Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto both as a polemical critique of capitalism and as a propagandistic tool to rally the working class to political action. In their theory and method of historical materialism, the working class is the central political agent, so much so, that the working class is described as a “universal class.” Explain the role of the working class in Karl Marx’s theory of revolution. What political power does the working class possess and how should they use this power to achieve political (as well as social and economic) change? What makes the working class the universal class?