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"There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, Justice,

etc. that are common to all states of society. But Communism

abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all

morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it

therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical

experience."

What does this accusation reduce itself to? The history of all

past society has consisted in the development of class

antagonisms, antagonisms that assumed different forms at

different epochs.

But whatever form they may have taken, one fact is common to all

past ages, viz., the exploitation of one part of society by the

other. No wonder, then, that the social consciousness of past

ages, despite all the multiplicity and variety it displays, moves

within certain common forms, or general ideas, which cannot

completely vanish except with the total disappearance of class

antagonisms.