Feudal Society: The Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx

Karl Marx wrote in 1848, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles"; it still holds true today. Feudal society gave way to democracy, yet the class stratification only intensified. As Marx states "Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps…the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat," or in today's terminology, the have and have-nots. The growing middle and lower classes in America cannot compete with the "old wealth" of the upper class. Some entrepreneurs, who were in the right place at the right time, have managed to climb the social ladder and enter the bourgeoisie. An individual born today is more likely to move down the ladder rather than up. Marx addressed that possibility by stating, "What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave diggers." The bourgeoisie gain strength through political advances at the expense of the proletariat.
The United States Senate, the Millionaires Club, as well as
Many individual groups, African-Americans for example, have managed to become a legitimate part of the proletariat but not destroy the bourgeoisie. In America the proletariat is expanding even more, but with gaining power. Marx states," The lower middle class, the small manufacturer, the shopkeeper, the artisan…all fight against the bourgeoisie, to save from extinction their existence as fractions of the middle class." Another bourgeoisie establishment, Wal-Mart, is driving the "mom and pop" shops into extinction while keeping their employees in the proletariat. Wal-Mart is the epitome of Marx's description of the bourgeoisie converting people into an exchange value. An employee is only worth what he produces. By outsourcing, Wal-Mart is proving, at least to the bourgeoisie, that this aspect of the Communist manifesto holds true still