Example research essay topic: Communism The Ideal Society - 1,315 words

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Society is flawed. There are critical imbalances in it that are causing much of humanity to suffer. I suppose that this would be the driving force behind humanity's relentless search to plan and create a perfect society. An essential part of having an unglazed society would be having a perfect government. Throughout history, we have always strived to find different types of governments that would work more efficiently and more fairly for the greater good of masses.

Needless to say, communism is not often revered as an "ideal" form of government. There is almost a unanimous sense of hatred that is emitted from all non-communist countries when the topic of communism is brought up. Many countries and societies have enacted communism and some still uphold it to this day. This very controversial issue of communism strikes a major chord in people who have lived under it. Though I am no advocate of communism, I'd like to bring about the question of whether there maybe the possibility that there are benefits to this system of government.

In, The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx is reacting to the quest for an ideal society by describing his vision of a perfectly balanced society, a communist society. Simply put, a communist society is one where all property is held in common. No one person has more than the other, but rather everyone shares in the fruits of their labors. Marx is writing of this society because, he believes it to be the best form of society possible. He believes that communism creates the correct balance between the needs of the individual, and the needs of society. He also believes that sometimes violence is necessary to reach the state of communism.

This paper will reflect upon these two topics: the relationship of the individual and society, and the issue of violence, as each is portrayed in the manifesto. Before embarking upon these topics, it is necessary to establish a baseline from which to view these ideas. It is important to realize that in everything, humans view things from their own cultural perspective, thereby possibly distorting or misinterpreting work or idea. Marx mentions that, "Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class made into a law for all, a will, whose essential character and direction are determined by the economical conditions of existence of your class" (Marx 37). With this in mind, some perspective on the society of that time is vital. During Marx's time the industrial revolution was taking place.

There was a massive movement away from small farms, businesses operated out of homes, and small shops on the corner. Instead, machines were mass-producing products in giant factories, with underpaid workers. No longer did people need to have individual skills. It was only necessary that they could keep the machines going, and do small, repetitive work. The lower working class could no longer search for a tolerable existence in their own pursuits. They were lowered to working inhumane hours in these factories.

This widened the rift between the upper and lower class-called bourgeois and proletariat, respectively-until they were essentially two different worlds. The bourgeois, a tiny portion of the population, has the majority of the wealth. Meanwhile the proletariat, the huge majority, has nothing. It is with this background that Marx begins. First, the topic of the individual and society will be discussed. This topic in itself can be broken down even further.

First, the flaws with the "current" system in respect to the bourgeois and proletariat will be shown, thereby revealing the problems in the relationship between individual and society. Secondly, the way that communism addresses these issues, and the rights of the individual, as seen through the manifesto. Quite clearly, Marx is concerned with the organization of society. He sees that the majority of society, that is, the proletariat, exist in sub-human conditions. Marx also sees that the bourgeoisie has a disproportionate abundance of property and power, and that because of what they are, they abuse it. He writes of how the current situation with the bourgeoisie and proletariat developed. "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (Marx 41).

There have always been struggles between two classes, an upper and lower class. However, Marx speaks of the current order saying, "It [bourgeois] has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat" (Marx 42). The very nature of the bourgeoisie causes it to grow in size and power while the proletariat shrinks.

Therefore the rift between the two is increased. Marx goes on to describe how this situation came about, with the industrial revolution and other factors. Modern industry has established the world-market, for which the discovery of America paved the way. This market has given an immense development to commerce, navigation, and communication by land. This development has, in its turn, reacted on the extension of industry; and in proportion as industry, commerce, navigation, railways extended, in the same proportion the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the background every class handed down from the Middle Ages.

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 (Heilbroner 56). With these thoughts in mind, a more defined view of the individual classes can be attained. First, the proletariat: in several places Marx speaks of how the proletariat is oppressed. He speaks of past societies and the current society when he says, "Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed... " (Marx 41).

Bourgeoisie and proletariat could quite comfortably be added to this list of oppressor and oppressed. In every way the proletariat is oppressed, with no hope of improving the lot they have been given, or of raising themselves up. Rather, they are forced to march on hopelessly, knowing that they will not be released from their labors till death. Marx also writes of the relationship between the proletariat and the machines, which is a result of the split between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. "He [proletariat] becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simply, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is required of him... Not only are they slaves of the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois State; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself" (Marx 55). Marx draws a picture of how the majority of the population is in an oppressed situation of slavery.

The lot of the proletariat is not to be envied. From here, Marx moves on to describe the oppressor, the bourgeois. "The bourgeois, 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 fervor, 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 (Heilbroner 57). Here Marx is speaking of how the bourgeoisie controlled society takes every aspect of society...

Research essay sample on Communism The Ideal Society