The Communist Manifesto, Chapter 4 summary

What happens

1. The Communists pursue workers’ immediate interests while protecting the movement’s future aims.
2. They support selected opposition parties in France, Switzerland, and Poland without abandoning criticism or recognizing every ally as socialist.
3. In Germany, they support revolutionary bourgeois action while teaching workers to recognize the bourgeoisie as an opponent.
4. They give Germany special attention because they expect its bourgeois revolution to lead directly into a proletarian revolution.
5. They make property central to revolutionary movements and seek cooperation among democratic parties across countries.
6. They openly demand forcible transformation of existing social conditions and call on working people everywhere to unite.

In this chapter

What to notice

The final call turns the discussion of national alliances into a demand for working-class cooperation across borders.

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