Engels, Friedrich

The Communist Manifesto (Signet Classics)

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A Must Read
A Misleading Edition
An Eye Opening Book
sigh
Shame people are still not past the propaganda of the cold war

The Communist Manifesto (Signet Classics)
Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels , and Martin Malia
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
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Binding: Paperback

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"A spectre is haunting Europe," Karl Marx and Frederic Engels wrote in 1848, "the spectre of Communism." This new edition of The Communist Manifesto, commemorating the 150th anniversary of its publication, includes an introduction by renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm which reminds us of the document's continued relevance. Marx and Engels's critique of capitalism and its deleterious effect on all aspects of life, from the increasing rift between the classes to the destruction of the nuclear family, has proven remarkably prescient. Their spectre, manifested in the Manifesto's vivid prose, continues to haunt the capitalist world, lingering as a ghostly apparition even after the collapse of those governments which claimed to be enacting its principles.

Book Description

The Communist Manifesto is one of the most influential pieces of political propaganda ever written. It is a summary of the whole Marxist vision of history and is the foundation document of the Marxist movement. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were aged 29 and 27 respectively when The Communist Manifesto was published on the eve of the 1848 revolutions. The authors had been close collaborators since 1844, and the Manifesto is a condensed and incisive account of the world-view they had evolved during their hectic intellectual and political involvement of the previous few years. This new edition is critically and textually up to date, and includes the Prefaces written by Marx and Engels subsequent to the 1848 edition.

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Still relevant today both as a historical document and as a stirring call for social democracy, this New Albion edition includes Engel's extensive footnotes from the various editions, plus the changing Prefaces written first by Marx and Engels, and later by Engels alone, plus notes on the Manifesto and the various translations of it.

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read.......2007-06-23

It amazes me that the effects of cold war propaganda drivel still permeates the minds of most Americans. This is easily one of the most influential works since it's publication in the 19th century. To say something along the lines that the pages should be torn out and used as paper airplanes is like saying the literary masterpieces Dickens should be used as toilet paper. Disagree with it all you want but at least acknowledge it's influence and respect it, as several reviewers have. Don't simply pigeonhole a great work due to the ignorance or American cold war dogma. If you are going to rant about this work at least get your facts straight. Hitler is not a communist..never was. As a matter of fact he hated communism just as much as most Americans do. Second, recognize communism is an ideal, just a capitalism is may I add, and there never has been a purely communistic state. If you are going to give this work a bad rating at least pretend you have read it. Most of the bad reviews are complete drivel and it is obvious the work has not been read. Give a reason why you do not like the book. Simply saying it sucks is not very insightful. Finally, do not give this a bad review simply because you cannot understand what is being said. If the merit of literary works were based upon how something is being said rather than what is being said Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Milton would not be considered literary geniuses.

A Misleading Edition.......2007-06-14

The following is the composure of the book:
pg. 1-170 Introduction by Translator
pg. 170-240 Various Prefaces of Other Editions by the Authors
pg. 240-280 The Manifesto

For those not familiar with Marx, who want to read the introduction and gain new insights--this is a brilliant setup.

For those who would rather just pay $2 for the Manifesto itself--this is disappointing.

Recommended for the student of philosophy, not the professor.

An Eye Opening Book.......2007-05-23

The reason I read the book was curiosity due to lectures I receive from my philosophy professor. The book helped me grasp how my professor came up with such unique views, which before his class I had never heard.

Although the book does not throughly explain concept of communism, the Communist Manifesto gives a brief idea of communism main goal: give the modes of production (aka factories) away from the Bourgeois (aka the people who own the factories and only gain profit through other's work and not of their own) and give it to the proletarian ( aka the working class). Marx also explains the exist of the Bourgeois and why the working class should overthrow them. The purpose of the Communist Manifesto was ignite rebellion and create a social reform around the French rebellion.

I have found that Communist Manifesto and Common Sense are quite similar. But people's bias against communism due to Russia (which by definition was not even communist, but totalitarian) and the cold war has hinder people from reading this great book.

