''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
and
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,["Engels"](_blank)
'' Communist League
The Communist League (German: ''Bund der Kommunisten)'' was an international political party established on 1 June 1847 in London, England. The organisation was formed through the merger of the League of the Just, headed by Karl Schapper, and the ...
and originally published in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1848, the ''Manifesto'' remains one of the world's most influential political documents. It presents an analytical approach to
class struggle
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
and criticizes
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
and the
capitalist mode of production, without attempting to predict
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
's potential future forms.
''The Communist Manifesto'' summarises Marx and Engels' theories concerning the nature of society and politics, namely that in their own words "
e history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles". It also briefly features their ideas for how the capitalist society of the time would eventually be replaced by
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
. In the last paragraph of the ''Manifesto'', the authors call for a "forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions", which served as a call for communist revolutions around the world.
In 2013, ''The Communist Manifesto'' was registered to
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
's
Memory of the World Programme
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
along with Marx's ''
Capital, VolumeI''.
Synopsis
''The Communist Manifesto'' is divided into a preamble and four sections. The introduction begins: "A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
." Pointing out that it was widespread for politicians—both those in government and those in the opposition—to label their opponents as communists, the authors infer that those in power acknowledge communism to be a power in itself. Subsequently, the introduction exhorts communists to openly publish their views and aims, which is the very function of the manifesto.
The first section of the ''Manifesto'', "Bourgeois and Proletarians", outlines
historical materialism
Historical materialism is the term used to describe Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx locates historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. For Marx and his lifetime collaborat ...
, and states that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles". According to the authors, all societies in history had taken the form of an oppressed majority exploited by an oppressive minority. In Marx and Engels' time, they say that under
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
, the industrial
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
, or '
proletariat
The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
', engages in
class struggle
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
against the owners of the
means of production
The means of production is a term which describes land, labor and capital that can be used to produce products (such as goods or services); however, the term can also refer to anything that is used to produce products. It can also be used as an ...
, the '
bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
'.The bourgeoisie, through the "constant revolutionising of production
nduninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions" have emerged as the supreme class in society, displacing all the old powers of
feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
. The bourgeoisie constantly exploits the proletariat for its
labour power
Labour power (in german: Arbeitskraft; in french: force de travail) is a key concept used by Karl Marx in his critique of capitalist political economy. Marx distinguished between the capacity to do work, labour power, from the physical act of w ...
, creating profit for themselves and accumulating capital. In doing so, however, Marx and Engels describe the bourgeoisie as serving as "its own grave-diggers"; as they believe the proletariat will inevitably become conscious of their own potential and rise to power through revolution, overthrowing the bourgeoisie.
"Proletarians and Communists", the second section, starts by stating the relationship of 'conscious communists' (i.e. those who identify as communists) to the rest of the working class. The communists' party will not oppose other working-class parties, but unlike them, it will express the
general will
In political philosophy, the general will (french: volonté générale) is the will of the people as a whole. The term was made famous by 18th-century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Basic ideas
The phrase "general will", as Roussea ...
and defend the common interests of the world's proletariat as a whole, independent of all nationalities. The section goes on to defend communism from various objections, including claims that it advocates communal prostitution or disincentivises people from working. The section ends by outlining a set of short-term demands—among them a
progressive income tax
A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases.Sommerfeld, Ray M., Silvia A. Madeo, Kenneth E. Anderson, Betty R. Jackson (1992), ''Concepts of Taxation'', Dryden Press: Fort Worth, TX The term ''progre ...
; abolition of inheritances and
private property
Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or ...
; abolition of
child labour
Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
; free
public education
State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...
; nationalisation of the means of transport and communication; centralisation of credit via a national bank; expansion of publicly owned land, etc.—the implementation of which is argued would result in the precursor to a stateless and
classless society
The term classless society refers to a society in which no one is born into a social class. Distinctions of wealth, income, education, culture, or social network might arise and would only be determined by individual experience and achievement ...
.
The third section, "Socialist and Communist Literature", distinguishes communism from other socialist doctrines prevalent at the time—these being broadly categorised as
Reactionary Socialism; Conservative or
Bourgeois Socialism; and
Critical-Utopian Socialism and Communism. While the degree of reproach toward rival perspectives varies, all are dismissed for advocating
reformism
Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement.
Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...
and failing to recognise the pre-eminent revolutionary role of the working class.
"Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Opposition Parties", the concluding section of the ''Manifesto'', briefly discusses the communist position on struggles in specific countries in the mid-nineteenth century such as in France, Switzerland, Poland, and lastly Germany, which is said to be "on the eve of a bourgeois revolution" and predicts that a
world revolution
World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class. For theorists, these revolutions will not necessarily occur simultaneously, but whe ...
will soon follow. It ends by declaring an alliance with the
democratic socialist
Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...
s, boldly supporting other communist revolutions and calling for united international proletarian action—"
Working Men of All Countries, Unite!".
Writing
![Iishmarx](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Iishmarx.jpg)
In spring 1847, Marx and Engels joined the
League of the Just
The League of the Just (German: ''Bund der Gerechten'') or League of Justice was a Christian communist international revolutionary organization. It was founded in 1836 by branching off from its ancestor, the League of Outlaws (German: ''Bund der ...
, who were quickly convinced by the duo's ideas of "critical communism". At its First Congress in 2–9 June, the League tasked Engels with drafting a "profession of faith", but such a document was later deemed inappropriate for an open, non-confrontational organisation. Engels nevertheless wrote the "Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith", detailing the League's programme. A few months later, in October, Engels arrived at the League's Paris branch to find that
Moses Hess
Moses (Moritz) Hess (21 January 1812 – 6 April 1875) was a German-Jewish philosopher, early communist and Zionist thinker. His socialist theories led to disagreements with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He is considered a pioneer of Labor Zion ...
had written an inadequate manifesto for the group, now called the
League of Communists. In Hess's absence, Engels severely criticised this manifesto, and convinced the rest of the League to entrust him with drafting a new one. This became the draft ''
Principles of Communism
''Principles of Communism'' (German: ''Grundsätze des Kommunismus'') is a brief 1847 work written by Friedrich Engels, the co-founder of Marxism. It is structured as a catechism, containing 25 questions about communism for which answers are pr ...
'', described as "less of a credo and more of an exam paper".
On 23 November, just before the Communist League's Second Congress (29 November – 8 December 1847), Engels wrote to Marx, expressing his desire to eschew the
catechism
A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...
format in favour of the manifesto, because he felt it "must contain some history." On the 28th, Marx and Engels met at
Ostend
Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...
in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, and a few days later, gathered at the
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
, London headquarters of the German Workers' Education Association to attend the Congress. Over the next ten days, intense debate raged between League functionaries; Marx eventually dominated the others and, overcoming "stiff and prolonged opposition", in
Harold Laski
Harold Joseph Laski (30 June 1893 – 24 March 1950) was an English political theorist and economist. He was active in politics and served as the chairman of the British Labour Party from 1945 to 1946 and was a professor at the London School of ...
's words, secured a majority for his programme. The League thus unanimously adopted a far more combative resolution than that at the First Congress in June. Marx (especially) and Engels were subsequently commissioned to draw up a manifesto for the League.
Upon returning to Brussels, Marx engaged in "ceaseless procrastination", according to his biographer
Francis Wheen
Francis James Baird Wheen (born 22 January 1957) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster.
Early life and education
Wheen was born into an army familyNicholas Wro"A life in writing" ''The Guardian'', 29 August 2009 and educated at two ind ...
. Working only intermittently on the ''Manifesto'', he spent much of his time delivering lectures on
political economy
Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
at the German Workers' Education Association, writing articles for the ''Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung'', and giving a long speech on
free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
. Following this, he even spent a week (17–26 January 1848) in Ghent to establish a branch of the Democratic Association there. Subsequently, having not heard from Marx for nearly two months, the Central Committee of the Communist League sent him an ultimatum on 24 or 26 January, demanding he submit the completed manuscript by 1 February. This imposition spurred Marx on, who struggled to work without a deadline, and he seems to have rushed to finish the job in time. For evidence of this, historian
Eric Hobsbawm
Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. A life-long Marxist, his socio-political convictions influenced the character of his work. H ...
points to the absence of rough drafts, only one page of which survives.
