With a profuse beard, a Beethovenian hairstyle, a knack for well-chosen demonstrations and ground-breaking political ideas, Karl Marx was (still is) an idol. And The Communist Manifesto, although extremely short (alongside Das Kapital, which is extremely long), is one of the most influential texts in Western history, probably on par with the Gospels. Indeed, there is (still is) the same sort of bigotry and anathema around Marx, the same dogmatism and heresies, the same confrontations and bloodsh...

"You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population."The Communist Manifesto is a good introduction to Marx's philosophy and ideals and I was frequently blown away by his observations on the wealthy and Capitalism. I'm not going to analyze this book or Marxist thought -- there are too many aspects I need to mull over and much I need to learn. I will say though that I agree...

I finally read this even though someone gave it to me forever ago. I think the ideas are interesting but I think this functions more into explaining communist ideology in that historical period and for explaining the positioning in regards to other groups. I would rather read more about the idea of history as class struggle but expanded upon which seems like it could be an interesting framework or the themes of the inherent instability of capitalism that was being argued for. I don't think I hav...

Communism doesn’t work. Its ideals are perfectly understandable, justifiable even, but the way it seeks to attain them, that’s just terrible. In reality communist policy falls apart or isn’t fully followed. The driving force is to achieve a classless rather than class based society. Sounds good on paper doesn’t it? But in order to achieve such a thing, the manifesto proposes a revolution that will wipe out private property. This is more than following the march of history. Mankind has seen count...

One word review: disgusting. There is so much I could say, and there isn't the space to say it in a review... Where do I even begin? For starters, the book began on a whining note. There were basically two main thrusts: first that free trade was so unfair to the poor proletariat; second, that the communistic movement had only the interests of the proletariat at heart. It was unhindered by nationality or any other interests and existed solely to make the working class successful.What started out ...

What can I say? Marx was right. Almost.

“Political power, properly so called, is merely the organised power of one class for oppressing another.”― Karl Marx, The Communist ManifestoVol 20 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. To be clear, I'm not giving this 5-stars because I'm a Communist just waiting start a revolution (not that I'm against a good revolution here or there)*. I do come from a religious tradition that experimented in the 1800s with ideas of consecration and communalism. They called it the United Order. Even wit...

Like many people (at least of my generation) I got this out of the library when I was in high school. You can't describe this as "good" or "a good read" etc. I would however recommend reading this with an open and thoughtful mind. I don't see how any thinking person can read this without seeing the logical fallacies.What is presented in this book is more properly called Marxist Communism or Marxism. But with only a little knowledge of history it is obvious that wherever "classic" Communism or Ma...

Long overdue update (2013): I read this book five years ago and in almost every respect, I have mellowed considerably.You can read my review below. It's unchanged. You can read the comments below that. Also unchanged.I never seriously expected anyone to read this review, much less love or hate it so strongly. I am not apologizing for my view of the book or Marx. He put his entire life into this slender and influential book, and I respect that. I understand a bit more about where he was coming fr...

Read this and understand why your imperialist capitalist government spent the better part of a century playing hot potato with ICBMs, invading and incinerating peaceful, peasant countries, and making your mom and dad piss themselves under school desks. The elite were scared shitless and by no means would they allow their slaves, errr labor force, a fraction of freedom or equality or means to resist. The 60 year propaganda campaign against Communism and the virtual disappearance of strong labor u...