The Communist Manifesto 175 years

This year marks the 175th anniversary of one of the most influential books ever published: the Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). Actually, the booklet – the first edition had only 23 pages – was titled Manifesto of the Communist Party, but since 1872 it is known under the present title.
1848, the year of publication, was a year of revolution. People revolted in many countries, because they wanted better living conditions and political control. France, Germany, Austria, Sweden …. However, soon the revolutions were crushed, and most reforms of 1848 were reversed. Anyway, the Netherlands – where the people did not revolt but the King found it better to give in before they would – got in 1848 a new and modern constitution, which made it the democracy it still is today.
It was on the eve of these revolutions and rebellions in 1848, on the 21sth of February, that Marx and Engels, then the intellectual leaders of the working-class movement, published their manifesto. They had written it as a political and programmatic statement for the Communist League, a group of German-born revolutionary socialists in London. It contained a materialistic view on history, a history of the development of humankind from feudalism till the 19th century capitalism, and a political program. It stated that the capitalist class would be overthrown by the working class and that the “proletariat” would govern society. The Communist Manifesto became the leading program for the communist movement in the years to come till far in the 20th century.
The book didn’t have only a long-term influence, but, having been published at the right moment, its impact was immediate. Of course, it didn’t cause the revolution in France, the first country that revolted and where one day after its publication revolution broke out over the banning of political meetings held by socialists and other opposition groups. Isolated riots followed, and two days later the French King Louis-Philippe abdicated. After this success, equal revolutions followed everywhere in Europe. As said, the revolutions were crushed and reforms were reversed, but not all reforms were. For instance, Hungary, which had declared its independence from Austria, got a special status within the Empire; I mentioned already the Netherlands; and also in other countries some reforms were permanent. Also the Communist Manifesto, the book that had predicted these revolutions, wasn’t placed in the archive of history, although after the end of the revolutions at first it was almost forgotten. In the 1870s, however, it experienced a revival. In 1872 a new edition was published, with a comment by Marx, saying why the manifesto was still important and which parts had been outdated. Numerous editions have followed since then and the manifesto became influential all over the world. Nowadays, this political pamphlet belongs to the classics of history.
When today you hear of the Communist Manifesto, maybe you think of an influential writing that contained maybe interesting ideas but that in essence was radical and dangerous. Maybe parts are quite extreme and maybe the list of ten measures for the advancement of the position of the proletariat somewhere halfway in the booklet was seen so in 1848, but I think that now in 2023 we judge it differently. Nowadays, many measures proposed are far from radical, and most of them have been realized. To give you an impression, here are some:
- Measure 2 wants to introduce a “heavy progressive or graduated income tax”. When Marx and Engels wrote this, no country had an income tax, but during the First World War (1914-1918) many European countries introduced such a tax and since then it is seen as just and correct. In 1980 in the Netherlands the highest tax bracket was as high as 72%! (now it is 52%, still a figure Marx wouldn’t have dreamed of). And doesn’t the influential French economist Thomas Piketty tell us that the present taxes on high incomes and on capital are too low? Also Bill Gates, one of the richest persons in the world, says that the taxes for the rich are too low.
- Measure 3 says “Abolition of all rights of inheritance”. In my country inheritance rights are undisputed, but inheritances in the second degree and further are heavily taxed.
- Measure 10 wants “Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c.”. Also this demand has already been realized to a great extent if not fully in Europe and in many countries elsewhere in the world. However, still much is to be done in this respect.
But in 1848 there was still a long way to go, before such “radical” measures would be accepted.

Sources
- “The Communist Manifesto” in the Wikipedia.
- “The Communist Manifesto” in Britannica.
- “Karl Marx publishes Communist Manifesto” on history.com.
Plus the sources in the text.