There will be some people who read this book that will not get what Marx is telling his readers. The reason for this is that some knowledge of communism is need to fully understand this book. I was lucky to have a professor who explain it.

sigh.......2007-05-04

Don't be appalled ideologue, by my rating. My rating is the inverse of Richard A. Hicks' and a few others', all of whom gave high ratings for no other reason that the handsomeness of this edition. Those readers are so utterly capitalistic that they cannot even bear to read the text, and for that reason, must somewhere deep down, fear that they are wrong and that the truth which eludes them is in on some black-listed page out there. That said, it is precisely that this text is not black-listed, which causes me to sigh; the text deserves no such rant from capitalists like those I have mentioned because it packs no punch in our times: our times which are characterized as so ideologically total. So, while you are browsing this page, realize the following contradictions between it and the text it offers, and then browse "culture industry" or "dialectic of enlightenment" by Adorno (and Horkeimer): this text which opposes capitalism is offered to you by an enormous conglomerate of for-profit corporations; sold online, efficiently - efficiency is something agreeable to communism but only in communism - many potential employees are removed from the monetary medium between the buyer's money and the executive board's pockets; an individual is allowed to rate a text based on what it 'means' to him or her - mostly interpreted as whether it makes them 'happy' or 'sad: a thoroughly individualistic practice in discord with the text; the text is canonized as 'classic' which immediately undermines for the reader what its author wishes to convey: contemporary importance. But what does it really matter? We're all middle-class if we're buying this book (now) and are in no disposition to feel passionate about ideology until the media which suffocates us rescinds (which is not foreseeable). For now, don't feel you must read (if not publicly curse) this book to be worthy or to save the world. Go out, enjoy! (and read the culture industry if you want to understand why)

Shame people are still not past the propaganda of the cold war.......2007-04-26

A substantial piece of modern history. This book and those who it influenced the most are a major part of modern history. The book is well worth a read for that fact alone. Those giving this work a one star based on anti-communism views is absurd. As I am sure most will agree, this is still available today because of its historical value. It is also required reading for any pro or anti communist on the simple basis that before praising or condemning something you must first be aware of what that something truly is. We should also remember that this book was written in 19th century Europe and that the Soviet Union was a gross misrepresentation of Marx's vision.In theory, communism would create a classless society of abundance and freedom, in which all people enjoy equal social and economic status. In practice, communist regimes have taken the form of coercive, authoritarian governments that cared little for the plight of the working class and sought above all else to preserve their own hold on power.

A Liberal Democrat

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A classic compendium of Marxist thought
Essential Marx, all in one volume
Essay: Alienation from Humanity, on Marx and Mill
Essential Works Of Marxs & Engels For the Beginner!
The best collection we have

The Marx-Engels Reader

Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
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Customer Reviews:

A classic compendium of Marxist thought.......2007-06-03

Whether or not one is a Marxist, knowledge of Marx' work is important in understanding the variety of political philosophizing over the millennia. Marx' political thought is sometimes difficult (think the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844") and sometimes transparent (e.g., "The Manifesto of the Communist Party," more popularly referred to as the "Communist Manifesto").

This edited work is one of the best introductions to the works of Marx (and Engels). The volume begins with the early Marx, which includes the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844," excerpts from "The Holy Family" (in which he attacks some of the other socialists of the era), "Theses on Feuerbach," and the first of the truly classic works that Marx and Engels co-authored, "The German Ideology." It is interesting to note that "The German Ideology" covers much the same territory as "The Holy Family," with the major exception that Marx now addresses the intriguing and offbeat work by Max Stirner, "The Ego and His Own." In the process of addressing Stirner, Marx and Engels take the philosophical edifice to a more powerful level, creating a new perspective with a move away from idealism and toward materialism.

Other major works included are excerpts from "Das Kapital" (fairly turgid reading, I fear), the "Manifesto of the Community Party" (which ends with the famous phrase [page 500]) "The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains."), the "Critique of the Gotha Program," and "The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" (with its great introductory phrase [page 594] "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.").

The final section of the work features the work of Engels, including "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific," "Anti-Duhring," "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State."

If one be interested in learning more about Marx (and Engels), this is an accessible edited work that provides some of the key works.

Essential Marx, all in one volume.......2007-05-19

If you're looking for a single volume collection of Marx (and a little Engels), this is the one you want. The other reviewers list some of the selections, but the bottom line is: if you've heard of it, it's here. This is the book I keep on my shelf for those (decreasingly common) moments when I want to look up something in Marx.

