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.