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Chloe Cross
Dr. Epstein/ Dr. Whorton
HIST 1030/ ENGL 1150
28 September 2015
The Proletariat Will Prevail
In Karl Marx and Frederick Engelss The Communist Manifestos first chapter,
Bourgeois and Proletarians, the introduction of a revolutionary social divide is introduced to
the reader. Marx and Engels compare the classes of the bourgeois and the proletarians by giving
more common examples such as: freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf,
guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, showing that the bourgeoisie
is the upper-class of this time period and that the proletarians represent those in the lower classes
(1). In The Communist Manifesto, the bourgeoisie will inevitably cause its own fall and the
proletariats will be able to claim their first victory. The overall theme of providing hope to the
hopeless that is found in this chapter of The Communist Manifesto can also be seen in Charles
Dickenss novel Oliver Twist. Marx and Engelss manifesto and Dickenss novel both share the
common goal of bringing about social change by showing hope to the proletariat; this common
hope is demonstrated through the character of Oliver, the character of Mr. Bumble, and the
common progression of the storylines between The Communist Manifesto and Oliver Twist.
The character of Oliver in the novel Oliver Twist is, in a sense, a representation of the
proletariat class found in The Communist Manifesto. Oliver is born into the workhouse, and at

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the beginning, appears to have no way out, showing his apparent hopelessness common with a
proletariat figure. Stearns and Burns also argue this in their article About the Human Condition
in the Works of Dickens and Marx by stating, Dickens, through his own experience as a child
laborer, illustrated the plight of the proletariat in books like Oliver Twist and Great
Expectations (2). Olivers character allows you to sympathize with his class and see behind the
closed doors of the workhouse. He makes the reader hope that he will become something more
and rise out of his situation, much like how Marx and Engels want the proletarians to rise up
against their oppressor, the bourgeoisie.
Stearns and Burns make the statement that Marx believed that as a class consciousness
dawned upon the proletariat, they would understand that they must rise together against the
bourgeoisie (3). Marx and Engels give the proletariat hope by showing how, in The Communist
Manifesto, the proletarians destroy the machines and burn down the factories that they have
become enslaved to; they show them that there is a way to make their situation better and that the
way is rebellion. Dickens, however, takes a much more subtle approach of rebellion and gives it
to Olivers character. Holt argues in her article Please, Sir, I Want Some More: Clive Donner's
Marxist Adaptation of Oliver Twist that Oliver shows his rebellion at the workhouse and later
at Sowerberrys shop (225). In the workhouse, young Oliver rebels by asking for more food
after he had already received his allotted amount of gruel. He is severely punished for this
innocent act by being put into solitary confinement and then later sold to Mr. Sowerberry. While
he is living in that household, he is still abused, especially by Noah Claypole. Olivers rebellion
here is an act of defense because Mr. Claypole is taunting him about his mother, which causes
him to react uncharacteristically violent and run away. These rebellions of Oliver in the storyline,
in contrast with The Communist Manifesto, are not the answer to the proletariats problems. They

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do, however, pave the way for Oliver to gain his proletariat victory. Without these rebellions in
the plot, Oliver would still be stuck in servitude and would not have triumphed over the future he
was destined with.
The character of Mr. Bumble in the novel Oliver Twist can correlate to the bourgeoisie
class in Marx and Engelss writing. Dickens describes Mr. Bumble as a fat man, while Oliver
is portrayed as a pale thin child, somewhat diminutive in stature, and decidedly small in
circumference showing the differences of physical appearance and of eating habits between the
bourgeoisie and the proletariat (6; 5). Mr. Bumble, being the beadle of the workhouse, had a
great idea of his oratorical powers and his importance, which demonstrates that his occupation
was among the upper-class (Dickens, 6). In Oliver Twist, all of the characters that are of the
bourgeoisMr. Brownlow, the Bumbles, the Maylie family, the Sowerberrysare much better
off than Oliver and the other children in his position in the beginning of the novel. Oliver is often
sick and while he is not being taken care of by Mr. Brownlow or the Maylies, is seen as a poor,
famished child. In Oliver Twist there is a discernable divide between the upper-class and the
lower-class, between the bourgeois and the proletarians, between Oliver and Mr. Bumble.
Oliver and Mr. Bumble both have dramatic and memorable events come their way during
the story of Oliver Twist. The circumstances of these characters can be related to the events that
happen to the bourgeoisie and the proletarians in The Communist Manifesto. In Marx and
Engelss The Communist Manifesto, the bourgeoisie have conquered exclusive political sway
in the state and have control over everything even the proletarians themselves, much like Mr.
Bumble is over Oliver during the first chapters of Oliver Twist (2). Mr. Bumble being the beadle
of the workhouse has the power to control every aspect of Olivers life, down to the amount of