The only problem lies in the production values - - the pages are thin and light weight, and the font a bit small, in order to cram it all in. If you highlight with a yellow pen, you'll be frustrated because it will bleed through worse than usual. Use a ballpoint pen or a pencil. My eyesight is still good, but if it weren't, I suspect the font size would be another frustration.

Still, if you're browsing this page, you're in the market for Marx. This is the book you want.

Essay: Alienation from Humanity, on Marx and Mill.......2005-06-07

The modern age is a dangerous age, an age in which we might be alienated from that individual independence in work and in mind which defines our humanity. Confronted by this crisis, Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill offer the world diverging solutions: annihilate the existing world and march toward communism, or guard against the dangers of the existing world as we further embrace liberal democracy. Despite these divergent paths which arise from differing views on the driving force of history, both systems aim to rescue the supreme interest of our individual humanity-for Marx, this interest lies in reaching absolute prosperity for the material man, and for Mill, it lies in the search for absolute truth for the idealistic man.

With its emphasis on individuality and diversity, Mill's theory is in a sense more encompassing than Marx's. Mill's theory, however, is fundamentally flawed in comparison to Marx's because of its ignorance of property as a danger against human liberty.

Marx sees in the industrial age the death of the property-less class. This death is brought by the industrial age's five qualities: division of labor, accumulation of capital, competition, financial crisis, and monopoly. In this age, machineries and the division of labor reduce the skillful artisans to the proletariats who merely work on one monotonous element of production. The capitalists who own the machines enlarge their capital by exploiting the proletariat's labor, leaving them only with enough to eat. Competition forces capitalists to lower prices, but this is good only until each factory produces more than demanded and a financial crisis emerges. The small capitalists are reduced to the property-less as millions of workers are swept into deeper hell. Only the biggest capitalist survives, and he becomes the monopolist who can lower wages and raise prices at whim, destroying the lives of all. (Part 1, Bourgeois and Proletarians, Manifesto of the Communist Party)

The above scenario is unavoidable because the accumulation of more capital is the only end of capital. If the capitalist stops investing capital for gains he ceases to be a capitalist, and becomes a mere consumer of goods, enjoying the fruits of old exploitations. Tragically, capital can only increase when it exploits the difference of what labor costs and labor produces, as Marx writes,

"The modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few." (Marx p484)

The rich man sitting in his patio who has inherited a million pound and who lets others manage his money has not done anything to deserve profits, indeed, since he himself did not work, his profits must come from the works of others who he exploits. In the capitalistic system, there exists no pity, only keen self-interest, "all are instruments of labour, more or less expensive to use..." (Marx p479)

The workers might die, but before their body ceases to be exploited, their mind is already died-capitalism has alienated them from their humanity which is defined by their creative productivity. This alienation from our humanity was Marx's greatest worry. Animals make nests and produce goods just as we do, however, as Marx writes,

"...a bee would put many a human architect to shame by the construction of its honeycomb cells. But what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is that the architect builds the cell in his mind before he constructs it in wax... Man not only effects a change of form in the materials of nature; he also realizes his own purpose in those materials." (Chapter 7, Das Kapital)

In order to freely produce as the creativity of his mind directs him and as his productive ability allows, the material man must be endowed with control over the means of production. In the world of private property, however, the workers have turned from the master of production to the slave of the machine-they are reduced to programmed animals that produce merely for the end of survival.

The proletariat can only reassert his humanity by violent overthrowing the capitalists and through the "abolition of private property" (Marx p484). Once in communism, the workers will own the means of production and enjoy the full produces of their labor. He will be motivated to constantly transform the world into a more prosperous kingdom. As Marx writes, "In communist society, accumulated labour is but a means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existence of the labourer." (Marx p485) The abundance of material goods will allow man to work not for survival, but for his own enjoyment. In this society, there will be no family and nor religion, everything is made for the love of all and enjoyed by all. Any vestiges of private interest would result in the return to capitalism with all its evils.

To Mill, the modern life is also threatening because the voice of the majority might alienate men from their individuality. The differentiation of society is essential for the vitality of the society, and this vitality empowers men on their search for truth.