In all, the ''Manifesto'' was written over 6–7 weeks. Although Engels is credited as co-writer, the final draft was penned exclusively by Marx. From the 26 January letter, Laski infers that even the Communist League considered Marx to be the sole draftsman and that he was merely their agent, imminently replaceable. Further, Engels himself wrote in 1883: "The basic thought running through the ''Manifesto''
..belongs solely and exclusively to Marx". Although Laski does not disagree, he suggests that Engels underplays his own contribution with characteristic modesty and points out the "close resemblance between its substance and that of the
'Principles of Communism''. Laski argues that while writing the ''Manifesto'', Marx drew from the "joint stock of ideas" he developed with Engels "a kind of intellectual bank account upon which either could draw freely".
Publication
Initial publication and obscurity, 1848–1872
![Ereignisblatt aus den revolutionären Märztagen 18](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Ereignisblatt_aus_den_revolution%C3%A4ren_M%C3%A4rztagen_18.-19._M%C3%A4rz_1848_mit_einer_Barrikadenszene_aus_der_Breiten_Strasse%2C_Berlin_01.jpg)
In late February 1848, the ''Manifesto'' was anonymously published by the Workers' Educational Association (''Kommunistischer Arbeiterbildungsverein''), based at 46 Liverpool Street, in the
Bishopsgate Without area of the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
. Written in German, the 23-page pamphlet was titled ''Manifest der kommunistischen Partei'' and had a dark-green cover. It was reprinted three times and serialised in the ''Deutsche Londoner Zeitung'', a newspaper for German ''émigré''s. On 4 March, one day after the serialisation in the ''Zeitung'' began, Marx was expelled by Belgian police. Two weeks later, around 20 March, a thousand copies of the ''Manifesto'' reached Paris, and from there to Germany in early April. In April–May the text was corrected for printing and punctuation mistakes; Marx and Engels would use this 30-page version as the basis for future editions of the ''Manifesto''.
Although the ''Manifesto''s prelude announced that it was "to be published in the English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish languages", the initial printings were only in German. Polish and Danish translations soon followed the German original in London, and by the end of 1848, a Swedish translation was published with a new title—''The Voice of Communism: Declaration of the Communist Party''. In June–November 1850 the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' was published in English for the first time when
George Julian Harney
George Julian Harney (17 February 1817 – 9 December 1897) was a British political activist, journalist, and Chartist leader. He was also associated with Marxism, socialism, and universal suffrage.
Early life
George Julian Harney, the son ...
serialised
Helen Macfarlane
Helen Macfarlane, born Barrhead, 25 September 1818 (registered in the Abbey .e. landwardParish of Paisley), Renfrewshire, Scotland, died Nantwich, Cheshire, England 29 March 1860, was a Scottish Chartism, Chartist feminist journalist and phil ...
's translation in his
Chartist magazine ''
The Red Republican
''The Red Republican'' was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British socialist newspaper published from 22 June 1850 to 30 November 1850, after which it was renamed ''The Friend of the People''.
Foundation
The paper was founded in ...
''. Her version begins: "A frightful hobgoblin stalks throughout Europe. We are haunted by a ghost, the ghost of Communism". For her translation, the
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
-based Macfarlane probably consulted Engels, who had abandoned his own English translation half way. Harney's introduction revealed the ''Manifesto''s hitherto-anonymous authors' identities for the first time.
![1852 Der Koelner Kommunistenprozess](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/1852_Der_Koelner_Kommunistenprozess.jpg)
A French translation of the ''Manifesto'' was published just before the working-class
June Days Uprising
The June Days uprising (french: les journées de Juin) was an uprising staged by French civilians from 22 to 26 June 1848. It was in response to plans to close the National Workshops, created by the Second Republic in order to provide work an ...
was crushed. Its influence in the Europe-wide
Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
was restricted to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, where the
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
-based Communist League and its newspaper ''
Neue Rheinische Zeitung
The ''Neue Rheinische Zeitung: Organ der Demokratie'' ("New Rhenish Newspaper: Organ of Democracy") was a German daily newspaper, published by Karl Marx in Cologne between 1 June 1848 and 19 May 1849. It is recognised by historians as one of the ...
