Russia

Russia did not exist as a nation just seven years ago. It was formed from the ruins of a greater




nation. Russia's current troubles are based on problems it found, or created, during the years it




operated under socialism. This theory, which proposes equality and the means of achieving it, has




been scorned by the Western world. One must wonder why such a grand conception has failed.




Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto




By far, the most important document in the development of socialism was The Communist




Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Frederik Engels in 1848. (Berki) This document was published




as a reply to politicians who would accuse their opponents of being Communist for the sake of




scaring the public. (Marx)




Marx's Manifesto was the driving force behind socialism and Communism in Russia. In it, he




described the fall of capitalism at the hands of the working classes. (Berki) The following paragraphs




are excerpts from that work.




"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and




slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-masters and journeyman, in a word,




oppressor and oppressed stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an




uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended either in a




revolutionary reconstruction of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending




classes. (Marx)




"Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into




two great classes directly facing each other - bourgeoisie and proletariat.... The




bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal,




patriarchal,...