The Communist Manifesto (1848) clearly articulates the fundamental principles of communism and Marxism, exposing historical class struggles, revolutions, counter-revolutions, inequality, industry, capitalist exploitation, the alienation and war declared by the unified workers. Set in the time of the industrial revolution, the manifesto outlines the role of economics in defining and degrading human relationships. Marx and Engels' argument is based on part of Friedrich Engel's dialectical theory which they both partially contradict and support. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay A commodity fetishism is conceptualized as existing in capitalism where products are monetized and separated from man, who initiates and originates the production process. Because of the materialistic quality of communism, Marxists use Hegel's philosophy to chart the past, evaluate the present, and determine the future of both communism and laissez-faire capitalism. According to the Communist Manifesto, the essence of history includes class struggle. Marx and Engels begin with the statement that "the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles." The Marxist document launches into a story that ranges from the dawn of Greco-Roman civilization to the time of the publication of the manifesto. The story has its deep roots in the conflict of ideologies that arise from different groups seeking to take advantage of wealth and power and other groups posing as opposing forces to resist one school of thought. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is the author of the famous Hegelian dialectic which has as its premise that a thesis and an antithesis produce a synthesis of both divergent ideas. Hegel's idea forms the foundation of Marx and Engel's argument, however they improve upon it to add a class-conscious materialist perspective. The opposition of ideas generates conflict between the dominant and oppressed classes. Once again Marx and Engels reiterate that "the history of all past society consisted in the development of class antagonisms" (Communist Manifesto). The pyramid structure or gradation of society remains a threat to harmony between social classes. Due to the repetitive and cyclical formation of history, class struggles would continue to endure unless workers rose up, claimed their rights, and implemented socialist and communal ownership of resources. However, the dynamics of social classes incorporates a materialism centered on production and possession of means. Although Marx and Engels predate the Cold War, they both anticipate Cold War clashes between the society run by the bourgeoisie represented by democratic capitalism and the society run by communists or communist socialists. The Cold War marked a bitter conflict between both ideologies until a synthesis resolved the war in 1991 and ended the war between both entities, hence Marx and Engel's argument for materialistic changes to get rid of the class division structure proved true to some extent and ushered in a post-Cold War reality. A post-Cold War reading interprets the course of events that unfolded after the Cold War, lasting from 1945, the end of World War II, to 1991, the dissolution of the USSR. The Cold War defines the indirect and secret war between the democratic, capitalist United States and the communist-socialist USSR. Both countries supported different political ideologies and developed opposing economic systems. The ManifestoCommunist provides the characteristics of the United States with its capitalism, unbalanced concentration of wealth, industrialized and metropolitan cities, taxation system, and centralized government. After the Cold War there was the collapse of barriers such as the Berlin Wall in 1989, the USSR in 1991 and the Apartheid system in 1993. In place of the USSR the Russian Federation emerged in 1991 and the economy was renewed, passing from state-owned industry to privatization that still places enormous wealth at the disposal of a few. Here, the poster observer sees that the high idea of ​​communism ultimately fails and yields to capitalism, free trade, and sweatshop industry, in which “the commodity form acts as a veil concealing exploitative relations.” (Goodman). After the end of the Cold War, rapid industrialization, liberalization, privatization, and dehumanized trade thrive in countries such as Communist China and even Communist Russia. One cannot help but think that, after the Cold War, the capitalist giant still thrives through the exploitation of human beings, reduced to means of production. In Asian countries like India and China, mega multinationals take advantage of cheap labor and low production costs and exploit them for profit. Free trade agreements become popular by classifying the world into trading blocs that function as a defense against monopolization and competition. Religion influences business and doctrine as capitalism embraces liberal Christianity, while communism tends toward atheism. The post-Cold War era has also been punctuated by outbreaks of war that negate its “desire to achieve (communist) ends by peaceful means” (Communist Manifesto). In the economic framework, commodity fetishism lies in "commodity fetishism- the domination of society by “tangible and intangible things” reaches its ultimate fulfillment in the spectacle, where the real world is replaced by a selection of images that are projected above it" (Debord). A fetish is a magical object endowed with power or a cherished idea, so the commodity fetish idolizes the material, while at the same time debasing other objects to the level of commodity. Only humans are validated regarding the production and sustainability of a business venture. Furthermore, the fixation with commodities in the economic world has removed reverence and respect for occupations, converting people into units of production or wage workers rather than the value of humanity. The world becomes an environment full of commercial products, work tools and images, rather than an environment of intrinsic, intangible and incalculable value. Debord emphasizes that commodity fetishism is a principle of capitalism in which "everyone is an instrument of labor, more or less expensive to use... These workers who must sell themselves piece by piece are a commodity" (Communist Manifesto). The economic focus is an inverted view of money. This is where inversion comes into play because money, which is a means to an end, symbolizes the end itself. Marx is credited with reversing Hegel's theory which postulates that man's consciousness or mind is the fertile ground for alienation, dehumanization and reification. Hegel argues that reality is not only formed in the mind as a mental abstract, but is materialistic and manipulated by social classes. Instead of striving to change consciousness, Marx prefers to revolutionize and renew the corrupt economic systems that lead to the ruin of the working poor, the instability of society, and the commodification of once-valued values, vocations, and people. Furthermore, Marx agrees with Hegel that the fusion of compound conflicts does.