Write an essay explaining the revolutionary goals of the Communist Party, as set forth by Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto. Compare and contrast those ideas with Adam Smith’s economic principles of the free market economy and capitalism as represented in the excerpts from The Wealth of Nations.
Consider the characterization of society and politics by Marx and Engels: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” Think about how The Communist Manifesto was essentially intended to provide a counterpoint to the rising wave of capitalism and its perceived ills. In its original version, the Manifesto lays out the Communist League’s purposes and program. The Manifesto also briefly discusses the authors’ ideas for socialism, and eventually, communism, to supplant capitalism as the prevailing economic, political, and social ideology. This all contrasts Smith’s theories, but how and why, and to what ends?
