The Communist Manifesto

297 Pages·2002·8.361 MB·English

by  Gareth Stedman Jones, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels

PENGUIN CLASSICS
TH E C O M M U N IS T M A N IFESTO
Born in Trier in the Rhineland in 1818, karl m arx was the son of a
Jewish lawyer, recently converted to Christianity. As a student in Bonn
and Berlin, Marx studied law and then philosophy. He joined with the
Young Hegelians, the most radical of Hegel’s followers, in denying that
Hegel’s philosophy could be reconciled with Christianity or the existing
State. Forced out of university by his radicalism, he became a journalist
and, soon after, a socialist. He left Prussia for Paris and then Brussels,
where he stayed until 1848. In 1844 he began his collaboration with
Friedrich Engels and developed a new theory of communism to be
brought into being by a proletarian revolution. This theory was brilli­
antly outlined in The Communist Manifesto. Marx participated in the 1848
revolutions as a newspaper editor in Cologne. Exiled together with his
family to London, he tried to make a living writing for the New York
Herald Tribune and other journals, but remained financially dependent
on Engels. His researches in the British Museum were aimed at under­
pinning his conception of communism with a theory of history that
demonstrated that capitalism was a transient economic form destined
to break down and be superseded by a society without classes, private
property or state authority. This study was never completed, but its
first part, which was published as Capital in 1867, established him as the
principal theorist of revolutionary socialism. He died in London in
1883.
Born in Westphalia in 1820, Friedrich engels was the son of a
textile manufacturer. After military training in Berlin and already a
convert to communism, Engels went to Manchester in 1842 to represent
the family firm. A relationship with a mill-hand, Mary Bums, and
friendship with local Owenites and Chartists helped to inspire his
famous early work, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844.
Collaboration with Marx began in 1844 and in 1847 he composed the
first drafts of the Manifesto. After playing an active part in the German
revolutions,. Engels returned to work in Manchester until 1870, when
he moved to London. He not only helped Marx financially, but
reinforced their shared position through his own expositions of the new
theory. After Marx’s death, he prepared the unfinished volumes of
Capital for publication. He died in London in 1895.
gareth stedman jones is Professor of Political Science in the
History Faculty of Cambridge University and a Fellow of King’s Col­
lege, Cambridge. He is also a Director of the Centre of History and
Economics at Cambridge. His publications include Outcast London (1971),
Languages of Class (1983) and an edition of Charles Fourier, Theory of the
Four Movements (1995). He is especially interested in the history of political
thought after the French Revolution.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
T H E C O M M U N I S T
M A N I F E S T O
With an Introduction and Notes by
GARETH STEDMANJONES
PENGUIN BOOKS
To the memory of Raphael Samuel
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This translation, by Samuel Moore, first published 1888
Published in Penguin Books 1967
This edition, with Introduction and Notes, published in Penguin Classics 2002
043
Introduction and Notes copyright © Gareth Stedman Jones, 2002
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Contents
Acknowledgements vu
PA R T I
INTRODUCTION
I. Preface 3
2. Ike Reception of the Manifesto i4
3- The iSpectre of Communism' 27
4- The Communist League 39
5- Engels' Contribution 50
6. Marx's Contribution: Prologue 70
7- The Young Hegelians 74
(i) Hegel and Hegelianism 74
(ii) The Battle over Christianity and the
Emergence of the Young Hegelians 82
(iii) The Young Hegelians against the
'Christian State5 90
8. From Republicanism to Communism 99
9- Political Economy and cThe True Natural History
of Man' 120
10. The Impact of Stimer 140
ii. Communism 145
(i) The Contribution of Adam Smith 145
(ii) The History of Law and Property 148
V
CONTENTS
(iii) The Contemporary Discussion of
Communism
12. Conclusion
13. A Guide to Further Reading
PAR T II
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels:
THE COM M UNIST MANIFESTO
A Note on the Text igi
Preface to the German Edition of 1872 ig3
Preface to the Russian Edition of 1882 ig5
Preface to the German Edition of 1883 ig7
Preface to the English Edition of 1888 igg
Preface to the German Edition of i8go 205
Preface to the Polish Edition of i8g2 212
Preface to the Italian Edition of i8g3 215
The Manifesto of the Communist Party 218
1. Bourgeois and Proletarians 21g
2. Proletarians and Communists 234
3. Socialist and Communist Literature 245
1. Reactionary Socialism 245
a. Feudal Socialism 245
b. Petty-Bourgeois Socialism 247
c. German, or True5, Socialism 248
11. Conservative, or Bourgeois, Socialism 252
in. Critical-Utopian Socialism and Communism 253
4. Position of the Communists in Relation to the
Various Existing Opposition Parties 257
Notes 25g
Index 277
A cknowledgements
In preparing this book, I have drawn upon the insight and inspiration
of many whom I cannot mention here. But I must record my special
thanks to those who knowingly or unknowingly have contributed so
much to the interpretation I have developed in the introduction: to
Raymond Geuss and Istvan Hont, with whom I have taught Hegel;
to Emma Rothschild with whom I have explored the history of
economic thought. I would also like to thank those who read my
essay in manuscript: Chimen Abramsky, Sally Alexander, Edward
Castleton, Tristram Hunt, Daniel Pick, Miri Rubin and Bee Wilson.
Their criticisms and suggestions and their scholarly knowledge have
been invaluable. In preparing the manuscript for publication, I
would particularly like to thank Susanne Lohmann, Inga Huld
Markan and others at the Centre of History and Economics, and
my copy editor, Caroline Knight. I also owe much to Margaret
Hanbury and, at Penguin, to Simon Winder, for making possible
the present shape of this volume. Lastly, my greatest debt is to my
family whose constant stimulation and encouragement spurred me
on to complete this project.
vn

PART I
I N T R O D U C T I O N