In 2002, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in
             Europe (OECD) detailed the growing gap between the incomes of the rich and
             poor in 20 OECD member states. In particular, the study concluded that the
             poorest 30 percent of the population in the countries examined received
             only 5 to 13 percent of the national income while the richest 30 percent of
             the population received 55 to 65 percent. The United States, Great Britain
             and the Netherlands demonstrated the biggest growths in social inequality
             (Henning 1). These numbers suggest some validity to Marx's claims of an
             uneven class structure inherent to industrial capitalism. However, the fact
             that a workers' revolution has not yet erupted in any significantly
             advanced capitalist country suggests a significant flaw in Marx and Engels'
             arguments in the Communist Manifesto.
             Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The Communist Manifesto" in 1848
             to serve as the announcement of the platform for their newly-formed
             Communist League. They published the text just after a revolutionary
             movement swept across Europe during 1848 and into 1849 (Encyclopedia
             Britannica 1). This movement evoked uprisings in numerous European
             countries for a variety of reasons. But in most cases, the revolutions
             sought better political representation and living conditions for the
             disenfranchised and lower classes (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2004, p. 1).
             The movement played an important role in shaping the modern history of
             Europe and, undoubtedly, the shaping of Marx and Engels' philosophical
             Sonny Elizondo, in his discussion of the Manifesto, describes Marx and
             Engels' tone in the Manifesto as "straightforward, even prophetic" and
             "that of a man confidently explaining to a confused world the reasons for a
             tumult which had not yet begun" (1). Elizondo attributes this confidence to
             Marx's deterministic view of history and his belief in the i...