The Communist Manifesto

Opening of the book

The Communist

Manifesto

by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

[From the English edition of 1888, edited by Friedrich Engels]

Contents

I. BOURGEOIS AND PROLETARIANS

II. PROLETARIANS AND COMMUNISTS

III. SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST LITERATURE

IV. POSITION OF THE COMMUNISTS IN RELATION TO THE

VARIOUS EXISTING OPPOSITION PARTIES

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 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 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?

Two things result from this fact.

I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European Powers to be 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 Spectre of Communism with a Manifesto of the party itself.

To this end, Communists of various nationalities have assembled in

London, and sketched the following Manifesto, to be published in the

English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish languages.

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