The Communist Manifesto · Character

the Communists

The organized revolutionary vanguard that names the bourgeoisie's doom and dares to abolish private property, class distinctions, and the family as history has known them.

major

Also known as Communists, The Communists

First appearance: The Communist Manifesto

As a major figure in The Communist Manifesto, the Communists is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

The Communists are presented as the vanguard of the proletariat, advocating for the abolition of private property and leading the revolutionary movement.

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The Communists are the self-declared advance guard of the working class, a faction that refuses the comfortable pieties of charity and reform and insists that the proletariat can win only by overthrowing the entire existing order. Their defining tension is with every softer socialism that wants the benefits of modernity without its struggles, and with a bourgeoisie that cannot imagine its own end. They matter because their manifesto is the book's engine: the early sections build the case for why this party, and not the philanthropists, is the one that speaks for the future.

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Character Web

2 connections

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Relationship types

Friendship
Rivalry

Character groups

Protagonist
Marxist ideological framework

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

The emotional and psychological peak occurs as the petty bourgeoisie—a class caught between capital and labor—…

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Relationships

Socialism
friendship · positive
The Communists are presented as the most advanced and resolute faction of the socialist… How this plays out →
the German
rivalry · negative

Relationship notes

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In the story

the Communists appears across 12 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

The Communist Manifesto
The Communists are presented as the vanguard of the proletariat, advocating for the abolition of private property and leading the revolutionary movement.
I: Bourgeois and Proletarians
The Communists are implicitly the authors of this analysis, presenting the historical materialist view of class struggle and the revolutionary role of the proletariat.
II: Proletarians and Communists
Presented as the vanguard of the proletariat, articulating the theoretical and practical aims of the working-class movement.
III: Socialist and Communist Literature
Presented as the only group that correctly understands and advances the proletarian class struggle, rejecting the utopian and reactionary tendencies of other socialist schools.
Reactionary Socialism
Implied as the standard against which these reactionary socialisms are measured; their revolutionary proletarian stance is contrasted.
Feudal Socialism
The Communists are implicitly contrasted with the feudal socialists, as the latter are shown to be reactionary and incapable of leading the proletariat.
Petty-Bourgeois Socialism
The Communists are implicitly contrasted with the petty-bourgeois socialists, as the chapter critiques the latter's reactionary and utopian aims.
German, or “True,” Socialism
The Communists are implicitly contrasted with the 'True' Socialists, as the latter oppose the 'brutally destructive' tendency of Communism and claim impartial contempt for all class struggles.
2: Conservative or Bourgeois Socialism
The Communists are implicitly critiquing bourgeois socialism as a reformist movement that fails to challenge the bourgeois order.
Critical-Utopian Socialism and Communism
The Communists critique the utopian socialists for rejecting revolutionary action and for appealing to the bourgeoisie, contrasting their own approach of class struggle.
Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties
The Communists are the central actors, forming alliances with various parties while maintaining a critical stance and advocating for proletarian revolution.
Endnotes
Referenced indirectly through the Manifesto's ground and the socialist colonies mentioned.

Chapter companion notes

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