“The Proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.”
- Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto [1]
Title : The Communist Manifesto
Writer : Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
Publisher : Penguin Classics
Pages : 52
The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx’s second magnum opus (my personal opinion, of course) after Das Kapital. The communist manifesto is the ever controversial piece of work. The Communist manifesto was written by both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels – two of the few most important figures of the communist ideology. They were two of the few who caused the initial major upheaval of spreading of communism/socialism ideology throughout the world (please do not confuse between socialism and communism). The communist manifesto is basically the manifesto of the communist party that was rebelling against the authority at that time. The ideology was widespread in Europe back in the 18th centuries. The ideology caused a political uproar during that time and still echoes until today, stirring the very hearts of some of the authorities/bourgeoisie. This small book consist of just the translated manifesto, nothing else. No commentaries, why it was created/written or any extra information with regard to the manifesto. The manifesto was imbued heavily with the concept of ‘equality for all’ (as we all might know this, the very reason for the establishment of communism ideology is equality for all), and it was elucidated by both Marx and Engel finely, I would say.
The communist manifesto and Das Kapital is inextricable. Das Kapital, considered the magnum opus of Marx, is a very important piece of work that must co-exist simultaneously with the manifesto. The communist manifesto is a linchpin to the ideology, and it is backed heavily by Das Kapital, rendering the bourgeoisie repercussion of ‘unfair-tyranny’ image up until today.
Despite the tiny nature of this book (the version that I read is a simplified version, there are other versions that are more complete and would be able to give the reader bigger picture about the ideology), the book is heavily equipped with facts and ideological precepts. During the 18th centuries, the strata of the people is imbalance. The rich became richer and the weak/poor became weaker/poorer. And it was due to this fact the communism/socialism exist in this. The proletarians and the bourgeoisie is the opposite two pillars of the people. The proletarians, regarded as the side at the losing end, is the rebelling side. While the bourgeoisie, often regarded as the riches of the world (winning end, of course) is the side with authority which came into the picture and changed the system (labor, economic, etc etc) according to their definition and jeopardized the needs of other people. This, in time created the imbalance strata of the people and thus resulting in the division of the two sides – the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
Although there are a lot of controversies surrounding the book (more to the ideology, I presume), I would recommend us the young generations to read this book. Of course, if you were to dig deeper, you would stumble upon the ugly side of the ideology. But that is not what we are here for. There are more good virtues attainable rather than the bad ones. In my opinion, communism/socialism provide us a picture about what is equality. There are arguable points that you will come across when you dig deeper. And there are things that you will not agree but that’s fine. It is fine to disagree, but one should agree to disagree in a way that it should be. Not by banning, not by restricting, not by blind (and blunt, I would say) accusations without even knowing the true facts. One should at least try to listen and do some research, and then judge.
We are blinded by perennial one-eyed hatred and fallacies over a mere branch of the whole ideology, (God is dead [2], Marx is atheist, etc etc, and some of them is fallacy. God is dead is originally from Nietzsche). Even the western civilization have taken Marx’s Das Kapital into their education system in which they teach their students about the communist economic model– the economic model of the ideology that they are against with. In the current era where equality and justice are paramount to most of the people, in my opinion, it is important for us the young Muslim generations to learn about economy, equality, justice etc etc. So that our views will broaden. We should stop circling around our comfort area, mingling with just the people that we’re comfortable with. All in all, I am not here to promote communism or socialism. And I would not say that this is a 100% pure book review, but I am certain that this review is holistic enough to serve as a review for the book, and to promulgate basic understanding vis a vis what the writer of the book is trying to convey.
“Keadilan sosial adalah satu sendi, suatu syarat yang utama dan penting untuk menentukan tulin atau tidaknya demokrasi yang dijalankan oleh satu-satu Negara itu” – Ahmad Boestamam
Semoga Allah merahmati usaha kita semua.
[1] - A quote by Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto, or its other name is The Manifesto of The Communist Party. It was originally a pamphlet produced by both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848 and was later made into a book.
[2] - The God is dead theory is a famous theory made by one of the most famous and influential Existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Despite claiming that God is dead, Nietzsche too is worried about the death of the God, in which he claim that to replace God, the people need an ‘Übermensch’, or the Overhuman
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