Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Communist Manifesto” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Read Book* *Different edition

The Communist Manifesto

Karl Marx,

Friedrich Engels,

Samuel Moore (translator)

3.59 · Rating details · 113,523 ratings · 5,503 reviews

Altho both Engels & Marx are on the title page alongside the "persistent assumption of joint-authorship", Engels, in the preface to the 1883 German edition wrote it was "essentially Marx's work" & "the basic thought...belongs solely & exclusively to Marx." McLellan & other scholars believe "the actual drafting of The Communist Manifesto was done exclusively by Marx." The t Altho both Engels & Marx are on the title page alongside the "persistent assumption of joint-authorship", Engels, in the preface to the 1883 German edition wrote it was "essentially Marx's work" & "the basic thought...belongs solely & exclusively to Marx." McLellan & other scholars believe "the actual drafting of The Communist Manifesto was done exclusively by Marx." The text itself claims to have been sketched by a group of Communists from various countries gathered in London.
The Manifesto's initial publication, in 1848 in London, was in German. The 1st English translation was produced by Helen MacFarlane in 1850. The Manifesto went thru a number of editions from 1872 to 1890. New prefaces were written by Marx & Engels for the 1872 German edition, the 1882 Russian edition, the 1883 German edition & the 1888 English edition. This edition, translated by Samuel Moore with Engels' assistance, has been the commonly used English text since.
Some recent English editions, such as Phil Gasper's annotated "road map" (Haymarket Books, '06), have used a slightly modified text in response to criticisms of the Moore translation made by Hal Draper in his The Adventures of the Communist Manifesto (Center for Socialist History, '94).
The Manifesto is divided into an introduction, three substantive sections & a conclusion.
The introduction begins with the comparison of communism to a spectre, claiming that across Europe communism is feared, but not understood. Thus communists ought to make their views known with a manifesto:
"A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism. All the Powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope & Czar, Metternich & Guizot, French Radicals & German police-spies. Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the Opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?" ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 100th, 48 pages

Published June 1st 1948 by International Publishers (NYC) (first published February 21st 1848)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Communist Manifesto, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

How Capitalism Destroys Everything

194 books — 95 voters

best book covers

582 books — 281 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.59 ·

Rating details

· 113,523 ratings · 5,503 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Communist Manifesto

Nov 03, 2008 Jeremy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: People who wonder why Communism fails

Long overdue update (2013): I read this book five years ago and in almost every respect, I have mellowed considerably.

You can read my review below. It's unchanged. You can read the comments below that. Also unchanged.

I never seriously expected anyone to read this review, much less love or hate it so strongly. I am not apologizing for my view of the book or Marx. He put his entire life into this slender and influential book, and I respect that. I understand a bit more about where he was coming fr ...more

flag 342 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2008 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anarchists!!

Shelves: classics, sociology, politics

Read this and understand why your imperialist capitalist government spent the better part of a century playing hot potato with ICBMs, invading and incinerating peaceful, peasant countries, and making your mom and dad piss themselves under school desks.

The elite were scared shitless and by no means would they allow their slaves, errr labor force, a fraction of freedom or equality or means to resist. The 60 year propaganda campaign against Communism and the virtual disappearance of strong labor u ...more

flag 289 likes · Like · see review

Jul 03, 2016 Sean Barrs rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2-star-reads, classics, non-fiction, penguin-l-b-c

Communism doesn’t work. Its ideals are perfectly understandable, justifiable even, but the way it seeks to attain them, that’s just terrible. In reality communist policy falls apart or isn’t fully followed.

The driving force is to achieve a classless rather than class based society. Sounds good on paper doesn’t it? But in order to achieve such a thing, the manifesto proposes a revolution that will wipe out private property. This is more than following the march of history. Mankind has seen count Communism doesn’t work. Its ideals are perfectly understandable, justifiable even, but the way it seeks to attain them, that’s just terrible. In reality communist policy falls apart or isn’t fully followed.

The driving force is to achieve a classless rather than class based society. Sounds good on paper doesn’t it? But in order to achieve such a thing, the manifesto proposes a revolution that will wipe out private property. This is more than following the march of history. Mankind has seen countless revolutions that have failed. The Bourgeois (ruling class) is replaced by the Proletariats (working class) which then go on to form a new ruling class. The difference with communism, and why it will apparently succeed, is that the new rising class will destroy ownership; thus, the cycle has been broken: there will no longer be any class divides.

