The Communist Manifesto · Concept
Bourgeoisie and proletariat
Modern industry creates two great hostile camps — owners of capital and workers who own only their labor power.
Section I narrates how the bourgeoisie dismantles feudal ties and centralizes production, turning peasants and artisans into wage laborers packed into factories and cities. The proletariat is defined by collective work, discipline, and poverty amid wealth — not by sentimental pity but by structural position in production. Marx and Engels argue that competition among capitalists and crisis cycles worsen proletarian conditions while teaching workers organization.
The pairing is analytical, not a census. “Bourgeoisie” names a class relation to property; “proletariat” names those who must sell labor to live. The Manifesto predicts that proletarian organization, including political party form, will become the force that ends bourgeois rule. Use this concept when teaching globalization passages — world market, cosmopolitan capital — and when contrasting communist aims in Section II with rival socialisms in Section III.