The Communist Manifesto

"A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Communism." So begins one of history's most important documents, a work of such magnitude that it has forever changed not only the scope of world politics, but indeed the course of human civilization. The Communist Manifesto was written in Friedrich Engels's clear, striking prose and declared the earth-shaking ideas of Karl Marx. Upon publication in 1848, it quickly became the credo of the poor and oppressed who longed for a society "in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." The Communist Manifesto contains the seeds of Marx's more comprehensive philosophy, which continues to inspire influential economic, political, social, and literary theories. But the Manifesto is most valuable as an historical document, one that led to the greatest political upheaveals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and to the establishment of the Communist governments that until recently ruled half the globe. This Bantam Classic edition of The Communist Manifesto includes Marx and Engels's historic 1872 and 1882 prefaces, and Engels's notes and prefaces to the 1883 and 1888 editions.

“If you are curious and open to the life around you, if you are troubled as to why, how and by whom political power is held and used, if you sense there must be good intellectual reasons for your unease, if your curiosity and openness drive you toward wishing to act with others, to ‘do something,’ you already have much in common with the writers of the three essays in this book.” — Adrienne Rich With a preface by Adrienne Rich, Manifesto presents the radical vision of four famous young rebels: Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto, Rosa Luxemburg’s Reform or Revolution and Che Guevara’s Socialism and Humanity.

Offers the latest contextual and biographical scholarship with innovative interpretations and is supplemented by the first and latest English translations.

No other Marxist text has come close to achieving the fame and influence of The Communist Manifesto. Translated into over 100 languages, this clarion call to the workers of the world radically shaped the events of the twentieth century. But what relevance does it have for us today? In this slim book Slavoj Zizek argues that, while exploitation no longer occurs the way Marx described it, it has by no means disappeared; on the contrary, the profit once generated through the exploitation of workers has been transformed into rent appropriated through the privatization of the ‘general intellect’. Entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have become extremely wealthy not because they are exploiting their workers but because they are appropriating the rent for allowing millions of people to participate in the new form of the ‘general intellect’ that they own and control. But, even if Marx’s analysis can no longer be applied to our contemporary world of global capitalism without significant revision, the fundamental problem with which he was concerned, the problem of the commons in all its dimensions – the commons of nature, the cultural commons, and the commons as the universal space of humanity from which no one should be excluded – remains as relevant as ever. This timely reflection on the enduring relevance of The Communist Manifesto will be of great value to everyone interested in the key questions of radical politics today.

"The Communist Manifesto" is an 1848 political document by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London just as the Revolutions of 1848 began to erupt, it was later recognized as one of the world's most influential political documents. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and then-present) and the conflicts of capitalism and the capitalist mode of production, rather than a prediction of communism's potential future forms. "Manifesto of the Communist Party" summarizes Marx and Engels' theories concerning the nature of society and politics and briefly features their ideas for how the capitalist society of the time would eventually be replaced by socialism. In its last paragraph, the authors call for a "forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions", which served as a call for communist revolutions around the world.

The unabridged versions of these definitive works are now available together as a highly designed paperback with flaps with a new introduction by Robert Weick. Part of the Knickerbocker Classics series, a modern design makes this timeless book a perfect travel companion. Considered to be one of the most influential political writings, The Communist Manifesto is as relevant today as when it was originally published. This pamphlet by the German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, published in 1884 as revolutions were erupting across Europe, discusses class struggles and the problems of a capitalist society. After being exiled to London, Marx published the first part of Das Kapital, a theoretical text that argues that capitalism will create greater and greater division in wealth and welfare and ultimately be replaced by a system of common ownership of the means of production. After Marx's death, Engels completed and published the second and third parts from his colleague's notes. The Knickerbocker Classics bring together the essential works of classic authors from around the world in stunning editions to be collected and enjoyed.

An authoritative introduction to history's most important political document, with the full text of the Manifesto.

A new, definitive, translation of the Karl Marx and Frederick Engels' Communist Mannifesto by American socialist luminary, Hal Draper.