The Communist Manifesto

Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" made for an interesting read. It general structure was pretty straight forward, however I found myself re-reading almost every paragraph to make sure I understood it. Even in doing so, I was still somewhat skeptical as to it's actual meaning. So while it's structure and vocabulary is simple, it's underlying meanings are not. In reading the first section labeled "Bourgeois and Proletarians," I was astounded by Marx's ability to give such a clear description separating the two classes. The rich versus the poor. That sounds harsh, but in a nutshell that's what he did. The economic conditions of the two were clearly explained and there's no mistaking one for the other once you've read the comparative descriptions of Marx.
Marx credits society's progress to the Bourgeois. "Modern industry has established the world-market, for which the discovery of America paved the way. This market has given an immense development to commerce, to navigation, to communication by land. This development has, in its turn, reacted on the extension of industry; and in proportion as industry, commerce, navigation, railways extended, in the same proportion the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the background every class handed down from the Middle Ages" (Marx 358). I took this to mean, that it was through the fundamental evolution of the Bourgeois' society that they contributed to society as a whole. While there were the movers and shakers of society, the rich and wealthy, the Bourgeois' of society were behind the scenes contributing mostly to better society.
Marx then goes on to explain the economic conditions of the Proletarians. He presents the Proletarians to be more organized and because of this, more successful than the Bourgeois. "But with the development of industry the proletarians not only increases in number; it becomes concentrated in greater masses, its strength grows and it feels that strength more. The various interests and conditions of life within the ranks of the proletarians are more and more equalized, in proportion as machinery obliterates all distinctions of labor, and nearly everywhere reduces wages to the same low level. The growing competition among the bourgeois, and the resulting commercial crisis, make the wages of the workers even more fluctuating. The unceasing improvement of machinery, even more rapidly developing, makes their livelihood more and more precarious; the collisions between individual workmen and individual bourgeois take more and more the character of collisions between the two classes" (Marx 364).

Marx, Karl. "The Communist Manifesto."A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for the College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins. 2006. pp. 356 - 376.