Communist Manifesto

What I found most striking in the Communist Manifesto was the apparent suggestion that there was something different about this time in history (the time in which Marx and Engles were writing) that made a communist revolution not only advisable but inevitable. Marx and Engles do not claim that the class struggle is a new phenomenon, on the contrary they claim, "Hitherto, every form of society has been based, as we have already seen, on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes" (Ch 1, 9). Yet, they do argue that the oppression by the bourgeoisie is differnt. They claim, "But in order to oppress a class, certain conditions must be assured to it under which it can, at least, continue its slavish existence" (9). They list the benefits that were enjoyed by groups like the serfs and the bourgeoisie when they were oppressed, but claim that the prolitariate is only sunk further and further by the oppression of the bourgeoisie given its power by the power of industry. Communism, then, is only really is needed under certain conditions. I suppose the question I have then, is Communism temporal? Is this a system that can only exist under circumstances and if so, are those circumstances around in the present day?