Marx the Manifesto of the Communist Party

Philosophy

"the Communist Manifesto" -- 19th Century Ideas in the 21st Century World

Not only do the jobs people have alienate them as Marx described, but also culture in general is alienating in nature. We are a consumer culture. We shop; we consume media in various forms constantly; we interact with technology using it to share, communicate, socialize, and otherwise mediate our experience. Mediated experiences, common and fun as they may be, are alienating in nature. Individuals no longer need to write a letter and go outside to mail it; they write an email whenever the mood strikes. The paper does not denigrate email; it is convenient and great, but it alienates people from the physical experience of letter writing. Behaviors deemed "normal" or socially acceptable or even legal support a consumptive culture and consumption is alienating. We take the behaviors for granted and do not perceive them so readily consumptive and alienating because these behaviors and experiences are normal and mainstream.

The proliferation of manual labor shows is interesting. It is definitely an effort to make manual labor cool and exciting. It is good in a way because the United States of America is experiencing an epidemic of obesity, so more people performing manual labor is a step toward a healthier and less sedate lifestyle. There is a numbing and hypnotic affect to repetition of imagery and tasks. A classic film example of the affects of repetition is "Man With a Film Camera" (Vertov, 1929). There exists a poetry in repetition, but there also exists a mechanization to it. The paper's position about the proliferation of manual labor shows is ambiguous. It is good because many people are very overweight and otherwise out of shape, but it is bad because it propagates careers that make people like machines/drones, without spirit or humanity. Therefore, the paper contends that it is not just the jobs that alienate people the way Marx describes; it is the whole culture and society. It is the whole experience and reality of life that alienates people the way described in the "Manifesto of the Communist Party."

In today's world, Marx would not only advocate for revolution as well as organize and participate in it, but also he would question as to why revolution (proletariat) has yet occurred. Marx would say that revolution is more than necessary; it is inevitable. He argues that revolution is a by-product of capitalism -- it is bound to happen; it is just a matter of time:

Of all the classes that stand face-to-face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of Modem Industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product…In depicting the most general phases of the development of the proletariat, we traced the more or less veiled civil war, raging within existing society, up to the point where that war breaks out into open revolution, and where the violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie lays the foundation for the sway of the proletariat. (Engels & Marx, 1848, files.meetup.com)

For Marx, revolution is part and parcel of capitalism on the part of the proletariat and on the part of the bourgeoisie:

We see, therefore, how the modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange…The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. (Engels & Marx, 1848, files.meetup.com)

Thus, in the 21st century, Marx would readily perceive the revolutions of the bourgeoisie and ignite the revolution of the proletariat.