'', edited by Marx, played an important role. Within a year of its establishment, in May 1849, the ''Zeitung'' was suppressed; Marx was expelled from Germany and had to seek lifelong refuge in London. In 1851, members of the Communist League's central board were arrested by the
Prussian Secret Police
The Prussian Secret Police (german: Preußische Geheimpolizei) was the
secret police agency of the German state of Prussia in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1851 the Police Union of German States was set up by the police forces of Aust ...
. At their
trial in Cologne 18 months later in late 1852 they were sentenced to 3–6 years' imprisonment. For Engels, the revolution was "forced into the background by the reaction that began with the
defeat of the Paris workers in June 1848, and was finally excommunicated 'by law' in the conviction of the Cologne Communists in November 1852".
After the defeat of the 1848 revolutions the ''Manifesto'' fell into obscurity, where it remained throughout the 1850s and 1860s. Hobsbawm says that by November 1850 the ''Manifesto'' "had become sufficiently scarce for Marx to think it worth reprinting section III
..in the last issue of his
hort-livedLondon magazine". Over the next two decades only a few new editions were published; these include an (unauthorised and occasionally inaccurate) 1869 Russian translation by
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary ...
in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
and an 1866 edition in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
—the first time the ''Manifesto'' was published in Germany. According to Hobsbawm: "By the middle 1860s virtually nothing that Marx had written in the past was any longer in print". However,
John Cowell-Stepney
Sir John Stepney Cowell-Stepney, 1st Baronet, Royal Guelphic Order, KH (1791–1877) was a British soldier, landowner and politician. He was the elder of the two sons of General Andrew Cowell (d. 1821), originally of Coleshill, Buckinghamshir ...
did publish an abridged version in the ''Social Economist'' in August/September 1869,
in time for the
Basle Congress.
Rise, 1872–1917
In the early 1870s, the ''Manifesto'' and its authors experienced a revival in fortunes. Hobsbawm identifies three reasons for this. The first is the leadership role Marx played in the
International Workingmen's Association
The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...
(aka the First International). Secondly, Marx also came into much prominence among socialists—and equal notoriety among the authorities—for his support of the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
of 1871, elucidated in ''
The Civil War in France
"The Civil War in France" (German: "Der Bürgerkrieg in Frankreich") was a pamphlet written by Karl Marx, as an official statement of the General Council of the International on the character and significance of the struggle of the Communards in t ...
''. Lastly, and perhaps most significantly in the popularisation of the ''Manifesto'', was the treason trial of
German Social Democratic Party
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
(SPD) leaders. During the trial prosecutors read the ''Manifesto'' out loud as evidence; this meant that the pamphlet could legally be published in Germany. Thus in 1872 Marx and Engels rushed out a new German-language edition, writing a preface that identified that several portions that became outdated in the quarter century since its original publication. This edition was also the first time the title was shortened to ''The Communist Manifesto'' (''Das Kommunistische Manifest''), and it became the version the authors based future editions upon. Between 1871 and 1873, the ''Manifesto'' was published in over nine editions in six languages; on 30 December 1871 it was published in the United States for the first time in ''
Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly
''Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly'' was an American weekly newspaper first published on May 14, 1870 by sisters Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin. It was among the first publications to be published by women. It lasted until June 10, 1876.
...
'' of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. However, by the mid 1870s the ''Communist Manifesto'' remained Marx and Engels' only work to be even moderately well-known.
Over the next forty years, as
social-democratic parties rose across Europe and parts of the world, so did the publication of the ''Manifesto'' alongside them, in hundreds of editions in thirty languages. Marx and Engels wrote a new preface for the 1882 Russian edition, translated by
Georgi Plekhanov
Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov (; rus, Гео́ргий Валенти́нович Плеха́нов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj vəlʲɪnˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ plʲɪˈxanəf, a=Ru-Georgi Plekhanov-JermyRei.ogg; – 30 May 1918) was a Russian revoluti ...
in Geneva. In it they wondered if Russia could directly become a
communist society
In Marxist thought, a communist society or the communist system is the type of society and economic system postulated to emerge from technological advances in the productive forces, representing the ultimate goal of the political ideology of ...
, or if she would become capitalist first like other European countries. After Marx's death in 1883, Engels provided the prefaces for five editions between 1888 and 1893. Among these is the 1888 English edition, translated by
Samuel Moore and approved by Engels, who also provided notes throughout the text. It has been the standard English-language edition ever since.
