Do communists want to abolish all property?

The Manifesto says communists seek abolition of bourgeois property — capital used to exploit wage labor — not the abolition of personal articles like clothing or food a worker already uses. Marx and Engels argue bourgeois property already rests on social labor while benefiting a minority; “abolition” means ending that exclusive claim and the relations of production sustaining it.

They contrast communist aims with reactionary socialisms that mourn lost feudal privilege or petty-bourgeois property ideals. Clarifying the distinction matters for fair reading: the pamphlet attacks a specific legal-economic form tied to factory capitalism, not every form of holding goods. Pair this answer with abolition-of-private-property and with Section III’s critique of conservative bourgeois “socialism” that wants reform without threatening capital.