Study Questions
Who is the Communist Manifesto's target audience? What are its aims as a
document?
Why isn't it possible to eliminate class antagonisms through political reforms
that improve the workers' quality of life? How does the Manifesto reply to such
reformers?
How is the proletariat different from past revolutionary classes?
How does the Manifesto reply to people who complain that the elimination of
private property violates property rights? What does this suggest about the
validity of rights in general?
Why is it necessary for Communists to call for a worker's revolution, if they
believe that such a revolution is inevitable?
How is modern Industrial society self-destructive? Why does Marx believe that
the end of modern society will represent the end of all class antagonisms?
What is Marx's theory of history? Use this theory to explain the decline and
fall of the feudal era. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this theory?
Despite Marx's predictions, Communism has not emerged out of Industrial society
to become the dominant societal system. Is this fact enough to disprove Marxist
theory? Speculate on how Marx would explain this fact, in keeping with the
general structure of his theory.
It can be very difficult to figure out what Marx believed a Communist society
would look like. What hints does he give in the Manifesto about his vision of
this future society? How does this vision compare with "Communist" societies
that arose in later years (e.g., in the Soviet Union)?