But what’s left? A power vacuum and a new means to create more wealth and ownership? Then surely the system just begins anew. Surely people just belong to the government even more so than before. Then there’s the total lack of proof. There are huge statements in this, huge sweeping statements, that suggest that worldwide communism will end all wars. Isn’t that slightly naïve? What’s to stop two opposing communist nations fighting over natural resources or land? Nothing. Communism isn’t the answer to the world’s problems.

description

And besides, the manifesto initially advocates war to create a temporary class. What kind of political party overtly advocates war, death and human suffering? It speaks of blood spilt over the ages, wasted blood, and then goes on to propose the shedding of more. Isn’t this just a little hypocritical? Sure, some extremists may deem that a necessary cost, but it’s just another form of corruption. Communism opposes the capitalist world on the idea that wealth is concentrated in the upper reaches of society. That’s true. Capitalism, obviously, has many flaws, but that’s beside the point. Communist rulers seek to grasp that wealth for the “good” of their people. What do they then do with it? They wage war, covertly or overtly, on the capitalist world and watch as their people starve. But that doesn’t matter, right? As long as communism spreads…….

This is a most interesting read. And whist I obviously take issue with the politics, I’m glad I read it. This is a product of history, one that should be read and understood by all.

Penguin Little Black Classic- 20

description

The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection. ...more

flag 246 likes · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2019 Always Pouting rated it liked it

I finally read this even though someone gave it to me forever ago. I think the ideas are interesting but I think this functions more into explaining communist ideology in that historical period and for explaining the positioning in regards to other groups. I would rather read more about the idea of history as class struggle but expanded upon which seems like it could be an interesting framework or the themes of the inherent instability of capitalism that was being argued for. I don't think I hav ...more

flag 113 likes · Like · see review

Apr 07, 2014 Barry Pierce rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2014, 19th-century

What can I say? Marx was right. Almost.

flag 103 likes · Like · see review

Jun 29, 2011 Darwin8u rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, european, finance, penguin-little-black-classics, 2018, nonfiction

“Political power, properly so called, is merely the organised power of one class for oppressing another.”
― Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto

description

Vol 20 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. To be clear, I'm not giving this 5-stars because I'm a Communist just waiting start a revolution (not that I'm against a good revolution here or there)*. I do come from a religious tradition that experimented in the 1800s with ideas of consecration and communalism. They called it the United Order. Even wit ...more

flag 96 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2010 Traveller rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: sociology, re-reading

This tract by Marx and Engels is too enormous in implication to review fully in the small little space that GR allows, so what I'll do for now is take extracts from it and comment on them, piece by piece.

Per the Maifesto:"
"Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare up at this infamous proposal of the Communists. On what foundation is the present family, the bourgeois family, based? On capital, on private gain. In its completely developed form this family exists only among the bourgeois ...more

flag 72 likes · Like · see review

Oct 26, 2007 J.G. Keely rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: politics, reviewed, non-fiction

It is an error to assume that the problem with humanity is an inability to recognize our own problems. While it's true that we constantly look outside for answers, this is just because we are unhappy with the answers we have. We know that success requires hard work and knowledge, but we want something easier. We will accept an easier answer even when it isn't true. We are not motivated by what is true or likely, but by frightening or enticing stories.

We are driven away from the necessary and the It is an error to assume that the problem with humanity is an inability to recognize our own problems. While it's true that we constantly look outside for answers, this is just because we are unhappy with the answers we have. We know that success requires hard work and knowledge, but we want something easier. We will accept an easier answer even when it isn't true. We are not motivated by what is true or likely, but by frightening or enticing stories.

We are driven away from the necessary and the difficult by our inadequacies and fears, and so rarely move ourselves any closer to fulfillment. In a perversity of justice, those who do achieve the things which we imagine would fulfill us (wealth, fame, beauty, genius) are no more fulfilled than the average man, and just as beset by inadequacy and fear. Often, more so.

Transhumanism represents a hope that we can escape this pattern of ignorance and self-destruction but only by escaping the human bodies and minds that cannot control themselves.