Political debates, according to Mill, have been about striking the balance between the ruler and ruled. It is necessary for the ruled to have a ruler in order to preserve peace and law, yet the elected or unelected ruler's power must be restrained so that he does not abuse it against the ruled. In contrast to Marx's class struggle, this "struggle between liberty and authority" (p59) from Mill is more amiable. In the current era of democratic nations, however, since the ruled are also the rulers, the opposition no longer exists. People feel that all actions taken by the people's government will be good for the people, and hence they lose the old vigilance against the invasion of public power into their private spheres. The voice of the majority becomes the equivalent of the truth and justice.

Mill is worried that this majority voice will obstruct man's search for truth, the attaining of which is the goal of life. Truth is not reached once and then preserved for eternity, it is an organic being with a thousand facets whose survival requires continued inputs of each person's active mind. This truth is the individual treasure of each being, fitting perfectly to his taste and preferences; yet it is also a truth for the whole community, since it is only through the struggles of different truths that humanity as a whole reaches a higher truth-a higher level for the activation of the mind. As Mill writes, "There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths and point out when what were once truths are true no longer" (p71) If the majority religion is the only religion and taste the only taste, then people will no longer think but simply follow; society will be bogged into the swamp of mediocrity with a mind that is dead. Marx also feared the death of the mind, the mind of the creative worker. Despite the differences, both philosophers are concerned about the destruction of man's defining qualities.

To counter this, Mill proclaims that the only defense for "interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection." (p68). The government must be restrained in the sphere of public affairs, and individuals shall live as free as they want to following their individual passions.

Marx and Mill both want to regain humanity. In one case, the enemy is the benumbing effects of majority rule, and man's mind for truth is debased forever into mediocrity, in the other case, the enemy comes from the benumbing effects of subjugation to the machine, and the man is turned from the master of production into the slaves of capital.

The core difference between the two theories in practical operation arises from their different views on individuality (both systems serve individuals as their ends, however, individuality, allowing people to be different, are treated differently). For Mill, we must preserve individuality to bring truth (Chapter 3, On Liberty), but for Marx, the destruction of private property is the only task. The communistic society will be a union in which man can "...hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner..." (The German Ideology). This free life of a communist in communism is all good until one day the comrade does not want to be a communist anymore-but he must be one, there is no choice. In Communism, one does not have the individual liberty to have families, nor try to build a little store of private wealth.

On the other side, if someone in Mill's world decides to be a communist, he has the full right to do so. He can even segregate himself away with his friends and enjoy the life of a commune. In another word, Marxism can not destroy Mill's democracy-it will just be one of the many ways of thinking allowed by the system-but Mill's cry for diversity will destroy Marx's world within a second.

Confronted with the above, Marx would reply like he did in the Jewish Question, that the so-called liberty and freedom of the capitalistic world are nothing other than man's desire to keep himself a self-sufficient nomad. As he writes, all the rights of man are simply "the right to enjoy one's fortune and to dispose of it as one will; without regard for other men and independently of society." (Marx, p42) Marx will say that only seeing the superficial political liberation is not to see the deeper human liberation which could only be achieved with the abolition of private property. Marx might not be completely right, but he does stand at a higher ground than Mill in this analysis of property.

Mill in On Liberty is focused solely on avoiding the abuse of power through government, but he ignores the abuses that property owners are capable of against the property-less. In an agricultural society where everyone is equal and land unlimited, the government might be the only thing capable of suppressing individual liberty, but when one sees child-labor and 12 hour work day in modern industrial society, there is no doubt that capital could be a pitiless monster. Even when one ignores the industrial age, and tries to give Mill credit for drawing the best possible life for the pre-industrial man, one still can not avoid noticing the subjugation of the slaves, the suffering of the serfs, and all the other dark stories of the property-less in all the ages previous to the industrial one which Marx gives a full account of.

Marx and Mill were faced with the same modern phenomenal, the danger of been alienated from the defining quality of humanity in the face of a new economic and a new political system. Marx might not have made the best analysis, but he did have a deep understanding of history and the problems in history. He stood at the level of the common people and tried to solve their problems caused by their material desperation. Mill did not stoop to the common people, he looked up into the sky of truth and tried to preserve the march toward truth first embarked on by Plato.

