While one of the nineteenth century's most renowned manuscripts, Communist Manifest, is classified as a work of Realism, the ideals it entails could not stray further from reality. In this excerpt, Marx and Engels attempt to explain the evils of the "Bourgeoisie's- power, and how the centralization of industry, capital, and consequentially political organization around this ruling class does nothing more than suppress the majority of the workers. To them, the working class is the backbone of not just the economy, but the state itself. However, due to the current distribution of wealth and control, they have become faceless drones, slaves to the few who rule their lives. Once they have finally come to realize the full injustice of their position, they will undoubtedly rebel and put into place a government, or lack thereof, in which no class antagonisms are present, all property is communal, and everyone works for the benefit of society as a whole instead of personal wealth. Sounds great, doesn't it? What else sounds great are those offers for a free vacation to Hawaii I'm always sent in my email. Reading them is so exciting, and the thought of traveling to an exotic destination without putting a dent in my account seems almost perfect. But if it's so wonderful, then why don't I ever respond to those emails? Because they are not real. The same idea applies with Communism. While it might be nice to trot off to work each day with a smiling face, knowing that all your effort will go back to the community and thus making everybody equally happy, one little detail distorts these plans "people. It is simply our nature as human beings to be self-interested. We strive to improve our own positions and to obtain the satisfaction of being better than everyone else. Whether this is "nice- or not has absolutely no relevance, for it is a struggle as timeless as Cain and Able. And when our freedom to improve our station, especially in terms of income, is stripped away, we lose the will to work.
Before beginning to explore this topic, it is vital to have clear definitions of what both utopia and dystopia are. Unfortunately, it is difficult to pin down exact definitions of these two words. Thomas More, in his 1518 book Utopia, originally conceived the term, although not the actual concept...
