# the Communists — The Communist Manifesto character guide

> the Communists in The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Communists, The Communists

**First appearance:** 0002-the-communist-manifesto

## Snapshot

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.

## Who they are

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.

## Relationships

### [Socialism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/characters/socialism)

_friendship_

The Communists are presented as the most advanced and resolute faction of the socialist movement, sharing its core goals and leading its practical struggle.

### [the German](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/characters/the_german)

_rivalry_

The Communists oppose German Socialism as a petty-bourgeois ideology that undermines the revolutionary proletarian movement.

## In the story

### [The Communist Manifesto](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/1-reactionary-socialism)

Implied as the standard against which these reactionary socialisms are measured; their revolutionary proletarian stance is contrasted.

### [Feudal Socialism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/a-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/b-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/c-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/3-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/iv-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/chapters/endnotes)

Referenced indirectly through the Manifesto's ground and the socialist colonies mentioned.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/characters/the_communists
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_communist_manifesto_se/characters