The principal region of its influence, in terms of editions published, was in the "central belt of Europe", from Russia in the east to France in the west. In comparison, the pamphlet had little impact on politics in
southwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
and
southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...
, and moderate presence in the north. Outside Europe, Chinese and Japanese translations were published, as were Spanish editions in Latin America. The first
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
edition of the book was translated by
Zhu Zhixin Zhu Zhixin is the name of:
*Zhu Zhixin (revolutionary)
Zhu Zhixin (朱执信) (12 October 1885 – 21 September 1920) was a colleague of Sun Yatsen in his early organizing of the anti-Manchu revolutionary party the Tong Meng Hui and helped Sun ...
after the
1905 Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
in a
Tongmenghui
The Tongmenghui of China (or T'ung-meng Hui, variously translated as Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, ) was a secret society and underground resistance movement ...
newspaper along with articles on socialist movements in Europe, North America, and Japan. This uneven geographical spread in the ''Manifesto''s popularity reflected the development of socialist movements in a particular region as well as the popularity of Marxist variety of socialism there. There was not always a strong correlation between a social-democratic party's strength and the ''Manifesto''s popularity in that country. For instance, the German SPD printed only a few thousand copies of the ''Communist Manifesto'' every year, but a few hundred thousand copies of the ''
Erfurt Programme
The Erfurt Program was adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany during the SPD Congress at Erfurt in 1891. Formulated under the political guidance of Eduard Bernstein, August Bebel, and Karl Kautsky, it superseded the earlier Gotha Pr ...
''. Further, the mass-based social-democratic parties of the
Second International
The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...
did not require their rank and file to be well-versed in theory; Marxist works such as the ''Manifesto'' or ''
Das Kapital
''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in Historical mater ...
'' were read primarily by party theoreticians. On the other hand, small, dedicated militant parties and Marxist sects in the West took pride in knowing the theory; Hobsbawm says: "This was the milieu in which 'the clearness of a comrade could be gauged invariably from the number of earmarks on his Manifesto.
Ubiquity, 1917–present
![Kustodiev The Bolshevik](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Kustodiev_The_Bolshevik.jpg)
Following the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
of 1917 that swept the
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
-led
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
to power in Russia, the world's first
socialist state
A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a Sovereign state, sovereign State (polity), state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The ...
was founded explicitly along Marxist lines. The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, which
Bolshevik Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
would become a part of, was a
one-party state
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
under the rule of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
(CPSU). Unlike their mass-based counterparts of the Second International, the CPSU and other
Leninist parties like it in the
Third International
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
expected their members to know the classic works of Marx, Engels and Lenin. Further, party leaders were expected to base their policy decisions on
Marxist-Leninist ideology. Therefore works such as the ''Manifesto'' were required reading for the party rank-and-file.
Therefore the widespread dissemination of Marx and Engels' works became an important policy objective; backed by a sovereign state, the CPSU had relatively inexhaustible resources for this purpose. Works by Marx, Engels, and Lenin were published on a very large scale, and cheap editions of their works were available in several languages across the world. These publications were either shorter writings or they were compendia such as the various editions of Marx and Engels' ''Selected Works'', or their ''
Collected Works''. This affected the destiny of the ''Manifesto'' in several ways. Firstly, in terms of circulation; in 1932 the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
and
British Communist Parties printed several hundred thousand copies of a cheap edition for "probably the largest mass edition ever issued in English". Secondly the work entered political-science syllabuses in universities, which would only expand after the Second World War. For its centenary in 1948, its publication was no longer the exclusive domain of Marxists and academicians; general publishers too printed the ''Manifesto'' in large numbers. "In short, it was no longer only a classic Marxist document", Hobsbawm noted, "it had become a political classic tout court".
Total sales have been estimated at 500 million, and one of the four best-selling books of all time.
Even after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in the 1990s, the ''Communist Manifesto'' remains ubiquitous; Hobsbawm says that "In states without censorship, almost certainly anyone within reach of a good bookshop, and certainly anyone within reach of a good library, not to mention the internet, can have access to it". The 150th anniversary once again brought a deluge of attention in the press and the academia, as well as new editions of the book fronted by introductions to the text by academics. One of these, ''The Communist Manifesto: A Modern Edition'' by Verso, was touted by a critic in the ''
London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review of ...