The Manifesto always seemed little more than a sad reminder of our failings, though it did motivate people and provided a test of the mettle of humanity. Beyond that, it does more to rile than to increase understanding of the economy and our role within it. It is sad that a work which is at least based on some worthwhile principles falls to the same simple fears and ideals that plague our everyday lives.

The manifesto tries to take all of the economic theory of its authors and create from it a story that will excite the common man. They did not expect that most of them would pick up Das Kapital and start really thinking about their role in things. It was enough to engage their greed and sense of injustice without intruding much on their understanding.

The average man does not want to understand, he would prefer to believe. It is unfortunate that the main effect proven by the Communist movement is that any and every political system simply shifts wealth and power from one group to another, and little aids the serf or the unlucky.

We Americans are in little position to stand over the 'failure of Communism', since democracy has not proven any kinder to mankind, nor can it deliver justice equally to the poor and the rich. ...more

flag 70 likes · Like · see review

Nov 25, 2014 Rachel rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: cultural-works, philosophy, audiobooks

One word review: disgusting.

There is so much I could say, and there isn't the space to say it in a review... Where do I even begin?

For starters, the book began on a whining note. There were basically two main thrusts: first that free trade was so unfair to the poor proletariat; second, that the communistic movement had only the interests of the proletariat at heart. It was unhindered by nationality or any other interests and existed solely to make the working class successful.

What started out ...more

flag 69 likes · Like · see review

Nov 12, 2009 Mike (the Paladin) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: political

Like many people (at least of my generation) I got this out of the library when I was in high school. You can't describe this as "good" or "a good read" etc. I would however recommend reading this with an open and thoughtful mind. I don't see how any thinking person can read this without seeing the logical fallacies.

What is presented in this book is more properly called Marxist Communism or Marxism. But with only a little knowledge of history it is obvious that wherever "classic" Communism or Ma ...more

flag 63 likes · Like · see review

Jul 12, 2020 Jenna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, non-fiction, political

"You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population."

The Communist Manifesto is a good introduction to Marx's philosophy and ideals and I was frequently blown away by his observations on the wealthy and Capitalism.

I'm not going to analyze this book or Marxist thought -- there are too many aspects I need to mull over and much I need to learn. I will say though that I agree "You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population."

The Communist Manifesto is a good introduction to Marx's philosophy and ideals and I was frequently blown away by his observations on the wealthy and Capitalism.

I'm not going to analyze this book or Marxist thought -- there are too many aspects I need to mull over and much I need to learn. I will say though that I agree with Marx on the sins of capitalism. Sure, there has been good that came and comes from it.... but at the expense of billions who've been exploited and suffered, billions who continue to be exploited and who continue to suffer "for the good of the economy".

I will not claim that Marx's ideas are perfect nor do I agree with his methods. Obviously we have witnessed egregious and unfathomable human rights violations under Communist rule. It sounds good on paper but seems to be easily corrupted when put into practice, leading me to think that Communism will never be, and must not be, the solution.

Perhaps I have grown too cynical and pessimistic but I have little hope that humans will ever create a fair and just society for all. But we can at least try and Democratic Socialism seems to me to be a good place to start.

Capitalism only exists to keep the wealth in the hands of the few - at the expense of the majority.

I'm not against private property or people being wealthy. I am against a tiny percentage of people hoarding all the wealth while exploiting the rest of humanity. I am against a tiny percentage of people hoarding all the wealth while billions live in poverty and die from lack of food or health care.

Until all humans have their basic needs met, no human should have more than they could ever use. In a world where one billion people live on less than a dollar a day, the existence of billionaires is evil.

I do not have the answers and I'm not sure anyone ever has or ever will. Any and every ideology has flaws because they are human constructions. Every ideology must continually be put up to debate and criticism in order to improve society.

And those are my thoughts on this. ...more

flag 62 likes · Like · see review

Nov 26, 2012 Fei Fei rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction-classics, philosophy

