One of the most important and influential political theories ever formulated, The Communist Manifesto is a revolutionary summons to the working class-an incisive account of a new theory of communism that would be brought about by a proletarian revolution. Arguing that increasing exploitation of industrial workers will eventually lead to a rebellion in which capitalism will be overthrown, Marx and Engels propose a vision of a society without classes, private property, or a state. The theoretical basis of political systems in Russia, China, Cuba, and Eastern Europe, The Communist Manifesto continues to influence and provoke debate on capitalism and class.
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Karl Marx was born in 1818 in Trier, Germany and studied in Bonn and Berlin. Influenced by Hegel, he later reacted against idealist philosophy and began to develop his own theory of historical materialism. He related the state of society to its economic foundations and mode of production, and recommended armed revolution on the part of the proletariat. Together with Engels, who he met in Paris, he wrote the Manifesto of the Communist Party. He lived in England as a refugee until his death in 1888, after participating in an unsuccessful revolution in Germany. Ernst Mandel was a member of the Belgian TUV from 1954 to 1963 and was chosen for the annual Alfred Marshall Lectures by Cambridge University in 1978. He died in 1995 and the Guardian described him as 'one of the most creative and independent-minded revolutionary Marxist thinkers of the post-war world.'