How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
This organisation of the proletarians into a class, and consequently into a political party, is continually being upset again by the competition between the workers themselves. But it ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier. (Section1.40)
Sometimes friendship can arise from competition. How else might workers come to recognize their common interest instead of fighting against each other for higher wages?
Quote #5
Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of Modern Industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product. (Section1.44)
Marx is arguing that revolution must begin from the bottom, or else there's a risk that those who want to be the power elite will trade places with the current power elite without actually changing the system as a whole. So who is on the bottom? See our discussion of the proletariat in the "Characters" section for more.
Quote #6
In depicting the most general phases of the development of the proletariat, we traced the more or less veiled civil war, raging within existing society, up to the point where that war breaks out into open revolution, and where the violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie lays the foundation for the sway of the proletariat. (Section1.51)
Marx advocates for a violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie. Could there be a nonviolent way to overthrow them? Set morality issues aside, for example, and simply consider that violent revolution can frighten uninvolved bystanders into calling for the authorities to return, as Thomas Hobbes argued. What other strategies might be effective for those, like Marx (Section2.72), who want to put an end to political power itself, or the organized power of one class for oppressing others.