The terms Marxism and Communism are so misused nowadays that it is difficult to hold an intellectual conversation with people about this deeply fascinating political and economic theorist. It is partly the fault of the school curriculum, I fear. For whenever schools teach Marx, they inevitably always start with this book, the Communist Manifesto. But this is precisely the worst place to begin understanding Marxist philosophy. The Communist Manifesto is an anomaly in Marx's work. Strictly speakin The terms Marxism and Communism are so misused nowadays that it is difficult to hold an intellectual conversation with people about this deeply fascinating political and economic theorist. It is partly the fault of the school curriculum, I fear. For whenever schools teach Marx, they inevitably always start with this book, the Communist Manifesto. But this is precisely the worst place to begin understanding Marxist philosophy. The Communist Manifesto is an anomaly in Marx's work. Strictly speaking, it is not even a formal piece of argumentative writing, neither particularly theoretical nor informative (though certainly engaging a read). The Manifesto was originally a rally speech, given to assemblies of deeply dissatisfied factory workers in a time before unions and labour laws were formalized (which, shortly after Marx's major publications, were formed). Marx was trying to rouse these workers to take into their hands their own fate and change the economic structure they feel trapped in. The ideas Marx proposes in this piece of work were sparse and barely formed because its purpose was not to lay out the foundation of his theories, but to inspire and incite.

It is unfortunate that this is the most widely read piece of Marx's work because it forms the smallest part in his theories. In particular, I find the critiques Marx raises concerning the system of Capitalism and its effects on the social fabric to be particularly astute and wholly accurate. For so long have people labelled Marx as a crazy-thinking radical that they've failed to remember that he was actually a trained lawyer with a deep understanding of business and economics. All the negative outcomes he forsees inherently built into our economic structure has been borne out - perhaps even more accurately than Marx himself could have envisioned. For example, he identifies the three ways that capitalists make money: depress the wages of the labourers they hire, overvalue the value of the end product, or somehow obtain the raw materials for production for free (eg steal it). The most common way capitalists choose to turn a profit is depress wages. Wage labourers lack sufficient bargaining power to prevent this because the nature of their work makes them easily replaceable with the pool of available unemployed inherent in a capitalist society. Capitalists will always seek ways to suppress wages in order to turn larger profits, willing to replace uncooperative workers with ones willing to accept the lower wages. Now tell me, does this not sound like the kinds of multinational corporations we have today, outsourcing jobs in an effort to cut costs?

Do not get me wrong. Marx does not present a utopia of political justice and governance. In many ways, the solutions Marx presents as a response to Capitalism are insufficient and ill-elucidated. But I think people really need to gain a better appreciation for his work (and the sheer size is sort of staggering) because the arguments Marx presents to the flaws of the Capitalist economic structure and the problems he sees facing a Capitalist society are extremely compelling and worthy of consideration. In my humble opinion, one is better off starting with his early 1844 Economic Manuscripts than this Manifesto. ...more

flag 58 likes · Like · see review

Aug 11, 2020 Glenn Russell added it · review of another edition

Are there any Marxists around today?

I recently did a reread of this book. Does anybody still consider themselves a member of the bourgeois or the proletariat?

Karl Marx published his manifesto in 1847. Nearly 200 years later and it strikes me the long shadow of Marxism remains: a person's underlying everyday reality and range of choices is defined by one question: Are you rich or are you poor? ...more

flag 57 likes · Like · see review

May 07, 2007 Xio rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: manifesto

Its awful fun to grow up marxist in the US. You get to go to meetings where you, as a kid, soon realize there's no point in paying attention so off you go with the other rowdy tots into the ghetto to make trouble with whatever you find to hand.

And you get to read this novella and if you're bored and underchallenged but over bothered you can begin to argue against american capitalist imperialism and the growth of consumerist doctrine using your new found propaganda skills til you bait a teacher i ...more

flag 55 likes · Like · see review

Apr 01, 2012 Steve Evans rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

No one should feel the need to agree with this short polemic to realise that it is one of the most important books ever written. It should be required reading in schools really, but anyone who hasn't read it should nip out and get a copy straight away, and put her or his nose in it. Most though not all of Marxism is summed up in it, and unless one is really dedicated, very little else is needed for an understanding of "Marxism". I was one of those people and have read a lot of Marx and Engels an ...more

flag 52 likes · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2014 Riku Sayuj rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, direct-eco, direct-phil, better-read-again, insti-crit, politics, geo-politix, sociology-institutions, often-cited, pop-eco

The history of all hitherto existing society* is the history of class struggles.

* That is, all written history.

+++

We read the same written history and read it as progress, as stories, etc. The real history, on the other hand, is something else. Played out differently. Yeah, that is the catch.

