- 24 -
How do communists differ from socialists?
The so-called socialists are divided into three categories.
The first category consists of adherents of a feudal and patriarchal
society which has already been destroyed, and is still daily being
destroyed, by big industry and world trade and their creation, bourgeois
society. This category concludes, from the evils of existing society, that
feudal and patriarchal society must be restored because it was free of such
evils. In one way or another, all their proposals are directed to this end.
This category of reactionary socialists, for all their seeming partisanship
and their scalding tears for the misery of the proletariat, is nevertheless
energetically opposed by the communists for the following reasons:
(i) It strives for something which is entirely impossible.
(ii) It seeks to establish the rule of the aristocracy, the guildmasters,
the small producers, and their retinue of absolute or feudal monarchs,
officials, soldiers, and priests -- a society which was, to be sure, free
of the evils of present-day society but which brought it at least as many
evils without even offering to the oppressed workers the prospect of
liberation through a communist revolution.
(iii) As soon as the proletariat becomes revolutionary and communist, these
reactionary socialists show their true colors by immediately making common
cause with the bourgeoisie against the proletarians.
The second category consists of adherent of present-day society who have
been frightened for its future by the evils to which it necessarily gives
rise. What they want, therefore, is to maintain this society while getting
rid of the evils which are an inherent part of it.
To this end, some propose mere welfare measures -- while others come
forward with grandiose systems of reform which, under the pretense of re-
organising society, are in fact intended to preserve the foundations, and
hence the life, of existing society.
Communists must unremittingly struggle against these bourgeois socialists
because they work for the enemies of communists and protect the society
which communists aim to overthrow.
Finally, the third category consists of democratic socialists who favor
some of the same measures the communists advocate, as described in Question
18, not as part of the transition to communism, however, but as measures
which they believe will be sufficient to abolish the misery and evils of
present-day society.
These democratic socialists are either proletarians who are not yet
sufficiently clear about the conditions of the liberation of their class,
or they are representatives of the petty bourgeoisie, a class which, prior
to the achievement of democracy and the socialist measures to which it
gives rise, has many interests in common with the proletariat.
It follows that, in moments of action, the communists will have to come to
an understanding with these democratic socialists, and in general to follow
as far as possible a common policy with them -- provided that these
socialists do not enter into the service of the ruling bourgeoisie and
attack the communists.
It is clear that this form of co-operation in action does not exclude the
discussion of differences.
- 25 -
What is the attitude of the communists to the other political
parties
of our time?
This attitude is different in the different countries.
In England, France, and Belgium, where the bourgeoisie rules, the
communists still have a common interest with the various democratic
parties, an interest which is all the greater the more closely the
socialistic measures they champion approach the aims of the communists --
that is, the more clearly and definitely they represent the interests of
the proletariat and the more they depend on the proletariat for support. In
England, for example, the working-class Chartists are infinitely closer to
the communists than the democratic petty bourgeoisie or the so-called
Radicals.
In America, where a democratic constitution has already been established,
the communists must make the common cause with the party which will turn
this constitution against the bourgeoisie and use it in the interests of
the proletariat -- that is, with the agrarian National Reformers.
In Switzerland, the Radicals, though a very mixed party, are the only group
with which the communists can co-operate, and, among these Radicals, the
Vaudois and Genevese are the most advanced.
In Germany, finally, the decisive struggle now on the order of the day is
that between the bourgeoisie and the absolute monarchy. Since the
communists cannot enter upon the decisive struggle between themselves and
the bourgeoisie until the bourgeoisie is in power, it follows that it is in
the interest of the communists to help the bourgeoisie to power as soon as
possible in order the sooner to be able to overthrow it. Against the
governments, therefore, the communists must continually support the radical
liberal party, taking care to avoid the self-deceptions of the bourgeoisie
and not fall for the enticing promises of benefits which a victory for the
bourgeoisie would allegedly bring to the proletariat. The sole advantages
which the proletariat would derive from a bourgeois victory would consist
(i) in various concessions which would facilitate the unification of the
proletariat into a closely knit, battle-worthy, and organised class; and
(ii) in the certainly that, on the very day the absolute monarchies fall,
the struggle between bourgeoisie and proletariat will start. From that day
on, the policy of the communists will be the same as it now is in the
countries where the bourgeoisie is already in power.
Citation suggestion
Referencing
My referencing suggestion for this page is a bibliography entry:
Engels, F. 1847 Principles of Communism.
Page numbers from the web extracts at
http://studymore.org.uk/xeng1847.htm
With intext references to (Engels 1847 p. -)
See ABC
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