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food he receives as his excuse for a meal. Dickenss novel shows how oppressed the proletarian
is and brings awareness to the proletariat cause during the time period when Oliver Twist was
published.
In contrast, The Communist Manifesto shares the same goal with Oliver Twist of
providing hope to the proletariats; however, it is written as a more academic piece while the
latter is a literary piece; that causes one to wonder, according to Stearns and Burns, if Marx
believed his ideas, in written or oral form, were accessible or even comprehensible to the
working class, whom he considered as the chosen people to fulfill his prophecy (3). Dickenss
novel and his take on showing how the proletariat will prevail allowed the hope to be more
widespread and more accessible to the intended audience. Stearns and Burns continue arguing
this point by saying that with the serialization and mass distribution of Dickenss stories,
however, the proletariat could begin to digest the real meat of Marxism (3).
Moreover, in both pieces, the bourgeois start to fall and the proletarians ultimately prevail
over their oppressors. In The Communist Manifesto, the bourgeois cause their own downfall
through the epidemic of over-production (3). Because of their obsession with production and
their greed, the bourgeois produced an abundance of overstock and lost money, destroying the
industry and commerce they had built. This is consistent with Mr. Bumbles downfall in that he
was encouraged to marry Mrs. Corney by his greed. Rather than marrying for love, he married
purely out of the desire to acquire more property. Mr. Bumbles downfall ends up being that not
only did he have to endure a loveless marriage with Mrs. Corney, but the couple also were
deprived of their situations, were gradually reduced to great indigence and misery, and finally
became paupers in that very same workhouse in which they had once lorded it over others

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(417). In both The Communist Manifesto and Oliver Twist, the proletariat has his victory. In the
latter, Oliver receives his long-lost inheritance and is adopted by Mr. Brownlow and put into a
place where he will be finally taken care of and safe. In The Communist Manifesto, the reader is
given a much less informative ending, but it is still consistent with the proletariat prevail. Marx
and Engels write [the bourgeoisie] fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable,
showing that no matter what events take place or what time period it is, the proletariat will
prevail (6).
By seeing all of this, it becomes apparent that The Communist Manifesto and Oliver Twist
express hope for the proletariat in different ways. Marx and Engels use an academic approach to
inspire the proletarians to recognize their place and see how they can overcome the oppression
placed on them by the bourgeois. Dickens, however, uses a literary approach and the characters
of Oliver Twist and Mr. Bumble to represent the differences between the two classes that are
seen in The Communist Manifesto. Both the novel and the manifesto have similarities in the
storyline with twists and turns that leave the reader with a hope for the proletariat. These
similarities between The Communist Manifesto and Oliver Twist ultimately lead to a conclusion
of a common theme: the proletariat will prevail.

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Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Bantam Classic ed. New York: Bantam, 1981. Print.
Holt, Shari Hodges. Please, Sir, I Want Some More: Clive Donner's Marxist Adaptation of
Oliver Twist." Literature Film Quarterly 38.4 (2010): 254-268. OmniFile Full Text Mega
(H.W. Wilson). Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. "Bourgeois and Proletarians." The Communist Manifesto.
Simon & Schuster, 1964. 57-79. Print.
Stearns, Ami E, and Thomas J. Burns. "About the Human Condition in the Works of Dickens and
Marx." Clcweb: Comparative Literature & Culture: A Wwweb Journal 13.4 (2011): 1-9.
OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 16 Sept. 2015.