What do marx and engels mean by “free trade” in this excerpt? the communist manifesto "the bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. it has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his "natural superiors", and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous "cash payment". it has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. it has resolved personal worth into exchange value. and in place of the numberless and feasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom — free trade. in one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation"