Throughout this period, there was always struggle against the ruling classes. Sometimes the struggle was led by the most oppressed groups, and sometimes it was led by the middle classes who were trying to climb to the top to be come the new rulers. Around 500 years ago, capitalism began to develop more rapidly. Capitalism is the most direct form of class exploitation, where the ruling class exploits the laboring class in order to make maximum profits as quickly as possible. As capitalism developed, so did modern racism.
Capitalism is very unstable and needs to make profits as quickly as possible.
One way they do this is to divide the laboring classes into different sections so that they can exploit certain sections extra hard. This racism was especially intense against slaves kidnapped from Africa, but it was also used against people from other places as well. Capitalism came to dominate the world during the 1800's and brought with it more economic and social crisis. The Communist Manifesto followed in the tradition of earlier struggles against class society, but unlike the earlier theories, the communism of Marx and Engels was based on a scientific analysis of class society and capitalism. Marx and Engels pointed out that all class societies are dictatorships because the ruling class will always use the law, prisons, and violence to maintain its rule.