communist-manifesto/ch01The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part. (1. By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labour.)
The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his “natural superiors”, and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous “cash payment”. It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom — Free Trade. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.
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The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together. Subjection of Nature’s forces to man, machinery, application of chemistry to industry and agriculture, steam-navigation, railways, electric telegraphs, clearing of whole continents for cultivation, canalisation of rivers, whole populations conjured out of the ground — what earlier century had even a presentiment that such productive forces slumbered in the lap of social labour?
The selected text shows that fossil fuels and banking are the actual drivers of the bourgeoisie capitalist system. It is no surprise that social classes are in competition and seek to oppress the others, since they always have done so. It is also no surprise that the dominant class tries to establish itself as the aristocracy. Also, I think characterizing industry as "productive" forces is an error because they are actually "consumptive" forces. I remain skeptical that the communist manifesto or Marx really offer a valuable analysis of social conditions. I think the real difference between communism and capitalism is who controls the money and fossil fuel use -- banking cartel in capitalism, party bureaucracy in communism. It would be better to see human society as more of a constant that takes different forms depending on available resources and the environment.