'' as being a "stylish red-ribboned edition of the work. It is designed as a sweet keepsake, an exquisite collector's item. In Manhattan, a prominent
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
store put copies of this choice new edition in the hands of shop-window mannequins, displayed in come-hither poses and fashionable
décolletage
Cleavage is the narrow depression or hollow between the breasts of a woman. The superior portion of cleavage may be accentuated by clothing such as a low-cut neckline that exposes the division, and often the term is used to describe the low neck ...
".
Legacy
A number of late-20th- and 21st-century writers have commented on the ''Communist Manifesto''s continuing relevance. In a special issue of the ''
Socialist Register
The ''Socialist Register'' is an annual socialist publication. It was founded in 1964 by Ralph Miliband and John Saville. They had criticisms of the ''New Left Review'' (''NLR'') after Perry Anderson became editor of the ''NLR'' in 1962. Miliband a ...
'' commemorating the ''Manifesto''s 150th anniversary,
Peter Osborne argued that it was "the single most influential text written in the nineteenth century". Academic John Raines in 2002 noted: "In our day this Capitalist Revolution has reached the farthest corners of the earth. The tool of money has produced the miracle of the new global market and the ubiquitous shopping mall. Read ''The Communist Manifesto'', written more than one hundred and fifty years ago, and you will discover that Marx foresaw it all". In 2003, English Marxist
Chris Harman
Chris Harman (8 November 1942 – 7 November 2009) was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (UK), Socialist Workers Party. He was an editor of ''International Soc ...
stated: "There is still a compulsive quality to its prose as it provides insight after insight into the society in which we live, where it comes from and where it's going to. It is still able to explain, as mainstream economists and sociologists cannot, today's world of recurrent wars and repeated economic crisis, of hunger for hundreds of millions on the one hand and '
overproduction
In economics, overproduction, oversupply, excess of supply or glut refers to excess of supply over demand of products being offered to the market. This leads to lower prices and/or unsold goods along with the possibility of unemployment.
The de ...
' on the other. There are passages that could have come from the most recent writings on globalisation".
Alex Callinicos
Alexander Theodore Callinicos (born 24 July 1950) is a Rhodesian-born British political theorist and activist. An adherent of Trotskyism, he is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and serves as its Internatio ...
, editor of ''
International Socialism
Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all communist revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory that ...
'', stated in 2010: "This is indeed a manifesto for the 21st century". Writing in ''
The London Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after bei ...
'' , Andrew Neather cited
Verso Books
Verso Books (formerly New Left Books) is a left-wing publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of ''New Left Review''.
Renaming, new brand and logo
Verso Books was originally known as New Left Books. The ...
' 2012 re-edition of ''The Communist Manifesto'' with an introduction by
Eric Hobsbawm
Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. A life-long Marxist, his socio-political convictions influenced the character of his work. H ...
as part of a resurgence of left-wing-themed ideas which includes the publication of
Owen Jones
Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a British newspaper columnist, political commentator, journalist, author, and left-wing activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'' and ''Tribune.'' He has two w ...
' book ''
Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class'' and
Jason Barker
Jason Barker (born 1971) is a British theorist of contemporary French philosophy, a film director, screenwriter and producer. He is a professor of cultural studies at Kyung Hee University in the Graduate School of British and American Language an ...
's documentary ''
Marx Reloaded
''Marx Reloaded'' is a 2011 German documentary film written and directed by the British writer and theorist Jason Barker. Featuring interviews with several well-known philosophers, the film aims to examine the relevance of Karl Marx's ideas in rela ...
''.
![Stamp Soviet Union 1948 CPA 1246](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Stamp_Soviet_Union_1948_CPA_1246.jpg)
In contrast, critics such as
revisionist Marxist and reformist socialist
Eduard Bernstein
Eduard Bernstein (; 6 January 1850 – 18 December 1932) was a German social democratic Marxist theorist and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Bernstein had held close association to Karl Marx and Friedric ...
distinguished between "immature" early Marxism—as exemplified by ''The Communist Manifesto'' written by Marx and Engels in their youth—that he opposed for its violent
Blanquist
Blanquism refers to a conception of revolution generally attributed to Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805–1881) which holds that socialist revolution should be carried out by a relatively small group of highly organised and secretive conspirators. Havi ...
tendencies and later "mature" Marxism that he supported.
