Communist Manifesto Published
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto
February 21, 1848
A Pamphlet That Shook the World
In February 1848, a short pamphlet commissioned by the Communist League was published in London. Written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "The Communist Manifesto" opened with the famous line: "A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism." The document argued that all of human history was the story of class struggle — conflicts between those who owned the means of production and those who labored for them. Published just as a wave of revolutions was beginning to sweep across Europe, it offered an analysis of capitalism and a vision for a classless society.
The Core Arguments
Marx and Engels argued that the capitalist system exploited workers by paying them less than the value they created. Over time, they predicted, this exploitation would lead to economic crises and eventually revolution. Workers of the world would unite, overthrow the capitalist class, and establish a society where property was held in common and the state would eventually wither away. The manifesto called for a series of immediate reforms including progressive income taxation, free public education, and the abolition of inheritance. Many of these ideas later influenced mainstream political parties far removed from revolutionary communism.
Impact on History
The Communist Manifesto became one of the most widely read political texts in history, translated into hundreds of languages. It inspired the Russian Revolution of 1917 and shaped the political systems of China, Cuba, Vietnam, and many other countries. It also drove counterreactions, including the development of social democracy, labor unions, and welfare states in capitalist countries seeking to address workers' grievances without revolution. Its ideas remain hotly debated. Compare its ideals with the Declaration of Independence to see two very different visions of human freedom.