What is "The Communist Manifesto" about?

Originally Answered: What is the communist manifesto all about?

The Communist Manifesto is a ~30-page pamphlet that was published in Germany in 1848. It’s
rather intellectual, and lays out a pointed analysis of the links between politics, the economy, and
society. In addition to its analysis of the past, it also projects a hypothesis for future social
progression. The basis for social progression, according to the Manifesto, is the shifting of
economic power in four stages.

Little Communism - Feudalism

A shift from collective power in small groups, to consolidated power under a single entity. This
shift occurred to provide protection for agrarian civilizations against foreign invasion, and to keep
trade organized and efficient.
Feudalism - Capitalism
A shift of power from a single entity to the wealthy elite. This shift occurred because some
people in the merchant classes started to amass more wealth than some people in the noble
classes. They realized that it was wealth that gave them power, which they used to leverage
political power. When confronted by the feudal power structure, they eventually revolted rather
than compromise again, doing away with the notion of divine right and bloodlines, at least in
politics.
Capitalism - Socialism
A shift in power from the wealthy elite to the working class. This shift has yet to occur; driven by
capitalism’s failure to provide basic needs to people in spite of overproduction, it is the working
class that has the power to enact this change. Their knowledge about the operations of individual
pieces of the system allows them to organize for collective power over the elite merchant class.
Socialism - Communism
A shift in power from the working class to… everyone. With sustainability in mind, and a diverse
society, structures of power and oppression become obsolete. For this progression to happen,
nations must realize that trade and prosperity bring far greater good than war and domination.
With no war, and open systems of political and economic democracy in place, militaries and
national borders become irrelevant; they serve no purpose at this point, and so the State, as a
monopoly on violence, ceases to be necessary, and eventually dissolves. Government becomes
purely administrative.
The point of the Manifesto is to apply scientific thought to social conditions and organization.
History is its data set, and Communism is its hypothesis.
Its analysis of feudalism and its subsequent predictions about the limitations and failures of
capitalism are strikingly accurate. Its predictions on how socialism and communism operate and
come about are logical, and well-reasoned based on the available data (history) at the time of its
writing (1848). However, distortion of these ideas, and misrepresentation of their
implementation, have resulted in a pretty low understanding of what the Manifesto actually
discusses, and the actual system it suggests humans might one day live by.