to everyone and not only to a small part of society.
While being generally correct about the unjust distribution of power, Marx and Engels did not foresee the emergence of the middle class. There is an impression that the ideas presented in the Manifesto were too broad, which led to various, often very extreme, interpretations of what communism and socialism should involve. It also may seem that the document is overemphasizing the working class and taking its side. However, it is vital to understand that when the Manifesto was written, Europe was undergoing a severe transformation that was historically inevitable. Therefore, while being critiqued by many as too general, the Manifesto is still a crucial document that provided a basis for societal change and improved the educational system.
Works Cited
Brown, Martin. “Is There a Marxist Perspective on Education?” Culture Matters, 2018, Web.
Cole, Nicki L. The Main Points of “The Communist Manifesto.” ThoughtCo, 2019, Web.
Floyd, David. “What is the Difference Between Communism and Socialism?” Investopedia, 2020, Web.
Wang, Gaohe. “The Enlightenment of the Educational Thought of the Communist Manifesto to Postgraduate Education.” Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, vol. 71, 2018, pp. 960–963.