Part 3, “Socialist and Communist Literature,” is the section most rooted in the political situation of Marx and Engels’ time.

Part 2, “Proletarians and Communists,” contains a defense of communism against various common criticisms, including the suggestion that communism enables laziness, destroys individuality and freedom, and is detrimental on a social level (i.e. The longest and most robust section of the Manifesto, it introduces Marx’s theory of the progressive nature of history and delves into the relationship between the property-owning capitalist class, identified as the bourgeoisie, and the downtrodden working class, identified as the proletariat. Part 1, “Bourgeois and Proletarians,” prescribes a total overhaul of society. A stronger minority has always oppressed a weaker minority, but soon the working class (the proletariat) will defeat the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie) via violent revolution, erasing classes and ending the struggle forever. Class struggle, the authors argue, is the key to understanding how all human societies have operated. The Manifesto is ambitious: it suggests a practical plan for the liberation of the working class as well as a new way of studying and understanding the progress of history. Unlike other political pamphlets circulating at the time, The Communist Manifesto sought to contextualize the struggle of the 19th century working class within the history of human civilization. Its authors wanted to present a working set of guidelines and principles for their European socialist allies and to offer a text which communists all over the world could use to agitate for their cause. First written in German, the Manifesto was initially published in London in 1848.

Marx was the primary author, while Engels edited the text and assisted Marx financially. One such organization of workers, the Communist League, commissioned the German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to write The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party. In response, socialist movements emerged to push back against exploitation by the new capitalist class, also known as the bourgeoisie.

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx