Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto and Thomas More's Utopia

More’s Utopia

Politically, Utopia embodies social equality through the set up of their cities. The island of Utopia is occupied by 54 cities with identical laws and language. Once every year, the cities each send 3 of it’s best residents to the capital, Amaurot, to discuss island business. In Utopia, every thirty families choose a philarch, every ten philarchs choose an archphilarch, and all the philarchs vote for a Prince. The philarch’s are voted on annually while the prince is appointed for life unless he conspires to enslave the population. Having an elected delegation allows each citizen to get their voices heard without having to attend every meeting. The Prince has political privileges but I argue his privileges, such as receiving medical attention first, this is important for maintaining social equality. This is because the Prince help maintain order and oversee important tasks such as issuing passports “If any man has a mind to visit his friends that live in some other town, or desires to travel and see the rest of the country”-“carry with them a passport from the Prince, which both certifies the license that is granted for traveling, and limits the time of their return.”(More 2019, 75)

Next, Utopia socially is equal through the job system. Utopia requires everyone to learn agriculture and farming because of its importance to society. Along with agriculture, every person has a “peculiar trade which he applies to himself, such as manufacture of wool, or flax, masonry, smith’s work, or carpenter’s work”(More 2019, 61) that lets citizens do a job according to their skills. Women also have this right. Citizens are allowed to learn multiple jobs as well and follow the one they like best. This helps keep everyone happy and promotes social equality. The philarchs make sure that people follow their trade diligently but not to wear themselves out from “perpetual toil”

One counter argument against society by socially equal is the presence of slavery on the island. “All the uneasy and sordid services about these halls are performed by their slaves”(More 2019, 72). Slavery is an evil that would normally constitute the removal of a utopia title, but I argue that these slavery is used in ways that allow the utopia to still function under social equality. Slavery is used as a punishment, and is not bias for any difference of the person except actions taken, “the slaves among them are only such as are condemned to that state of life for the commission of some crime”(More 2019, 102). Having a harsh punishment for crimes helps discourage any such acts.

Finally, Utopia is socially equal because of their economy. Utopia does not have currency, but instead operates on a “take only what you need” basis, “every father goes and takes whatsoever he or his family stand in need of, without either paying for it or leaving anything in exchange”(More 2019, 70). There is no denial to any person because they produce excess, and there is no inducements to take more than needed because each person knows there will always be enough. Wealth inequality is not an issue in Utopia because of this, as there is no benefit to being wealthier than another person.

The Communist Manifesto

The Communist Manifesto explains the ideas of communism and why it was a better way to organize society compared to capitalism. Capitalism is inherently not social equality because capitalism requires winners and losers. Winners and losers can be beneficial to encourage competition and growth, but if there is the ability for someone to always “lose” then capitalism is not socially equal. Communism attempts to fix this problem by seizing the means of production and giving it to the people, dispersing any class differences. The Communist Manifesto is theory based, in contrast to the society building of More, and while Marx and Engels are both opposed to calling communism a Utopia, from what they’ve described it can easily fit the definition of a Utopia. The idea of communism is socially equal because each person is paid according to what they produce, the abolishment of inheritance, and the removal of private property.

First, Marx wants each person to be given wages equal to the amount they produce. “The capitalist buys this labour power for a day, a week, a month, etc. And after he has bought it, he uses it by having the workers work a stipulated time.”(Tucker 1978, 169) By allowing the capitalist to purchase the labour power, workers are just a means to an end. By removing this and empowering workers, Marx allows each worker to earn exactly what they produce.

Next, Marx wants to abolish inheritance. Inheritance allows wealth to stay in the families of the bourgeoisie, abolishing inheritance will circulate wealth to everyone. For a society to be socially equal, being born in a certain family or with certain characteristics should not limit someone's social standing. “The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation.”(Tucker 1978, 338) The money relation being inheritance, the bourgeoisie seeks only to continue their wealth through generations.

Finally, Marx calls for the abolishment of private property, ”In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.”(Tucker 1978, 346) abolition of private property is integral to Communism because it ensures that a few elites can’t accumulate capital that would be used to extort labour of the working class. The abolishment of private property is not required for a society to be a utopia, as we will see in Plato, but in the context of Communism it is important to have property be in the common for each person to have the ability to earn the full extent of their work.