The Communist Manifesto is an interesting delve into the structural erosion of the state and its eventual "rebirth" as a result of class warfare. Marx and Engels were writing during a period when feudalism was decaying and giving way to the emerging capitalist economic system. "Capitalism destroyed feudalism by out-producing it, ruining feudal forms of production, and by stealing its workers." Capitalism created a system that allowed the "manufacturing middle-class to grow in wealth and power and ultimately ascend to a capitalist ruling class. A primary reason the ruling class in the United States was successful at suppressing the growth of socialism was the strength of American capitalism. In many respects, so long as the United States was an ascending economic power, with a sufficient share of the national income going to rising living standards, American workers were not convinced of the necessity for socialism. Primarily, since the economic downturn of 2008, the concentration of wealth in the United States has intensified class and social divisions. The 400 richest individuals in the US now possess more wealth than the bottom 64 percent of the entire population, and social inequality is greater now, than at any time since the years preceding the Great Depression of the 1930s.

1. Examining these conditions, do you believe if the schism that characterizes the relationship between the working and ruling classes continues to grow that the United States will be facing a revolutionary class struggle similar to what Engels and Marx argue in the Communist Manifesto?
2. What arguments and positions posited in the document either support or refute your position?
3. Given the state of the economy as a result of the pandemic, is there any affirmative duty on the part of the leadership in the United States to take decisive action to shrink the gulf between the ruling and working classes and prevent the occurrence of an economic revolt? Why or Why not?