Comparison Between Hard Times and Communist Manifesto

Throughout history, a divide has eternally existed between the rich and poor in society. However, during the industrial Revolution in Victorian England, this rift reached its peak. The wrench sort out labored for long hours and received miniscule pay, whereas the middle class grew abundantly wealthy through the labor of the on the job(p) class. Published in 1848 and 1854 respective(prenominal)ly, Karl Marxs The communist Manifesto and Charles heller rough Times both comment on these troubles.While ticklish Times is a novel which tells a story and The communist Manifesto is a inadequate publication which tries to bring about social change, both writings gallop a sharp critique of the class antagonism brought about by gravidism at the height of the industrial Revolution. From the opening of Hard Times, the context of use of Coket consume offers a sharp critique of the consequences involved with industrial capitalism. The town existed wholly for the benefit of the bourg eoisie however, this was brought about at the expense of the mill workers, or proletarians. ogre described the town as several large streets all truly want hotshot a nonher, and many small streets unflurried much like one anformer(a), inhabited by people equally like one another. Dickens recognized that the proletarians had no individuality. Before the Industrial Revolution, independent business was the norm, not the exception in that respectfore, the types of sea dogs were a great deal more diverse. Any given laborer could have been a farmer, a nail-cr by and by, etc. This gave the laborer a much greater sense of individuality since there were divergent jobs within the works class.However, with the introduction of promoteries and mass production, the proletarians had no choice still to work in factories. Since almost the entire working class lived in factories, they began to be viewed more as one large group rather than as individuals. The sameness of Coketown illus trates this sameness among the working class. In the same way, Marx claims that the bourgeoisie has taken outside(a) all individuality from the proletarians. In Marxs view, capitalism causes money to be more important than the actual person.For example, Marx states, In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality. fit in to Marx, the proletarian is dependent, or a slave, to money. Most proletarians had no desire to work long hours inside of a factory infra horrid conditions, but they were forced to. While their wages were real meager, the workers still needed around wages. The only jobs available during the Industrial Revolution were grueling factory jobs. Since the proletarians had no choice on what type of job that they could hold, they had no individuality.Ironically, money not only controls the lives of the proletarians, but it also greatly influenced the lives of the bourgeoisie. For many mem bers of the bourgeoisie, money was the tear outdoor(a)(a) force in their lives. Marx lashed out against this when he stated, The bourgeoisiehas left be no other nexus between man and man than au naturel(p) self-interest. Men no longer c bed about respecting the rights of other men. The bourgeoisie exclusively wanted to do was to accumulate more and more wealth. The fact that this accrual of wealth was accomplished through the suffering of other humans was of myopic importance.A man was judged by how much money he had therefore, these men would do anything to acquire more of it. Traits like honor and being just no longer mattered to these members of the bourgeoisie. The primary antagonist in Hard Times, Josiah Bounderby, would be classified ad as one of these members of the bourgeoisie. Bounderby is a man that would Marx would condemn emphatically since Bounderby focuses on the whole on his own betterment. For instance, Bounderby frequently recounts how he was born to a very poor mother that abandoned him and through his own hard work, create his fortune.He tells this story for the sole reason of impressing others, yet the story turns out to be a falsehood. Bounderby cargons more about improving his position than being an safe individual. Furthermore, like many members of the bourgeoisie, Bounderby tries to better himself at the expense of the proletarians. While Bounderby was a member of the lower class in his youth, he has knowly move his back on them. He treats the proletarians with contempt, and he believes that all the proletarians desire to be fed on turtle soup and venison, with a gold spoon. Dickens is creating an irony here.Bounderby believes that all the proletarians want to get rich without working, yet the proletarians are actually doing all the excruciating work in the society. However, the wealth is not going to the proletarians but to Bounderby himself. In contrast, the protagonist of the novel is Stephen Blackpool, who represents th e average proletarian. He is not very educated, he works long hours at a difficult factory job, and he gets paid very little for this job. Blackpool is a tragic tone who is constantly being taken proceeds of by members of higher classes.Bounderby takes advantage of Blackpool through wage labor, and Tom Gradgrind takes advantage of him by framing him for the bank robbery. This all leads to a life full of sufferings, including evict from Coketown and an untimely death. Blackpool would be a perfect model for Marx in effectuate to showcase the sufferings of the proletarians in Victorian England. Bounderby had complete control over Blackpool. Bounderby could set his wages, fire Blackpool, and even forbid Blackpool from divorcing his wife. Just as Blackpool was taken advantage of by Bounderby, Marx believes that capitalism takes advantage of the labor of the lying-in.Marx says that these laborers are a good like every other article of commerce. Machines have taken away all need for skilled labor. Without skilled labor, the bourgeoisie have complete control over the working classs since any job in a factory can be performed by any person. Mass production causes the worker to be nothing more than an appendage of the machine. This devalues the proletarians to nothing more than commodities, whose wages can be determined by the bourgeoisie. While life for the labour may have been a struggle at this time, Marx believed that it was inevitable for the labor movement to gain political power.According to Marx, What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. While class antagonism has existed throughout the history of societies, the ruling class in previous eras would at least try to keep the laden class in certain conditions. However, with the continuing rise of industry, the living conditions of the proletarians are only getting worse and worse. Moreover, with the increase of industry, classes of people like the short bourgeoisie a re becoming part of the proletariat. Therefore, the proletariat is living under worse and worse onditions, yet it is getting larger and larger. Eventually, Marx is sure that these workers give unite and will start a revolution. In Hard Times, the soonest stages of unity among the working class can be seen. The workers at Bounderbys factory decide to unionize. They do this in position to improve their working conditions. While the orator Slackbridge is dishonest according to Dickens, the workers cause was honest and legitimate. Since the bourgeoisie only cared about each other, they would not listen to the complaints of the workers.Therefore, the workers had to band unneurotic in order to bring about change. Each at Bounderbys factory felt his only hope to be in his allying himself to the comrades by whom he was surrounded. However, in Marxs mind, this was only the beginning. While unions in factories were a good start to the proletarians banding together, Marx believed that all the proletarians throughout a rural would unite. Modern industry allowed for better communication between workers in different areas. This communication would centralize all the local struggles with the bourgeoisie into one subject field struggle.Eventually, each countrys proletariat would gain control of their respective country, and there would be no more class struggle since there would be no classes. With no class struggle, there would be no more hostility between nations, and national differences would vanish. While the bourgeoisie and the proletariat are the primary classes at this time in society, remnants of the aristocracy still remain from the feudal times. Throughout history, family status had always been the primary factor to determine a persons social standing. This all changed with the Industrial Revolution.Wealth now determined a persons social standing, and the bourgeoisie, not the aristocracy, was accumulating all the wealth. The bourgeoisie became the ruling cla ss during this time period. To combat the exploitation power of the bourgeoisie, many aristocrats created a form of socialism that proclaimed the rent of the proletarians. However, this is ironic since the aristocrats used to be the ruling class who exploited the other classes. The downfall of the aristocracy is illustrated in Hard Times through the character of Mrs. Sparsit. She came from a long line of aristocrats, and she married into another aristocratic family.However, her husband wasted away all of his money, and he left Sparsit poor after he died. In this new social order, it did not matter that Sparsit came from a high-standing family. She had no money therefore, she had no social standing. Even though, she was equal to the proletariat economically, she was so accustomed to being supported by others that she refused to work and must be provided for by Bounderby. Marx explained that many aristocrats were trying to return the social order to the way it was during the feuda l times, and Sparsit is one of these aristocrats.She refuses to acknowledge that times are changing and that her aristocratic family means nothing in the social order. In conclusion, the Industrial Revolution was a boom in production throughout the western world. However, it was also a time of many injustices. While the bourgeoisie grew immensely wealthy, they did this through the exploitation of the proletariat. Through they used different methods, both Dickens and Marx publicized the class antagonisms between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat during the mid-1800s. - 1 . Charles Dickens, Hard Times (London, 1854), 27. 2 . Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (London, 1848), 22. 3 . Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 9. 4 . Dickens, Hard Times, 72. 5 . Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 13. 6 . Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 14. 7 . Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 19. 8 . Dickens, Hard Times, 138. 9 . Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 16 10 . Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 26. 11 . Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 29.