“The history of all hitherto society is the history of class struggles,” begins the first

section of The Manifesto of the Communist Party, written jointly by Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels in 1848. This was an accurate assessment of history, and it holds true today. In this essay,
I will illustrate how all five AP World History themes are simply different aspects of class
struggle.

Interaction between humans and the environment, the first theme, comprises demography
and disease, migration, patterns of settlement, and technology. Demography is the study of
population, age, gender, literacy, etc. All noteworthy statistics, such as the discrepancy in
reading levels between ethnic minorities and a majority of a different ethnicity, are essentially a
measure of the gap between the haves and the have-nots. It is well-documented that disease
spreads faster and is more deadly among the poor who live closer together with less access to
health care and sanitary conditions. Migration, usually forced, is nothing but the hope that the
oppression will be lesser elsewhere. Patterns of settlement fall along economic lines, as
evidenced everywhere from New York City to Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, technology
becomes available to the upper classes first, making things such as cell phones and computers
tangible symbols of class dominance. “Interactions between humans and the environment,”
would better be phrased in the form, “Humans using the environment to exploit other humans.”

The second theme, development and interaction of cultures, envelops religions,

philosophies, sciences, and the arts. Religion is an artificial, double-headed deception. It is to the
lower classes a command to work hard and obey superiors; it is a promise that if you bow to the
upper classes entirely in this life, you will not have to do so in the nonexistent next. To the upper
class, religion is simply another way to “prove that exploitation is justified.” Along similar lines,
philosophy is another tool to advance the aims of the ruling class. All political philosophy is
bourgeoisie; politics is an unattainable realm for the lower classes, as it is nothing but systematic
disagreement on the best methods of oppression. The arts, while less prohibitive, are still not
welcoming to the lower classes. Great art and artists have come from poverty; a prime example
is Jean-Michel Basquiat. He is, however, an anomaly; the lower classes have less exposure to the
arts and little to no encouragement to pursue visual, audio, or communications studies.

Science deserves to be considered on its own. There is a divide in the sciences that tends
to fall along class lines; the difference between pure and applied. Pure mathematics, chemistry,
and physics are relatively recent fields. Until about 50 years ago, all science revolved around
practical uses, starting with agriculture and the wheel going all the way up to the atom bomb.
The practical sciences – engineering for manufacturing, chemistry for weapons, physics for
transportation – were only ever employed by the upper classes. The pure sciences, such as
mathematics so abstract that no purpose has yet been found for it, are neither tools of oppression
nor of industry. At present, pure science is dominated by the upper class, but this is not due to its
nature and will change perhaps in the near future.

State-building, expansion, and conflict is the third theme of AP World History and also
the most directly tied to class structure. State-building and expansion are the tools the upper class
uses to “create a world after its own image.” The upper class, which controls the military and
government, cares only for private property, which comes from the land. Private property is the
social, political, and physical power wielded by the bourgeoisie – or, collectively, the State.
When the upper class’s greed exceeds what it can derive from the vast property (land) it already
controls, it acquires more by its typical exploitation of the lower classes. It oppresses the
inhabitants of the land, forces them to comply with bourgeoisie production, and generally denies
them individual identity. All conflict is class conflict; all emperors are tyrants. The upper class’s
expanding its influence is nothing but class struggle.

The fourth theme, creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems, is the study
of the difference between the haves and the have-nots. The name itself is a lie; there has ever
been only one economic system: capitalism. It may vary slightly by geographic location, it may
use different currency, and it may be bourgeoisie or state, but it will always be capitalism.
Agriculture, trade, labour, and industry are the weights the upper class places on the backs of the
working classes. All capitalistic economic systems – all economic systems – place political
power in the hands of those with economic power. But economic power comes not through hard
work but exploitation of the workers. When different forms of capitalism interact, it is not
necessary to have any common language save private property. Property speaks for itself among
capitalists as a symbol of the effectiveness of certain means of oppression. Economy is
exploitation; property is power; economic property is the tangible result of the upper class using
the lower classes for its gain regardless of consequence.

The most blatant aspect of class struggle in world history is the fifth theme, development
and transformation of social structures. All social structures are relations between oppressor and
oppressed. The fifth theme is composed of three such relations: gender roles, family, and race.
These are three of innumerable examples. Gender roles represent a multi-layered oppression. In
unfortunately many ways, women are less equal than men; this is manifested in most industries,
domesticities, and attitudes. Gender roles themselves oppress both men and women; if a person
of either gender does not meet the stereotype of his or her culture, he or she is not accepted by
society. Gender roles are used by one gender (typically male) to oppress all others (women and
nonconformists), but gender roles are not simply a passive tool – by their nature, they further the
bias and dominance. Family is a continuation of this; family, as defined by the ruling class, is
biological and materialistic. Parents/adults become the tyrants; offspring, the oppressed. They are
not allowed to wield even a force of political power (vote) until after almost a fourth (18 years)
of their life has been spent being brainwashed by adults. They are not encouraged to think of
themselves outside their biological families. The ruling class’s definition of family is too narrow
and restrictive to allow for “chosen” family (i.e., friends). Race is, quite sadly, so obvious an
example of mass oppression and class struggle that it is pointless to detail it here. The fourth
bullet point of this theme, socioeconomic class, is redundant.

In brief, all of history is the history of class struggle. The five themes of AP World
History are different aspects of this struggle. The exploitation of the lower classes by the upper
class summarizes all history up to this point in time. History will enter a new chapter when the
lower classes shake off their chains and enjoy the products of their own labour. Workers of the
world, unite!