The Communist Manifesto (Paperback)

~ Karl Marx (Author)
Key Phrases: bourgeois property, modem industry, The Communist Manifesto, Middle Ages, Modern Industry

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Product Description

THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO is one of the world's most influential political books even to this day, and continues to shape our hopes and our ideals. The manifesto suggested a course of action for creating an equal and classless society. This work has stood the test of time and is today as popular as ever among intellectual readers and thinkers interested in the improvement of the common working person's lot in life. A must-have political masterpiece.

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (September 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1440417830
• ISBN-13: 978-1440417832
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #986,462 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars manifesto of the average joe, January 4, 2009

By	Patrick Dunn - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Communist Manifesto basically introduces the Marxist idea of history as a class struggle. It discusses the conditions and development of various strata of society, "freeman and slave, lord and serf...in a word, oppressor and oppressed." It shows how the development of each of these in history gave rise to the inevitable historical process culminating ultimately in the rise of one working class.

Marx put forward the notion that the working class is exploited by the wealthy. He developed a theory of value where the value of goods and services is based strictly on the amount of labor that is put into them, The Manifesto, says that all the surplus that goes to the capitalist as profits is in reality the "property" of the working class who created that wealth.

The second section of the Communist Manifesto is by far the most important section of the book and addresses the nature of the new working class which he calls the proletariate. He reviews its implications for the advancement of society, including the abolition of property. This section also stresses a kind of Utopia that can only be brought about by violence and conflict with the working class wresting power from the wealthy (the owners of the means of production). This conflict is meant also to bring about the end of nation-states and, ultimately, all forms of government, resulting in a worker's paradise.

The document ends with a stiring cry, "Working men of all countries, unite!"