The Messenger- Unit IV

Manifestations, Marx and Engels

22/03/1848 Paris

"A spectre is hunting Europe: the spectre of communism."

The names of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels have begun to become popular in the philosophical world because of the controversial of their ideas, such as their satire to German ideology or to the status of work in England, but it is their most recent work that is causing them the most problems, like Marx being expelled by Belgian police.

The Communist Manifesto emerged as an idea of the League of the Just to write a catechism that taught their communist principles and Engels wrote it, although he ended up modifying it because of how unconventional he was. Marx then reviewed the draft and published the 23-page pamphlet at the end of February in Britain, although the text was in German.

Karl Marx (Left) and Friedrich Engels (Right)

But, at the end of February, France was busy with other issues: the revolution. The government of Guizot, elected in 1846, banned all meetings of those who disagreed with them, although it found a way to pass up these talks for normal dinners. On 22 February the situation became unsustainable. Students and workers went out in masse on the streets, calling for universal suffrage and a change of government. Thousands of soldiers took to the streets the next day, but that did not stop the people, the king dismissed Guizot from his post and, although it seemed positive, the day ended in the death of 65 people by the soldiers. The next morning and with lots of new people, like some small business' owners, the demonstrations passed to liners, robberies and fires, causing the king to abdicate and the republic to return. The low bourgeoisie had joined the proletarians to fight for better conditions and prosperity, having success and overthrowing an entire government. Marx and Engels' definition of conservative socialism.

The burn of last king's throne

It's been less than two days since the copies of the manifesto have arrived to the city, and they haven't had much relevance either, and they may never have it. But the ideas they keep were already important before their existence. There are many thoughts that do not please the people and that sound unnatural, but, although some don’t want or can’t see it, some bases of those thoughts may already be with us, with the whole continent, invisible, unmissable, but they are still there, like a spectre that is just watching.