February 6, 2013

CW 7.5: Communism DBQ

Page 1

Why are Communists and Socialists organizing and what do they hope to achieve?
Document 1
Source: Unknown, Luigi Galleani, Revolutionary artist, 1880s

Document 2
Source: The Condition of the Working Classes in England, Friedrich Engels, 1844

The strongest of all, a tiny group of capitalists, monopolize everything, while the weakest, who
are in the vast majority; succumb to the most abject poverty.
Every great town has one or more slum areas into which the working classes are packed.
Sometimes, of course, poverty is to be found hidden away in alleys close to the stately homes
of the wealthy. Generally, however, the workers are segregated in separate districts where
they struggle through life as best they can out of sight of the more fortunate classes of society.
The slums of the English towns have much in common - the worst house in a town being found
in the worst districts.

February 6, 2013

CW 7.5: Communism DBQ

Page 2

Document 3
Source: Declaration of Fundamental Principles, Socialist Labor Party of Germany, 1875

Having outlived its social usefulness, capitalism must give way to a new social order--a social
order wherein government shall rest on industry, on the basis of useful occupations, instead of
resting on territorial (political) representation. This new system can only be the Socialist form
of government that attempts to meet the needs of the vast majority through the use of
governmental power to better the condition of human beings and to reform the excesses of
industrial capitalism.

Document 4
Source: The Internationale, song by Eugene Pottier, member of the Paris Commune

Arise, the workers of all nations!

Arise, oppressed of the earth!
For justice thunders condemnation:
A better world's in birth!
It is time to win emancipation,
Arise, you slaves, no more in thrall!
The earth will rise on new foundations:
We, who were nothing, shall be all!
Just we, the workers of the world-wide,
The greatest army of labor,
To own the planet have a true right But the parasites never!
For too long we've endured exploitation,
Too long we've been the vulture's prey.
Farewell to days of condemnation!
The red dawn brings a bright new day!
Forward, brothers and sisters,
And the last fight let us face;
The Internationale
Unites the human race!

February 6, 2013

CW 7.5: Communism DBQ

Page 3

Document 5
Source: The Gotha Program, Revolutionary Party Manifesto, 1875

The emancipation of labor must be the work of the laboring class itself, opposed to which all
other groups are enemy groups attempting to subvert the workers. The workers are the only
legitimate class to hold power in society.
Document 6
Source: Evolutionary Socialism, Edouard Bernstein, 1909

In all advanced societies we see the privileges of the capitalist bourgeoisie yielding step by
step to democratic organizations and reforms. Under the influence of this, and driven by the
movement of the working classes which is daily becoming stronger, new legislation becomes
possible. Factory legislation, the democratizing of local government; the freeing of labor
unions and systems of cooperative trading all are efforts we must undertake.
Or must we await for the system to fall and in its place and the proletariat emerge and take
conquest of the means of political power. Should the power of the state be used exclusively by
the workers against the non-proletarian world?
That is the dispute and that is the battle for which our movement must decide.
Document 7
Source: Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx, 1848

In short, the Communists everywhere support every revolutionary movement against the
existing social and political order of things. They seek to overturn Capitalism and establish a
new order for the world. In all these movements they bring to the front, as the leading
question in each, the fight against the bourgeoisie, no matter what its degree of development
at the time.
The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends
can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling
classes tremble at a Communistic revolution.
The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.
Working men of all countries, unite!

February 6, 2013

CW 7.5: Communism DBQ

Page 4

Document ______________
1. Who is the author?

2. What is his/her purpose in writing this

document?

3. What is the major topic of this document?

4. What are 2-3 important ideas of this document?

5. What are the sides of the issue?

6. What side is the author on?

Document ______________
1. Who is the author?

2. What is his/her purpose in writing this

document?

3. What is the major topic of this document?

4. What are 2-3 important ideas of this document?

5. What are the sides of the issue?

6. What side is the author on?

February 6, 2013

CW 7.5: Communism DBQ

Page 5

Document ______________
1. Who is the author?

2. What is his/her purpose in writing this

document?

3. What is the major topic of this document?

4. What are 2-3 important ideas of this document?

5. What are the sides of the issue?

6. What side is the author on?

Document ______________
1. Who is the author?

2. What is his/her purpose in writing this

document?

3. What is the major topic of this document?

4. What are 2-3 important ideas of this document?

5. What are the sides of the issue?

6. What side is the author on?

February 6, 2013

CW 7.5: Communism DBQ

Page 6

Document ______________
1. Who is the author?

2. What is his/her purpose in writing this

document?

3. What is the major topic of this document?

4. What are 2-3 important ideas of this document?

5. What are the sides of the issue?

6. What side is the author on?

Document ______________
1. Who is the author?

2. What is his/her purpose in writing this

document?

3. What is the major topic of this document?

4. What are 2-3 important ideas of this document?

5. What are the sides of the issue?

6. What side is the author on?

February 6, 2013

CW 7.5: Communism DBQ

Page 7

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February 6, 2013

CW 7.5: Communism DBQ

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