In 1846 Karl Marx was exiled form Paris on account of his radical politics. Once established in Belgium, Marx became involved with it's working class artisans, and under his influence these groups took the name "The Communist League"�. As they discussed their grievances with capitalism and potential methods of response, Marx emerged as a leader who preached a rhetoric of class warfare, and a that a revolution was not only the sole answer to their difficulties, but was indeed inevitable. The league, completely taken with Marx, commissioned him to write a statement of their collective principles, a statement which became The Communist Manifesto. (marxists .org) The manifesto outlines the "embourgeoisement"� of society, it's oppressive nature over the proletariat and the need for the proletariat to rise up against the ruling class and seize economic power, the true political power. Though an examination of the creation of a new economy, the creation of the proletariat and the bestowance of the means for revolution to the proletariat, Marx illustrates that the bourgeoisie has inevitably produced their own demise and the victory of the proletariat.
Cover of the Communist Manifesto’s initial publi...
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Karl Marx birthplace in Trier, Germany - Brückens...The Bourgeoisie sprang form the burghers, became merchants and grew into the 18th century middle class. This new class of people who derived their wealth and power from trade rather than agriculture, controlled the representative states of Europe. In fact, as Marx notes, "the executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie"�. (Marx 82) With this political empowerment came the destruction of the social fabric on which previous societies were based.
Swamping the other classes, the bourgeoisie replaced old ties and values, tradition, religion and social relations with the "naked exploitation"� of free trade and the rational, self-centered pursuit of profit. What's more, the bourgeois, "cannot...