This was a reading of only the bare text (along with the many prefaces!). It was very powerful and I am now reading the Penguin edition with the really long introduction next. Will write more about this imp ...more

flag 48 likes · Like · see review

Feb 14, 2015 Rebecca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: victorian-studies, essays, political, lit-in-translation, free-other, history

I read this on the train to Manchester, appropriate reading when approaching one of the UK’s biggest centers of Victorian industry and the place where Marx and Engels met to discuss ideas in the mid-1840s. Marx was the chief author of this 50-page pamphlet, first published in London in 1848. It had never occurred to me that it was first issued in German, Marx’s native language. Like Darwin’s Origin of Species, another seminal Victorian text, this has so many familiar lines and wonderful metaphor I read this on the train to Manchester, appropriate reading when approaching one of the UK’s biggest centers of Victorian industry and the place where Marx and Engels met to discuss ideas in the mid-1840s. Marx was the chief author of this 50-page pamphlet, first published in London in 1848. It had never occurred to me that it was first issued in German, Marx’s native language. Like Darwin’s Origin of Species, another seminal Victorian text, this has so many familiar lines and wonderful metaphors that have entered into common discourse that I simply assumed it was composed in English. My eyes glaze over at politics or economics, so I valued this more for its language than for its ideas. Part II, “Proletarians and Communists,” is the most focused part if you want to sample it.

Here are some of the memorable phrases:

“Modern bourgeois society with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells.”

“The proletariat, the lowest stratum of our present society, cannot stir, cannot raise itself up, without the whole superincumbent strata of official society being sprung into the air.”

“In bourgeois society, therefore, the past dominates the present; in Communist society, the present dominates the past.”

“Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society; all that it does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labor of others by means of such appropriation.”

(The last paragraph)
“The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!” ...more

flag 31 likes · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2014 Ben Loory rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

wow, this was just amazing. i expected it to be long and dry and boring but instead it's like a pamphlet, it's a stirring infomercial, and the writing is incredible, like walt whitman or tennyson's "ulysses"-level rhetoric. i mean when you get to the list of the changes they actually want to make, you go OH JEEZ NO I DON'T THINK THAT'S GONNA WORK!!! but you can't help but see how this would've moved people to action (and probably still continues to do so to this day). it's electrifying and mesme ...more

flag 31 likes · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2012 Riku Sayuj rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: marx, direct-eco, economics, classics, insti-crit, anarchism

An introduction to a historical work (or any work for that matter) should not be a thorough deconstruction, undertaken from an ideologically opposite standpoint. The reader should be given an introduction and in fact (as much as possible) a defense of the work. This introduction sets out to do the opposite.

I don't have a problem with Marx being critiqued but it should have been done in an independent book. This is like making a reader buy something for the value he attributes to the main work a ...more

flag 28 likes · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2020 Gary rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I've never been a Communist but I do think we should read this as a warning as to where the evils and dangers of unfettered capitalism (in those days it included child labour and workhouses in Britain) lead. Espeically since I always find myself surrounded by fanatical free market libertarian lunatics who believe free markets are more important thank human life. ...more

flag 28 likes · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2013 Belhor rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy

This of course, like many other ideologies, looks good on paper.

flag 27 likes · Like · see review

Aug 10, 2018 Greg Brozeit rated it it was amazing

Shelves: political-theory, religion, politics-and-policy, economics

The most boring and most interesting thing I've ever read. The most profound and most ridiculous thing I've ever read. The most frustrating and most coherent thing I've ever read. The most far-seeing and most fantasy-derived thing I've ever read. But I'm really glad I read it, occasionally re-read it, and am influenced by it, good or bad.

In my opinion, much of the Communist Manifesto is a restatement of Luke 6:31. No matter if you think this is important or tripe, if you've actually read it, the ...more

flag 26 likes · Like · see review

May 20, 2014 Jonfaith rated it liked it · review of another edition

It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom—Free Trade. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.

What can or should ...more

flag 22 likes · Like · see review

Aug 25, 2015 Rupert Dreyfus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: politics

Whether you disagree with Marx or not, this is an important book. It was part of a wider debate back when the idea of revolutionary strategy was taken seriously by the intellectuals of the day. I personally favour the principles of anarcho-syndicalism as being the path towards a freer, more democratic and peaceful world. I also think manifestos such as this lead to dogma rather than allowing revolutionary activity to be experimental and spontaneous.

