From "The Manifesto of the Communist Party" by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
This piece represents the classic exposition of the growing division between two groups--the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. These groups have antagonistic interests owing to their different positions in the economic means of production that characterizes capitalism. The authors maintain both groups become increasingly polarized from each other as the bourgeoisie progressively own and receive a greater share of economic resources. The proletariat, in contrast, view the bourgeoisie more and more as the enemy who must be opposed as the proletariat progressively experience more exploitation.
-How do the authors define the "means of production"?

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The Answer is In "The Manifesto of the Communist Party," Karl Marx and Frederick Engels define the "means of production" as the facilities and resources for producing goods. This includes not only physical tools and machinery but also the methods, technologies, and social relations that are necessary for the production of goods and services. The means of production are a central concept in Marxist theory, as they are the objects through which labor is applied to create value.

According to Marx and Engels, the means of production are owned by the bourgeoisie, the class of capitalists who own the factories, land, and capital necessary for production. The bourgeoisie, therefore, have the power to organize and control the labor process and to extract surplus value from the proletariat, the working class. The proletariat, on the other hand, do not own the means of production and must sell their labor power to the bourgeoisie in order to survive. This relationship is inherently exploitative, as the workers are paid less than the value of the goods and services they produce, with the surplus value being appropriated by the bourgeoisie as profit.

The division of society into bourgeoisie and proletariat, and the ownership and control of the means of production by the bourgeoisie, are fundamental to the Marxist analysis of capitalism. Marx and Engels argue that this economic structure leads to class struggle, which will ultimately result in the overthrow of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat and the establishment of a socialist society, where the means of production are collectively owned and controlled by the workers themselves.