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Summary: THE SPECTRUM AVANT LA LETTRE
Review: Live fast, die young an' have a good looking corpse ( knock at any door, nicholas ray, bogart ) : no way, the manifesto is alive an' on the road...
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Summary: Communism in a nutshell
Review: This is pretty much THE BOOK if you want to get the basic gist of Marxism. However, it seems like Marx was just padding most of it. The only Communist part was two or three pages long, and dreadfully scanty (it just says that everything is put into the control of the people through the government). You should take his ideas with a grain of salt. When you give the government control of industry, totalitarianism is bound to follow. Still, a good historical book.
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Summary: Lessons in what NOT to be
Review: Marx, though poverty stricken his whole life, managed to squeeze out some very good reading. Reading this and Das Kapital makes a person wonder if Marxism were truly imbedded in our culture today, would even be allowed to read it.... Makes one think...
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Summary: WORLD SHAKER
Review: I read Marx's political tract mainly because it ranks up with other books, such as Darwin's Origin of Species, the Bible, or Freud, as books that influenced and changed the world. Marx really gets the reader moved, and injects the reader with a passion to rise against the bourgeoisie, or the capitalist. The language is amazing, and no doubt each word followed to the literal T by some proponents that have also moved the world, notably Mao Zedong and V.I. Lenin. This book is highly recommended, because, now, it is a relatively IMMORTAL piece of work (no, not immoral!).
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Summary: Take it for what it's worth
Review: All of Marx's theories have pretty much been disproven and denounced. This is a book that probably resulted in millions of deaths at the hands of Communist governments inspired by Marx. Its contemporary worth lies in understanding the mentality of communists and how we can prevent such far-fetched theories from materializing in the future. The content of this book is pretty much useless now, but its historical importance shouldnt be forgotten.
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Summary: WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!
Review: That is the concluding line and essential message of one of the greatest and most influential socio/political tracts of all time. The Communist Manifesto has stirred millions with its summation of the problems facing workers, why they find themselves in a subordinate state, and what they must do about ending the class tyranny of the Bourgeoisie, the capitalist class. Elsewhere, Marx says:"We are showing the world what it is in fact fighting for...and consciousness is something the world must acquire even if it does not want to." The Manifesto is the essential primer on the motives, aims and rationale of those who proclaim themselves communists, socialists, even anarchists everywhere. It stands as the classic "call to arms" for those willing and able to fight the good fight for justice, equality, democracy. Its flowery style and rhetoric cannot help but stir the soul. To those who say it is no more than propaganda for a system that can only fail, has failed, and has enslaved millions, I say look again. Socialism has yet to be established anywhere - not in Russia, not in China, not in Eastern Europe. It is fought tooth and nail by all ruling classes that seek to perpetuate their own power and privilege. Where there is no democracy, there can be no socialism and where there is no socialism, no true democracy. To those who invoke the tired cliche that socialism is against human nature, I say look at capitalism if you want to observe a system that is truly unnatural, anti-nature. War, economic crisis and instability, environmental devestation, unemployment, crime...if you consider all of this natural then we may as well just give up trying to do anything about anything. The Manifesto should be required reading. Instead it has been banned, burned, its author slandered and villified for many decades. That alone should tell you something of its power and import. It is the quintessential subversive tract. Its truth cuts through the real propaganda we're fed every day by corporate elites and their political mouthpieces. It goes a long way toward countering what we're supposed to believe with its revolutionary ideas, ideas intended to topple the "common wisdom". "The ruling ideas in any society are ever the ideas of its ruling class." I strongly suggest that readers delve into the words of Marx and Engels themselves rather than simply digest what has been said about them. I can guarantee (after reading the Manifesto and their other political and economic writings) that you'll come away with a new, deeper and fresh understanding of world events, politics, and the competing interests and struggles of mankind.
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Summary: this book is power and love
Review: i am not cmmunist. but i love marx. this boot is my love's
start. marx's book is always being (in capitalism)
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Summary: Marx and Engels: great thinkers, sub-par writers
Review: Reading some of the hysterical attacks on this book amuses me more than a "Fawlty Towers" marathon. Examples:"Which country has put forth more of a concerted effort to adopt Marxist ideals, which country has tried its level best to adopt economic policy more in line to that espoused by the Communist Manifesto: U.S. or Russia? Japan or China? Kenya or Tanzania Puerto Rico or Cuba? Namibia or Angola? Hong Kong or Viet Nam? West Germany or East Germany?" Guess what? NONE of those countries even TRIED to adopt "economic policy more in line to that espoused by the Communist Manifesto" (which is fundamentally not a treatise on economics -- that'd be "Das Kapital"). Each of these countries adopted backwards, reactionary regimes based on the nationalist system of "socialism in one country," directly contradicting Marx and Engels' vision of an international workers' movement. "Let's look at the results: over 100,000,000 killed and countless imprisoned, and an ideology for the Democratic Party." Hmm, so by that logic, Christianity is an evil system of thought because of the countless hundreds of millions killed in its name, if not its actual beliefs. And anyone who thinks the Democratic Party is "communist" must lie somewhere to the right of Mussolini on the political spectrum. "Communists should ask themselves why only murders and tyrants have espoused their ideology." Gee, I espouse communist ideology. I guess I'm a murderer and a tyrant, then. Thanks for clearing that up -- my mind had been so damaged by this evil, deceptive swill that I didn't even realize I'm one of history's great villians! As for the book itself......well, I have to be honest, it's not that great. It was written in a hurry and it shows, not only in its brief length but in its severe disorganization (there is much overlap between the various sections) that makes reading certain parts of the book an exercise in patience and concentration -- an exercise that is quite simply not worth the trouble when there are plenty of other works out there on socialist/communist thought espousing the same ideas as Marx and Engels but in an eminently more readable fashion. The best example, I think, is the writings of Rosa Luxemburg, who maintained a relative fidelity to Marx and Engels' theories but also grappled with the practical implementation of an international workers' movement -- which she unfortunately did not live long enough to lead. (Which raises the question: if a socialist state is such an unworkable and unreasonable goal, why did they bother killing her in the first place?)
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Summary: In response to RexCurry.net's review
Review: You are muddling up Communism and Socialism. Marx wrote in 1848, when the word 'Communism' had no unfortunate connotations. However, Stalinism came to change the meaning of the word. Currently, what Marx called Communism is closest to our word Socialism.
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Summary: This Book is what Killed 90 MILLION people Worldwide
Review: This book started communism. Communism is responsible for 90 MILLION deaths world-wide. Now, how can this book have such a high Amazon rating? It is beyond me. Shows how stupid people can be. Communism doesn't work, and it is not a fair way of living. So, don't buy this book. And if you do, don't forget that you are being brainwashed. Remember the 90 million dead as you read this. I mean, 30-40 million in China, 30 million in Russia, and more in other countries. That's how many communism has killed. And people say Hitler was a bad man!
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