The Communist Manifesto and Melodrama

The Communist Manifesto contains many elements of melodrama, from the word choice of the text to the many themes within it. Even the opening sentence is melodramatic: “A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism.” This line conveys the ideology of communism as a spectre, or ghost. This immediately makes it clear to the reader that communism is typically portrayed as a villain, much like a ghost. Here, the text acknowledges the common, melodramatic portrayal of communism. This portrayal’s presence within the geographical and temporal contest of the text’s composition formed such an intensely negative view of communism that Marx felt motivated to combat this view.

Within the body of the text, Marx employs melodramatic techniques to persuade his audience. Like many politicians throughout time, Marx utilized the persuasive capabilities of creating an “us versus them” mentality. This is to say that Marx wrote this text with a clear hero (the communists) and villain (opposition to communism) in mind. He describes the proletariat as a victim of modernity, evidenced in the section of the text that states “Owing to the extensive use of machinery, and to the division of labour, the work of the proletarians has lost all individual character … He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is required of him.” Here, Marx portrays the proletariat as a virtuous victim of misfortune who will be relieved of their suffering. He proposes that this relief will come about through revolution. Though his proposed means of attaining relief is through conscious action, as opposed to the more classic melodramatic idea of relief from suffering due to mere fate, Marx’s overall portrayal of society utilizes classic melodramatic conventions.