Engels and Marx are Melodramtic? 2.0

Marx and Engel's Communist Manifesto features both melodramitic language and more importantly, many of the themes and ideas central to melodrama. Melodrama was a response to modernity and the working class revolutions, most notably the French Revoution. Communism is an ideology that focuses on the working class rising up to remove the bourgeois from power. The working class are the "heroes" of the ideology, while the money makers, the elites, are the enemy. As the Singer article notes on page 133, melodrama replaced religion as a draw for the lower class. In the manifesto, Marx and Engels dismiss organized religion as a greedy, corporation like institution, one that cares more about its coffers than its constituents. Interestingly enough, it is their ideology - this sense of community and solidarity that replaces the church/religion.

Singer also notes that Melodrama "thrived" because its ideas ran parallel to the class revolution taking place in France. This concept also explains why communism caught on as well. Like Melodrama, Communism wasn't afraid to not only criticize, but demonize the wealthy elite. Both melodrama and communism are forms of "acutal popular empowerment" (132). In addition, both communism and melodrama are reactions to modernity as a whole. In Europe's cities, citizens are lost in the throngs of the crowds all rushing to work, most of them working to earn money for someone else. This, along with the rising importance of competition leads to a sense of being alone in a crowd; communism and melodrama lament this occurrence.