The Communist Manifesto Annotated

This Norton Critical Edition offers a complete historical and philosophical introduction to Marx's Manifesto of the Communist Party.

“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.

This edition of Marx and Engels's revolutionary masterpiece is carefully edited and formatted to provide you with the best reading experience. We gave the original content of the book a fresh look and design that matches the expectations of the modern reader. This edition also includes: A detailed author's biography (as a final chapter) that takes you on a journey into the times and environments that shaped the writer's life. "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." The Communist Manifesto is one of the most important political theories ever formulated. After four years of collaboration, Marx and Engels produced an incisive account of their idea of Communism, in which they envisage a society without classes, private property or a state, arguing that the exploitation of industrial workers will eventually lead to a revolution in which Capitalism is overthrown. This vision provided the theoretical basis of political systems in Russia, China, Cuba and Eastern Europe, affecting the lives of millions. The Communist Manifesto still remains a landmark text: a work that continues to influence and provoke debate on capitalism and class. Enjoy!

Perhaps the most influential and widely read political work of the 19th century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Manifesto of the Communist Party succinctly lays out the political theory and history of class struggle. Following a short introduction, the Manifesto develops over four short chapters, discussing the historical background of class struggle, the relationship of Communists with other socialist and working class movements, a critical review of other contemporary socialist literature and thinking, and finally a brief summary of the Communist position related to the contemporary political situations in various European countries, concluding with the rousing call-to-arms, “Workingmen of all countries unite!” This edition, translated by Samuel Moore, includes Engels’ own Preface and footnote annotations written for the English edition of 1888. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, is the single document most responsible for launching the often-feared political philosophy of communism. It straight up tells you to revolt against the rich, and it tells you why you should.Here's the gist of the Manifesto, fast enough for you to read before you have to wake up and slave away at your job tomorrow: Marx describes how the bourgeoisie (the rich capitalists) rose to power over the aristocracy (kings and feudal lords), how the capitalists maintain power, and how they're now confronted by the proletariat (the working poor who are paid wages), who as communists will overthrow them. Once the proletarians take charge, they're supposed to set up a vanguard state--a temporary government to transition society from capitalism to communism. This will be a system where the most important private property--the means of production (factories, agricultural land, machinery)--will be shared in common, and no one will profit to exploit others.Yeah, it's an incredibly controversial work. A lot of people blame the Communist Manifesto for the fact that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin put tens of millions of people into Gulags, or forced labor camps, and committed all kinds of other horrors. On the other hand, some say communism has never been implemented properly--perhaps because the continued existence of rival capitalism doesn't allow it.Authors Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels didn't win any awards for this document, but they got a bigger prize: the manifesto, which is primarily Marx's work, is famous because it changed the world--and still does. It inspired the leaders of the Russian Revolution to overthrow the tsarist aristocracy and set up the communist Bolshevik government that led to the communist Soviet Union, one of the most powerful countries of the 20th century. China, Cuba, and other countries consider themselves communist to this day.All that wouldn't have happened if Marx, inspired by the bad working conditions for the workforce, hadn't written this little book.

"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.

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