The Communist Manifesto was a revolutionary socialist pamphlet published in Germany in 1848 by German philosopher Karl Marx and his collaborator and friend Friedrich Engels. It is considered to be one of the most influential works in modern political science and economics, laying out their theory about the nature of society and the exploitation of labor by a class of owners. The pamphlet is one of the founding texts of modern Communism, which aims to establish class conflict as the central element of human history.
In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels set out to explain their theories on history and class struggle. They describe the different stages of social development, starting with primitive communism and ending with communism proper. They argue that all societies are divided into classes based on their relationship to the means of production: land, tools, and machinery. These factors are what allow people to make a living, so they represent economic power. The dominant class in any given society controls these factors, making it the ruling class.
Marx argues that this system creates conflict between those who own capital (the bourgeoisie) and those who do not (the proletariat). He says that this conflict will eventually lead to a revolution where workers take control of their means of production and create a new society free from exploitation.
To sum up, the Communist Manifesto was one of the best-selling books of all time, having sold 10 million copies worldwide by 1938. That’s why it is one of the most influential political documents of the 19th century.
