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The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Classics)
by: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 335.422
EAN: 9780140447576
ISBN: 0140447571
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: August 27, 2002
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Release Date: August 27, 2002
Sales Rank: 2952
Studio: Penguin Classics

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Originally published on the eve of the 1848 European revolutions, The Communist Manifesto is a condensed and incisive account of the worldview Marx and Engels developed during their hectic intellectual and political collaboration. Formulating the principles of dialectical materialism, they believed that labor creates wealth, hence capitalism is exploitive and antithetical to freedom.

This new edition includes an extensive introduction by Gareth Stedman Jones, Britain's leading expert on Marx and Marxism, providing a complete course for students of The Communist Manifesto, and demonstrating not only the historical importance of the text, but also its place in the world today.

Amazon.com Review:
'A spectre is haunting Europe,' Karl Marx and Frederic Engels wrote in 1848, 'the spectre of Communism.' This new edition of The Communist Manifesto, commemorating the 150th anniversary of its publication, includes an introduction by renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm which reminds us of the document's continued relevance. Marx and Engels's critique of capitalism and its deleterious effect on all aspects of life, from the increasing rift between the classes to the destruction of the nuclear family, has proven remarkably prescient. Their spectre, manifested in the Manifesto's vivid prose, continues to haunt the capitalist world, lingering as a ghostly apparition even after the collapse of those governments which claimed to be enacting its principles.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Education and Insight
As other reviewers have noted, regardless of one's political views this is an important work. Beyond its historical significance, reading it provides a glimpse into what made it so popular for so long: the authors' new world view, their amazing foresight (and false predictions!), their rallying cry to radicals everywhere.

This edition provides excellent insight into the background, influences and setting of its writing. The introduction is great history and education, but even if one reads only the actual Manifesto, the end notes add so much! And while the end notes are almost as long as the work itself, don't neglect them: they add so much insight into the environment (and, as one reviewer here mentions, Marx's grudges) in which it was written.

I'm glad I finally read this - and I'm glad I picked up this edition; I've now a much better understanding of its adherents' tenets and philosophy.

Rating:

- An important work of historical significance
Beloved by many, reviled by many more, from a literary standpoint it is amazing that a book 150+ years old probably evokes stronger emotions now than when it was first published. Of course, reading the Manifesto now, it is nearly impossible to separate this small ideological work from the historical events before, during, and after the Cold War that indelibly etched people's impressions of "Communism" into their minds. Adherents of Communism protest that the regimes in the USSR and China under Stalin and Mao were not truly "communist" (and they are likely correct in their protestation), but the reality is that for most people born and raised on this side of the Iron Curtain, the communist ideology of Marx and Engels became inseparable from the communism-in-practice of self-identified communists like Mao, Kim, Castro, and Stalin. All became the "face" of Commumism for many, whether rightfully or not.

Today, ... Read More

Rating:

- Working-Class Guide
Written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels at the request of the 2nd Congress of the Communist League, the Communist Manifesto was the first document expounding the basic ideas of scientific socialism. The Manifesto's basic premise is that in bourgeois society, two main and antagonistic classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, are engaged in an irreconcilable struggle. Having become the economically dominant class, the bourgeoisie seized state power and has used it to defend its selfish class interests and to suppress the toilers.

For the first time in the social sciences, Marx and Engels defined the place of capitalism in human society. They show its progressive character compared to preceding systems and also the inevitability of its downfall. They demonstrate that the entire history of society has been the history of the struggle of classes with the exception of the primitive communal system.

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Rating:

- Raising Cain
This brilliantly written book neatly explains communism in brief, cogent, powerful language. All societies except for primitive tribal ones are built on class struggle. The struggle involves the few exploiting the many for their labor. The social phases of society are scientifically determined and unvarying: first tribal, then feudal, then bourgeois, then proletarian.

The feudal society, ruled by kings and aristocrats, exploits the masses as slaves, serfs, and craftsmen. The bourgeois society overthrows the aristocracy and continues the exploitation of the masses, who are now workers rather than slaves. The workers finally revolt against their bourgeois masters, abolish private property, and put the means of production into the hands of the state.

Marx's simple theory is compelling, sustained by countless historical examples and by his analysis of the relationship between capital and labor. He drives ... Read More

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