Reference no: EM133271025

Outstanding religious documents, The Communist Manifesto is widely considered one of the most historically in?uential texts ever written. As such, it is worth studying the magic that rhetoric like this is capable of. I could extol the historical contributions that communist movements have made to labor practices, as easily as I could decry some of the dictatorships that have used the spectre of Marx to ?ll their own coffers. One thing is for sure, the verdict is still out, as we now see the current U.S. regime vying against China. If you are interested in political economics, I encourage you to do your own research here -- Some additional resources are available in this course's "Files" list. For the purposes of a class about rhetoric and composition, there are interesting things, both good and bad, to pay attention to in The Communist Manifesto.

1. How does Marx and Engels' reading of history and the struggle between economic classes inform their reasons for writing this document?

2. How did Marx and Engels frame their argument in terms of their critics (in terms of their representation of counter argument)?

3. What do you think about "the ten commandments" of communism? Do you ?nd it persuasive when an argument lists out its main points / tenets like this? What other historical or religious documents do this? Are they any more or less persuasive for it?

4. Why is this a dif?cult text to read? What are some strategies you used to meet this challenge? What might this document look or read like if it was written today? (It was originally written in 1848).