That said Marx is an important figure in the de ...more

flag 22 likes · Like · see review

Dec 15, 2015 Ana rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: law-abiding-citizen, philosophy, classics, non-fiction

I'm not entirely sure how you're supposed to rate the book that inspired so many dickheads to nurse grandiose ideas of taking over the world, but I'll play it safe and give it a neutral three stars. I didn't read this for pleasure, but for knowledge, as I wanted to see what are the root ideas to what we now,sneeringly, call "communism". I am not surprised I found it at times, very logical, and at other times very much on point - after all, some of the communist ideas are natural developments, bu ...more

flag 22 likes · Like · see review

Dec 22, 2020 Kevin Kelsey rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2020

Deeply entrenched in the economics of the mid 19th century and full of straw man arguments. It barely even touches on the social reasons that inevitably lead to wealth inequality and the creation of the Proletariat/Bourgeoisie dynamic. It's much more interested in reform through brute force, which just seems shortsighted with the breadth of historical examples we have to draw on now. All that has done in the past is to create a power vacuum that is immediately filled by a dictator or some other ...more

flag 22 likes · Like · see review

May 11, 2016 Jason rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: in-translation, philosophy

Reread this recently and basically yup.

flag 21 likes · Like · see review

Jul 28, 2017 ~Bookishly rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

For once, I am unsure on how to rate this, so I am going with a safe and sturdy three stars. I certainly think this is worth a read, although, it won't appeal to every individual, unless you have interests in Political History or theory.

On the whole, it was a short, but fairly interesting piece of work. It gives a grand insight into the middle 1800's political and also the social life. To be honest though, a hell of a lot has changed since this was written, and without an introduction, I would ...more

flag 21 likes · Like · see review

Dec 13, 2018 Mehrsa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I just re-read this for a project and what really stuck out at me was how sarcastic it was! Ha Marx and Engle were the original ironic hipsters

flag 20 likes · Like · see review

Jun 23, 2020 G. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I've been looking through my bookshelves, trying to figure out the mess they're in and what I want to get rid of. Apparently, I still have books I bought years ago and haven't read (yes, cue the shame, shaaame, shaaaaaame). And this was one of them. Thankfully, I could knock it out fast. I won't pretend I had any great desire to read it, but it's worth reading all the same, as a sort of historical document, if nothing else. Other than that, I don't think anyone needs a reminder that communism do ...more

flag 19 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Marx: German white male racist inspired Hitler etc?	9	101	Jan 07, 2021 11:38AM
The Pickwick Nigh...: The Best Author in Existence	1	3	Aug 05, 2020 02:43PM
The Well-Educated...: The End of The Communist Manifesto	1	18	Sep 12, 2019 03:44PM
Highlights	1	15	Aug 06, 2017 01:31AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Videos About This Book

The Communist Manifesto Audiobook by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx

Add a comment

The Communist Manifesto - FULL Audio Book - by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels

Add a comment

Genres

Philosophy

3,333 users

Nonfiction

2,923 users

Politics

2,680 users

Classics

1,626 users

History

1,162 users

Economics

847 users

Sociology

348 users

Politics > Political Science

212 users

Philosophy > Theory

208 users

European Literature > German Literature

192 users

See top shelves…

About Karl Marx

Karl Marx

3,423 followers

Karl Marx, Ph.D. (University of Jena, 1841) was a social scientist who was a key contributor to the development of Communist theory.

Descended from a long line of rabbis, Marx born in Prussian Rhineland. His father converted to Protestantism shortly before Karl's birth. Educated at the Universities of Bonn, Jena, and Berlin, Marx founded the Socialist newspaper Vorwarts in 1844 in Paris. After bein ...more

Books by Karl Marx

Capital, Vol. 1: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

The German Ideology / Theses on Feuerbach / Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy

More…

News & Interviews

Signed up for the 2021 Goodreads Reading Challenge and looking for tips on how to discover and read more books? We’ve got your back. (And if...

Trivia About The Communist Man...

10 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Communist Man...

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.

Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guildmaster and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, that each time ended, either in the revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.” — 388 likes

“A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of Communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter; Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French radicals and German police spies.

Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?

Two things result from this fact.

I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European powers to be in itself a power.

II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Specter of Communism with a Manifesto of the party itself.” — 293 likes

More quotes…