Reading Guide: Communist Manifesto
This is a classic. After you read it, you will, for the rest of your life, be able to say you have read a classic of world literature. Here is what to look for as you read.
These questions should spur thought. You may prepare answers, but they will be used to create a dynamic class discussion. They will not be turned in to me.
1. Read the introduction. If your book has a preface, you may skip it.
2. Look at the first line of the text itself...what do the author mean by history? class struggle?
3. Define the terms bourgeois, bourgeoisie, and proletariat. You may want an outside source to help you define those terms.
4. How, according to Marx and Engels, did the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat develop? How does modern industry organize that relationship?
How does the bourgeoisie maintain itself and perpetuate its power? Why do the authors write that the bourgeoisie is creating its own grave diggers?
5. Who are the communists? What is the difference, in the book, between capitalist and communist societies?
6. What is the role of the family in capitalist or communist worlds? Why do the authors write that the bourgeoisie see their wives as mere instruments of production?
Eventually, you must grapple with the ideas of this short book. Can you remain a capitalist after reading such a brilliant work?
http://i.imgur.com/v4D8iON.jpg
ReplyDelete