From the communist manifesto:

Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.

Does common ruin mean a miserable outcome where the oppressed classes 'lose' against their oppressors? Or is it a situation where all classes suffer? Or does it mean something else?

    • glimmer_twin [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Does the ancient Roman slave state collapsing and eventually birthing feudalism count as an example of the OP quote? I’m not across enough late Roman Empire history to know.

      • Mardoniush [she/her]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I'd say the Roman was partially, but Feudalism was already underway in the late empire, so it's also an example of a successful revolutionary transition.

        The Bronze age collapse is probably a more apt comparison.