As a Political Economy major, I have become familiar with the works of many political theorists, most notably Karl Marx. After reading the Communist Manifesto, I realized that there was something about the bourgeoisie that didn’t sit right with me.
First of all, what is the bourgeoisie? Marx explains it as the economic class of people that holds most of the wealth. I hear all of the time that billionaires hold unethical amounts of money, but I don’t understand why they can’t just share with the rest of us. The bourgeoisie seems not to mind when people call them greedy leeches of society because of all the money they hold. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be labeled as “the enemy of the working class” if I had an enormous amount of wealth, but at the same time I get wanting to emulate an energy of not caring what other people think about you. Like, fuck the haters!
Second of all, the bourgeoisie exploits the working class’s labor. On the flip side, I don’t know about you guys, but I find it generous that the bourgeoisie gives the working-class jobs to help them find a place in life. I’ll admit that the working class could be making more money for the amount of work they put in, but I’m sure the bourgeoisie puts the excess profit from their employee’s labor to good use. I mean, no one would ever leech another person’s hard-earned wages for their personal use, right? I’m genuinely asking. The bourgeoisie’s actions confuse me.
Finally, Marx says that the proletariat and the bourgeoisie are at war with each other. I can see where he’s coming from, and I have a clear-cut solution. The bourgeoisie just has to stop. It’s that simple. As I hear more about the concept of “cashless societies”, I want to revert the meaning from Apple Pay-based payments to bartering, which we used to do before Adam Smith ruined it for all of us. If the bourgeoisie just stops what they’re doing and listens to my idea, then there will be no war for the proletariat to fight. I’m not sure why they want to keep up this fight, but I find it unsettling.