Alienation is a central aspect of Marxist thought. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argue in the Communist Manifesto that capitalism is the cause of alienation. The theory is that the estrangement, or alienation, of people is a consequence of living in a society with social classes. Social classes cause humans to be separated from each other and, ultimately, from themselves. Marx and Engels argue that capitalism causes workers to be alienated from others due to class struggle, their act of production, and the human species. Throughout the Communist Manifesto it is demonstrated that capitalism worsens the worker's alienation from each of these aspects. Since communism offers a unity among workers, alienation, for Marx and Engels, is an effect of capitalism and its exploitation of the proletariat and communism is the solution they offer. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe Communist Manifesto writes: "the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles" (Marx & Engels, The Communist Manifesto 10 ). The idea of ​​class is a struggle for anyone oppressed by the confines of social class. This struggle is what formed the society Marx and Engels live in. The authors argue that history is a constant battle, “…a struggle now open, a struggle that has ended each time, either with a revolutionary reconstitution of society in general, or with the common ruin of the contending class” (10) . This struggle is due to alienation and oppression. Those who are oppressed feel alienated, which leads them to rebel against their oppressors. Marx and Engels use these historical examples to show how capitalism led to revolution and war, “freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guildmaster and workman…” (10). Why are these people separated? It is due to social classes. Capitalism leads those in power to take what they can from the weaker side. This idea of ​​class creates an unfair system for those in the lower classes. They write: “our era, the era of the bourgeoisie, however, possesses this distinctive trait: it has simplified class antagonisms. Society as a whole is increasingly divided into two great enemy camps, into two great directly opposed classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat” (10). What the bourgeoisie and the proletariat have in common is that they oppose each other. The bourgeoisie and the proletariat rely on each other, but it is the workers who feel alienation from each other since they gain less from this relationship. The upper class gets the benefits of lower class workers, while the lower class does not receive the same reward for harder physical labor. Communism is the solution to class struggle that Marx and Engels offer, sharing that without class, no one would feel separated from another. Another aspect of Marx's theory of alienation is the alienation of the worker and his product. When the worker creates the product, the product generates wealth which is given to the bourgeois and not to the worker, and then the worker's condition worsens. The worker is creating the thing that will ultimately take control of him. This devalues ​​the worker. Capitalism also takes away value from one's work, “in bourgeois society, living labor is nothing more than a means of increasing accumulated labor. In communist society, accumulated work is nothing more than a means to expand, enrich and promote the existence of the worker” (19). In a capitalist society, the things or objects that the worker creates.