The Communist Manifesto

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote this pamphlet on commission from the Communist League, and it reached print in London in February 1848, weeks before revolution broke across Europe. The argument is compressed to the bone: all recorded history is the history of class struggle, and the bourgeoisie, having swept away every older order, has produced in the proletariat the class that will bury it. The authors give capitalism its due first, describing its speed and reach with something close to admiration, then lay out the contradictions they expect to destroy it, a set of transitional demands, and a brisk dismissal of rival socialisms. It ends on the line about workers and their chains. Free PDF and EPUB.