[Steger, Manfred B. ''The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism: Eduard Bernstein And Social Democracy''. Cambridge, England, UK; New York City, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1997. pp. 236–37.] This latter form refers to Marx in his later life seemingly claiming that socialism, under certain circumstances, could be achieved through peaceful means through legislative reform in democratic societies. Bernstein declared that the massive and homogeneous working-class claimed in the ''Communist Manifesto'' did not exist, and that contrary to claims of a proletarian majority emerging, the middle-class was growing under capitalism and not disappearing as Marx had claimed. Bernstein noted that the working-class was not homogeneous but heterogeneous, with divisions and factions within it, including socialist and non-socialist trade unions. Marx himself, later in his life, acknowledged that the middle-class was not disappearing in his work ''
Theories of Surplus Value
''Theories of Surplus Value'' (german: Theorien über den Mehrwert) is a draft manuscript written by Karl Marx between January 1862 and July 1863. It is mainly concerned with the Western Europe, Western European theorizing about ''Mehrwert'' (add ...
'' (1863). The obscurity of the later work means that Marx's acknowledgement of this error is not well known. George Boyer described the ''Manifesto'' as "very much a period piece, a document of what was called the 'hungry' 1840s".
[.]
Many have drawn attention to the passage in the ''Manifesto'' that seems to sneer at the stupidity of the rustic: "The bourgeoisie
..draws all nations
..into civilisation[.]
..It has created enormous cities
..and thus rescued a considerable part of the population from the idiocy [sic] of rural life". However, as Eric Hobsbawm noted:
Influences
Marx and Engels' Influences on Karl Marx, political influences were wide-ranging, reacting to and taking inspiration from German idealism, German idealist philosophy, French socialism, and English and Scottish
political economy
Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
. ''The Communist Manifesto'' also takes influence from literature. In Jacques Derrida's work, ''Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International'', he uses William Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' to frame a discussion of the history of the International, showing in the process the influence that Shakespeare's work had on Marx and Engels' writing. In his essay, "Big Leagues: Specters of Milton and Republican International Justice between Shakespeare and Marx", Christopher N. Warren makes the case that English poet John Milton also had a substantial influence on Marx and Engels' work. Historians of 19th-century reading habits have confirmed that Marx and Engels would have read these authors and it is known that Marx loved Shakespeare in particular. Milton, Warren argues, also shows a notable influence on ''The Communist Manifesto'', saying: "Looking back on Milton’s era, Marx saw a historical dialectic founded on inspiration in which freedom of the press, republicanism, and revolution were closely joined". Milton’s republicanism, Warren continues, served as "a useful, if unlikely, bridge" as Marx and Engels sought to forge a revolutionary international coalition. The ''Manifesto'' also makes reference to the "revolutionary" antibourgeois social criticism of Thomas Carlyle, whom Engels had read as early as May 1843.
Editions
* Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels (2004) [1848]
''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved on 14 March 2015.
Footnotes
References
* Adoratsky, V. (1938). ''The History of the Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels''. New York: International Publishers.
*
*
* Hunt, Tristram (2009). ''Marx's General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels''. Metropolitan Books.
*
*
Further reading
* David Black, ''Helen Macfarlane: A Feminist, Revolutionary Journalist, and Philosopher in Mid-nineteenth-century England'', 2004.
Chapter 11: The Translation of ''The Communist Manifesto''
/small>
* Hal Draper, ''The Adventures of the Communist Manifesto.'' [1994] Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2020.
* Dirk J. Struik (ed.), ''Birth of the Communist Manifesto.'' New York: International Publishers, 1971.
External links
*
''The Communist Manifesto''
at the Marxists Internet Archive
''Manifesto of the Communist Party''
an English-language translation by Progress Publishers, in PDF format
''The Communist Manifesto''
in 80 world languages
*
' Original 1848 edition in full color scan
*
On the ''Communist Manifesto''
at modkraft.dk (a collection of links to bibliographical and historical materials, and contemporary analyses)
*
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