Barbarius reviewed Communist Manifesto by Friedrich Engels
Still relevant
5 stars
It's incredible, and not, how little has changed in 175 years...
eBook
English language
Published Feb. 15, 2022 by Ryerson Pressbooks, Pressbooks.
The Communist Manifesto (1848)—originally the Manifesto of the Communist Party—is a pamphlet by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The Manifesto was commissioned by the Communist League and first published in London during the start of the 1848 Revolutions. It is now recognized as one of the world’s most influential political documents.
The Communist Manifesto (1848)—originally the Manifesto of the Communist Party—is a pamphlet by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The Manifesto was commissioned by the Communist League and first published in London during the start of the 1848 Revolutions. It is now recognized as one of the world's most influential political documents.
It's incredible, and not, how little has changed in 175 years...
The manifesto is not a highly complex and detailed view of Marxism and its' concepts. It served as an easy read for people to get a simplified understanding of the oppression structures during the industrial revolution and lists a set of goals which should be achieved to establish a communist society.
This should be seen as an easy introduction to the Marxist philosophy and a potential starting point for further research into this topic.
I think it's pretty good. It's pretty polemical and lays out the political goals of communists, it doesn't really get into Marxist philosophy and the methods in which Marx comes to his conclusions though. I'd probably recommend "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" as a better introduction to Marxism.
The manifesto is mostly just interesting as a historical piece for me, especially in terms of leftist history. Ideologically it's still pretty interesting to read, however some parts of it have naturally become a bit outdated which has even been acknowledged by Marx and Engels some 25 years later.
The edition of the manifesto I read even includes multiple prefaces by Engels throughout the years which further gave an amazing insight into history and what they felt and thought at the time. Additionally the book also included Engel's The Principles of Communism which practically functioned as an FAQ to fully illustrate what exactly Communism is and it stands for.
This book is needed in order for readers to actually get a good view of the series. Yes, it's probably very much classified as young adult, but it's one that is integral to the plot as a whole. And for Kurtherian readers, am I just imagining it, or do Marcus and Bobcat get a hell of a lot more reckless than they have ever been?