The bourgeoisie and proletariat classes according to Karl Marx
One basic tenet Karl Marx's defines in his famous Manifesto of theCommunist Party is the distinguishing characteristics of two opposingsocial classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat classes. These classescan easily be defined as those who gain wealth (bourgeoisie) from theworking class (proletariat). While the bourgeoisie class continues to gainwealth and power, the proletariat falls in a downward spiral of social andeconomic crisis. This paper will examine how each class differs according Marx's theory illustrates a good versus evil society. In his manifesto,he says, "Society as a whole is more and more splitting into two greathostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other:Bourgeoisie and Proletariat" (Marx). He predicts that a "haunting specterof Communism" (Marx) is looming ahead in the future, unleashing arevolution that will overthrow economic forces, and governments as well associal and cultural forces that exist in capitalist countries. Marx urgesthis overthrow by the proletariat class, asking them to liberate themselvesand unify under the Communist Party. Communism will lead them in arevolutionary action that will overthrow the bourge
Marx also addresses the issue of the "small tradespeople" willeventually become part of the proletariat will "sink gradually into theproletariat, partly because their diminutive capital does not suffice forthe scale on which Modern Industry is carried on, and is swamped in thecompetition with the large capitalists, partly because their specializedskill is rendered worthless by new methods of production" (Marx). Not only are they slaves of the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois state; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and, above all, in the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself. In contrast to the bourgeoisie, the proletarian is seen by thebourgeoisie as "merely a soulless appendage to the machine" (Jones 186). According toMarx, the bourgeoisie democracy depends on rights that exist only inwealth. These laborers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and are consequently, exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market. As privates of the industrial army, they are placed under the command of a perfect hierarchy of officers and sergeants. Although the bourgeoisie stateand capitalism have not been destroyed, Marx's ideas need to be recognized. Lavine, author of The Philosophic Quest: FromSocrates to Sartre, Marx identifies the proletariat class is the "mostrevolutionary class" that has existed up till this present time. Karl Marx is still considered a major thinker in regards to society andeconomics because he was able to transform thought regarding the conflictof classes. oisie and thus win themthe world, which the bourgeoisie has created. Thebourgeoisie revolutionized the process of economic production, which leadthem to dominate the world and establish a world market, which in turnfeeds the growth of industrial production. Masses of laborers, crowded into the factory, are organized like soldiers. The contrast of the two classes is further exploited as the laborerproduces more than enough for his subsistence and that of his family.
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