Essential Works Of Marxs & Engels For the Beginner!.......2004-02-25

Given the impact of Marxism on the unfolding history of the later nineteenth and twentieth century, the beginning student of the combined writings of both Marx and Engels will find this collection of the essential works of these two pioneering socialists absolutely essential reading. Its list of included works covers the waterfront of all that is required to gain a fruitful first look at the wealth of their philosophical musings, and the nature of their revolutionary canon, as well. Reading this material is essential if one is to understand the depth of Marx's understanding and the detail of his genius, however discredited he may be in current estimations. Indeed, with the rise of international corporatism is so close to his prognostications regarding the final phases of capitalism that it is hard to deny his continuing relevance.

Included here is everything from the Communist Manifesto all the way to Volume One of Das Capital. One can gain a better appreciation for his ideas regarding the way in which the antagonism between the oppressed and the oppressors provides the motive force for history, and how all history is the history of such class struggles between the owners of the means of production, on the one hand, and the workers, who have nothing to barter with but their considerable capacity to accomplish labor. If one want to gain a better appreciation for the nuances regarding how alienation is created buy the organization of work, or the origin of property, or even the ways in which all of the aspects of a particualr society's culture are manifestations of the values of the ruling class, then a careful reading of the material found here will serve you well. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!

The best collection we have.......2003-06-07

"The Marx-Engels Reader" is the best single collection of Marx's thought. What makes it doubly important, is that it is one of the few texts which contain an index. This sounds unremarkable, but believe me, it makes the text extremely more useful. This book transcends the state of being a mere anthology, and is an indespensible reference work.

Book Description

"Let's be realists, let's dream the impossible." Che Guevara's words summarize the radical vision of the four famous rebels presented in this book: Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto, Rosa Luxemburg's Reform or Revolution and Che Guevara's Socialism and Humanity. Far from being lifeless historical documents, these manifestos for revolution will resonate with a new generation also seeking a better world.

"The world described by Marx and Engels . . . is recognizably the world we live in 150 years later."-Eric Hobsbawm

"Rosa Luxemburg was a brilliant, brave and independent woman, passionately internationalist and antiwar, a believer in the people's 'spontaneity' in the cause of freedom; a woman who saw herself as Marx's philosophical heir."-Adrienne Rich

Customer Reviews:

All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark.......2005-08-11

Manifesto: Three Classic Essays On How To Change The World collects "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "Reform or Revolution" by Rosa Luxemburg, and "Socialism and Man in Cuba" by Ernesto Che Guevara. All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark; here are ideas that transformed the world, with repercussions resonating to the modern day and beyond. A preface, introduction, and brief notes on the contributors round out this vital collection concerning political power, social consciousness, and the need for societal transformation, especially recommended for library and educational reference shelves.

All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark.......2005-08-11

Powerful Insight Into Marxist Views & Political History.......2005-07-29

Three very insightful essays. You can certainly learn and gain valuable insight to the ideals that literally have changed the world in many ways. Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto; Rosa Luxemburg's Reform or Revolution and Che Guevara's Socialism and Man in Cuba.

I really think this book is very enlightening and is a highly valuable read. And with that, I would like to comment on the second essay, the essay by the Polish Jew and political activist who attended Zurich University, Rosa Luxemburg. This essay was published in 1898, nineteen years before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

Rosa Luxemburg's essay consists of an attack on Eduard Bernstein's book entitled "Problems of Socialism," Seen from today's lenses reveals her erroneous absolute and dogmatic views, lacking in comparison to the logic of Bernstein. It's so obvious from the scientific Marxist views. Marx's and Engels views were based on rational science, Hegelian dialectics and like science, an exact blueprint of rational analysis. Today they call this "vulgar Marxism" and few follow it.(You can find a good analysis in Allan Bloom's, Closing the American Mind). Marxism today is not based on an exact science. That is the old view, the original view. And the obvious result of her attack on Bernstein is that everything she has attacked has come true, her defense for Absolutism, for exact science in economic history through Hegelian dialectics has proven false and inaccurate. