In The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels present their 
view of human nature and the effect that the economic system and economic 
factors have on it.  Marx and Engels discuss human nature in the context of 
the economic factors which they see as driving history.  Freud, in 
Civilization and Its Discontents, explores human nature through his 
psychological view of the human mind.
	Marx states that history "...is the history of class struggles" (9).  
Marx views history as being determined by economics, which for him is the 
source of class differences.  History is described in The Communist Manifesto  
as a series of conflicts between oppressing classes and oppressed classes.  
According to this view of history, massive changes occur in a society when new 
technological capabilities allow a portion of the oppressed class to destroy 
the power of the oppressing class.  Marx briefly traces the development of 
this through different periods, mentioning some of the various oppressed and 
oppressing classes, but points out that in earlier societies there were many 
gradations of social classes.  He also states that this class conflict 
sometimes leads to "...the common ruin of the contending classes" (Marx 9).
	Marx sees the modern age as being distinguished from earlier periods by 
the simplification and intensification of the class conflict.  He states that 
"Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile 
camps... bourgeoisie and proletariat" (Marx 9).  The bourgeoisie, as the 
dominant class of capitalists, subjugates the proletariat by using it as an 
object for the expansion of capital.  As capitalism progresses, this 
subjugation reduces a larger portion of the population to the proletariat and 
society becomes more polarized.
	According to Marx, the polarization of society and the intense 
oppression of the proletariat will eventually lead to a revolution by the 
proletariat, in which the control of the bourgeoisie will be destroyed.  The 
proletariat will then gain control of the means of production.  This 
revolution will result in the creation of a socialist state, which the 
proletariat will use to institute socialist reforms and eventually communism.
	The reforms which Marx outlines as occurring in the socialist state have 
the common goal of disimpowering the bourgeoisie and increasing economic 
equality.  He sees this socialist stage as necessary for but inevitably 
leading to the establishment of communism.  Human beings, which are 
competitive under capitalism and other prior economic systems, will become 
cooperative under socialism and communism.  Marx, in his view of human nature, 
sees economic factors as being the primary motivator for human thought and 
action.  He asks the rhetorical question, "What else does the history of ideas 
prove, than that intellectual production changes its character in proportion 
as material production is changed?" (Marx 29).  For Marx, the economic status 
of human beings determines their consciousness.  Philosophy, religion and 
other cultural aspects are a reflection of economics and the dominant class 
which controls the economic system.
	This view of human nature as being primarily determined by economics may 
seem to be a base view of humanity.  However, from Marx's point of view, the 
human condition reaches its full potential under communism.  Under communism, 
the cycle of class conflict and oppression will end, because all members of 
society will have their basic material needs met, rather than most being 
exploited for their labor by a dominant class.  In this sense the Marxian view 
of human nature can be seen as hopeful.  Although human beings are motivated 
by economics, they will ultimately be able to establish a society which is not 
based on economic oppression.
	Freud, in Civilization and Its Discontents, presents a conception of 
human nature that differs greatly from that of Marx.  His view of human nature 
is more complex than Marx's.  Freud is critical of the Marxist view of human 
nature, stating that "...I am able to recognize that the psychological 
premises on which the [communist] system is based are an untenable illusion.  
In abolishing private property we deprive the human love of aggression of one 
of its instruments...but we have in no way altered the differences in power 
and influence which are misused by aggressiveness, nor have we altered 
anything in its nature" (Freud 71).  Freud does not believe that removal of 
economic differences will remove the human instinct to dominate others.
	For Freud, aggression is an innate component of human nature and will 
exist regardless of how society is formulated.  He sees human beings as having 
both a life instinct (Eros) and an instinct for destruction.  In Freud's view 
of human reality, the source of conflict, oppression, and destruction in human 
society is man's own psychological makeup.
	Because of Freud's view of human nature as inherently having a 
destructive component, he does not believe that a "transformation" of humans 
to communist men and women will be possible.  Marx's belief that the current 
capitalist society will evolve into a communist society is not supportable 
under Freud's conception of human nature because the desires of human beings 
are too much in conflict with the demands of any civilized society.  This 
conflict does not exist because of economic inequalities, according to Freud, 
but rather because it is in human nature to have aggressive desires which are 
destructive to society.
	Freud's approach to the possibility of reducing conflict among humanity 
focuses on understanding the human mind, the aggressive qualities of human 
nature, and how human beings' desires can come into conflict with the demands 
of human society.  He does not believe that the problems of human conflict, 
aggression, and destruction can be solved by a radical reordering of society 
as the philosophy of Marx suggests.  Instead, Freud looks inside ourselves to 
explore these problems.  At the close of his work, Freud states, "The fateful 
question for the human species seems to me to be whether and to what extent 
their cultural development will succeed in mastering the disturbance of their 
communal life by the human instinct of aggression and self-destruction" (Freud 
111).  Freud does not offer any radical solutions to human aggressiveness, but 
rather sees it as something that humans must continually strive to overcome.  
He states "...I have not the courage to rise up before my fellow-men as a 
prophet, and I bow to their reproach that I can offer them no consolation..." 
(Freud 111).  Freud can not offer some vision of a human utopia, but can only 
suggest that there is some possibility for the improvement of the human 
condition and society, but also warns that our success at overcoming 
destructive instincts may be limited.
	Marx offers a radical philosophy which also sees conflict as one of the 
constants of prior human existence.  Unlike Freud, Marx believes that the 
aggressive and conflict-oriented aspects of human nature will disappear under 
the communist society which he sees as the inevitable product of capitalism.  
This is the hopeful element of Marx's philosophy.  However, if communism is 
not seen as inevitable or the possibilities for reducing human conflict before 
a socialist revolution are considered, then Marx's view of human nature locks 
humanity into constant conflict.  If the future is to be like Marx's version 
of history, then there is little hopefulness in this view of human nature.

Works Cited

Freud, Sigmund.  Civilization and Its Discontents.  Ed. James Strachey.  
New York: W.W. Norton, 1961.

Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels.  The Communist Manifesto.  New York: 
International Publishers, 1994.