Communism and Equality

Note: This is one of two papers I wrote over communism last semester. We had to write one paper in favor of communism and one against it. Check out The Spectre of Communism in my portfolio for the negative aspects of communism.

Communism and Equality

The Communist Manifesto was written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. This persuasive political document outlines the principles of the communistic system of government. The introduction of communism brought a lot controversy and even fear to the world. There are, however, several interesting ideas presented by Marx and Engels. Their plans included a Proletarian (working class) revolution that would eliminate the social class system and the ownership of private property. Communism, in short, is about giving everyone the same opportunity. More governments should take ideas from the Communist Manifesto today because it promotes equality by eliminating some of the major financial differences between people.

One of the Communist methods that promotes equality is the abolition of private property. The Manifesto speaks to the upper class, responding to their feelings on the subject, saying, "You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population" (Manifesto 7). This statement points out the inequality caused by land ownership. Only the richest people had the luxury of owning land. This group of wealthy people made up a very small percentage of the total population. The upper class felt that it was unfair for the government to take away their opportunity for land ownership, but the majority of the country had never had that opportunity. Land ownership was one of the main differences that led to tension between the burgeois and proletarians. If countries today decided to ban private property, it would decrease the division between the classes and create a more level playing field.

The Communist Manifesto also states that all rights of inheritance would be abolished. Rights of inheritance keep the money within a family. Passing down money, land, or other property allowed the rich to become richer, while leaving the working class poor. In our country, many are still benefitting from rights of inheritance. This causes inequality because money is passed through the family, automatically giving some people riches without ever having to work, while other families have to start at the very bottom and work hard just to have the necessities of life. Eliminating rights of inheritance would help equality because everyone would start out in the same situation.

The overthrow of the social class system is one of the key points of the Communist Manifesto. Social classes would be done away with by giving everyone the same opportunity, the same amount of money, even the same cars. This would make everyone equal instead of divided by their class. If everyone was on the same level financially, it would promote unity rather than division. Money would no longer be the most important thing in life and people would not be so consumed with increasing their wealth. If our country eliminated social classes, it would be a huge step toward equality. No one would feel superior or inferior just because of what they have in their bank account.

Reading the Communist Manifesto, one can see that the communist leaders planned to increase equality by eliminating private property, rights of inheritance, and social classes. Equality and unity were clearly valued by the communists. In The Correct Handling of Contradictions, Mao Tsetung says, "Those who have this 'small circle' mentality resist the idea of bringing all positive factors into play, of uniting with everyone that can be united with, and of doing everything possible to turn negative factors into positive ones" (Tsetung 461). Marx, Engels, Tsetung, and others understood that there was something to be gained, not lost, from unifying the people of a country. If countries today are interested in creating equality and unity amongst their people, the ideas found in the Communist Manifesto would be a good place to start.