The Communist Manifesto

Originally published in 1848, the Manifesto of the Communist Party (or The Communist Manifesto) is a pamphlet by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Considered to be one of the most influential political documents, the text attempts to explain the underlying principles of Communism and the theory behind this movement. The Manifesto argues that capitalism is inherently unstable. All histories of class struggle end with a revolutionary overthrow of the oppressive class. Marx and Engels believed that the class struggle between the working class and the ruling class would also result in a revolution. The Manifesto is an analytical approach to understanding the class struggle within a capitalist framework. It is also a call for overthrowing the existing social conditions in order to establish a classless society, envisioned by Marx and Engels.