Communist Manifesto example essay topic

West Enlightenment Thomas Z ahora / Tip Ragan December 10, 2003 Communist Manifesto & We Question #1 Select some characteristics of communist society as envisioned by Marx and Engels in the Manifesto, and compare them with the imagined realities of Zamyatin's "We". Questions to ponder: 1. what has gone wrong, as far as society is concerned, in Zamyatin's novel? 2. In what ways is (or is not) the society in "We" a necessary result of the application of communist ideals in real life? In The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx along with Frederick Engels envisioned a change that would occur to place a social order. They called this communism.

This social order would be the opposite of Capitalism, having the government control all the money, instead of the community. They believed this would occur at the expense of the working class. The main reason for this existence was to create only one class, so that there would no longer be a class struggle. There would no longer be a need for all the downsides of class warfare like money, nation-states and policing. There would be one government that would dictate what went on in the state.

Marx and Engels believed that, in order to achieve utopia, which is a perfect society, all private property is made public property, which would be controlled by the state and used to benefit the country. Basically, the authors also wanted to place communication and transportation in the hands of the state. This would get rid of freedom of speech and allow the government to cut and censor whatever they wanted to. The government would also control who can leave the country and where they can go. Marx and Engels believed that when these things were accomplished, there would be a civilized country where everything would run smoothly and benefit the people. There are many defects and problems when it comes to human nature and human rights in The Communist Manifesto.

Yevgeny Zamyatin's We takes many of characteristics of communist society and compares them with the imagined realities of this type of society, in an attempt to reveal that communism is an brutal and inhumane idea. Zamyatin describes dystopia, which is the opposite of utopia, where people love the chains of their own self-control because they have been brainwashed for so long to give into domination. In the novel, a harsh government puts down individuality and creativity. Basically, the idea behind dystopia is that if people cannot make their own choices, they cannot suffer the negative consequences of their own decisions. In the novel, a threatening variety of science controls the human race; a strict but greatly loved government controls people's actions. In the novel a doctor discovers that he has a soul, which is something that is new to him and his society because it has never been heard of.

Reason is like a handicap to the citizens, it is something that they don't believe in. As a matter of fact, even thought and love are explained by a mathematical equation. Each novel predicts the future of a society that suppresses individuality and makes it seem like the future is full of science and like logic and reason will no longer exist. Zamyatin openly criticizes many portions of the communist society in which he lived. The setting for We is in a world called the One State.

In the One State all buildings, tools and machines are made of glass. People go by numbers instead of names and they all live, work and act at the same time. They even eat their food all in unison. They are expected to live under the conditions of the Table of Hours, which is a clock system, and is like their government. The Table of Hours dictates exactly what each person is to do and when they must do it. The leader is called the Benefactor, and the Guardians enforce the law.

Their world is surrounded by the Green Wall, which is a glass wall that protects the citizens from the outside world that they consider to be an untamed green jungle. The protagonist in We is D-503, a mathematician and builder of the Integral, a large glass space-ship being built to explore other planets and spread the joy of the One State to other areas. He seems to be happy in the beginning of the novel, but it is really that he is ignorant just like everyone else in the One State. Later on he falls in love with I-330, a woman in the One State and she influences him to break the rules of the Table of Hours. The I-330 introduces him to the Mephi, an organization of rebels that live past the Green Wall in what they considered to be the untamed jungle. The Mephi plan to take over the Integral and use it as a weapon to destroy the One State, but the Guardians ruins their plan.

Therefore, D-503 and the rest of the population in One State are forced to have the Great Operation. This operation destroys the part of the brain that has passion and imagination, so this operation would turn people into robots. In the end the Mephi's final effort to try to overthrow the One State succeeds and they end up destroying the Green Wall. The destruction was described as "barely visible quick dots at an incredible height... hoarse, guttural sound from above- and finally, over our heads- birds. Their sharp, black, piercing, falling triangles filled the sky (Zamyatin, p. 218)". and they brought with them "the whistling of wind, the wings, the cawing". Interestingly iron is always used to describe the Benefactor, the leader of this the One State.

Communism has also often been called the Iron because of its strong, harsh power and because chains are made of iron. The Benefactor is described as having a "slow, cast-iron echoing voice", and "cast-iron hands upon His knees" which "moved with the weight of a hundred tons (Zamyatin, p. 143)". In many ways, the society in We reveals an essential result of the application of communist ideals in real life. The ideas in The Communist Manifesto were very unreasonable and this is what Zamyatin's pointed out in his story.

If communism did place All property in the hands of the state and we would have communism now then with all the modern technology the State would have so many different ways to become more powerful. The entire society would base on happiness and making sure that no one would ever want to rebel and if they did, they would be punished. Zamyatin used his story to show that society cannot be restricted even if everyone were brainwashed and ignorant..