Communist Manifesto Part 1

While reading the Communist Manifesto, I couldn’t help but think about how the Bourgeois and Proletarians reminded me of the 98% and 2% group that was control in France. The Bourgeois may not have had as much as the 2% but they still looked down at the Proletarians. The Bourgeois expected those under them to make money for them. With this said I think it’s crazy how much money can change people. When people work hard for their money they can be proud because they know that they earned that money by themselves. They learn how to stretch a dollar because they know that having a job isn’t an easy thing to do, but they continue to work because they have to. But as soon as people acquire money, things start to change. They expect people to do things for them; they no longer value money because they know that there is more where they come from.

            Reading about how hard the Proletarians have to work in order to survive makes me think about the thousands of companies that still rely on sweatshop like working space. I know retail stores like Nike rely on workers from out of the country to work fast and efficiently. There have been lawsuits because the people working for such big corporations feel like they are still being underpaid and their long hours and harsh work environment is affecting their health. If I were to break this down in terms of Proletarians and Bourgeois terminology, those actually making the clothing would be the Proletarians and those working in the actually store selling the items would be the Bourgeois, then those that rank higher than store managers would be the 2%. Most of these companies started off small, they had one guy that came up with the idea and they just expanded. I wonder how the founders of such big retail chains have change? Are they still able to make a dollar stretch or does it not matter anymore because they bring in so much money.

            As someone who works for a big retail chain, I never really thought much about those who are actually making the clothes. I have always complained about how tiring it is to deal with customers and having to hear them complain about how they don’t like our store policy that I never really thought much about those actually making the clothes. I wonder how their working conditions are? How long do they usually work? Do they get the standard breaks that we do? Another thing that I have never really thought much about until now is when customers comment on how they love our store because of the “cheap prices” and “cheap but good enough material”. The customers are always telling me that they shop at Forever 21 because if they were to go to Nordstrom for a tank top they would pay at least 20 dollars, but at my store for 20 dollars they can get about six tank tops. This makes me wonder is our price cheap because the labor is cheap?

Echos of Revolution

Reading about the revolution has reminded me that the effects of the revolution still live on today. The younger generations may not have known what it feels like to be oppressed and violated, but they try to understand. The younger generations often tries to live with a daily reminder of how harsh the past must have been for the older generations. With this said, the reading about freeing the slaves reminded me of the other night when I went out with some girlfriends. I went out with a close friend and some of her classmates. We were in a group of six girls and they were all African American. After a night of dancing we decided to go out to Denny’s. We were taken to the back of the restaurant and we had terrible service. Some of the girls kept mentioning that the only reason they were place in the back was because of their race. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard this because; I like to think that our world has change. Yes racism still exists, but the limitations that were once put on people of other ethnicity may still be around but it is limited. It’s interesting to see how people hold on to the past as a reminder to continue to fight on.

            I also found the reading on the feminists beginning very interesting as well. At one point in the reading, Strayer writes that the most radical women never took on their husband’s surname. This quote caught my eyes because it is interesting to hear what women now have to say about taking on their husband’s last names. My mom did not take my dad’s last name when they got married, and sometimes I have mixed feelings about whether or not I would take on my future husbands last name. The reason I have mixed feelings is because a part of me is saying that by taking my husband’s last name I am considered to be his; that I am passed down from my father to my husband. The other half of me tells me that if I loved a man then it should be okay to take their name. It doesn’t really change whom I am and if it really bothers me that much I can always hyphenate the two last names. So that I can have my old identity and new identity combined. 

French Revolution

Whenever I look back at the past history classes I have taken I realized that I don’t know much about the French Revolution. While reading about the change of power in France it was shocking to hear how the people revolted to the point where they would execute their own King and Queen. The clergy of the Catholic Churches must have been fearful of their lives because they had as much power as the King and Queen did. It was very disappointing to read about how much violent action the French counterpart participated in. Strayer mentions but doesn’t go in much details about the Reign of Terror, and it made me think about the lives that were all lost. If the French participated in the American Revolution, then they would have seen all the lives that were lost. The French should have learned from the mistakes of the Americans and try to preserve as much life as possible.

            It was really heart breaking to read that the French started destroying all things that once belong to the King and the Catholic Church. The reign of the King and the Churches must have been that terrible that the French citizens wanted to destroy all evidence. I would like to think that the French were people that prided themselves in their culture and they would have wanted to preserve what they had. One thing that I found very surprising in the reading was the leadership of Napoleon. I have always seen him portrayed as the bad guy, the person that is running people out of their homelands. But Strayer points him out in a positive view, he was a man that was expanding the French Ruling and he was fighting for equality in France. It was surprising to read about the positive facts of Napeople when I have always heard negative things about him.