How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf, guildmaster 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 re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes. (Section1.2)
Karl Marx is basically saying that throughout history, the rich have had power over the poor. In democratic societies, many of us believe ourselves to be equal and free under the law. Marx argues that this is not the way the world works. In what ways is a day laborer less free than the owner who employs him or her?
Quote #2
The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of old ones. (Section1.4)
Here Marx talks about new conditions of oppression. A criticism of Marx is that he doesn't adequately take into consideration certain conditions of oppression such as those of race (white domination) and patriarchy (male domination). How are gender and race domination intensified by capitalism?
Quote #3
The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. (Section1.12)
Many people in liberal democracies tend to think of their governments as representing the interests of the people as a whole. But Marx is saying that governments inherently represent the class interests of the few rich against the many of the workforce. Check out this report about a 2014 Princeton University study that suggests the United States is an oligarchy—that is, ruled by the rich.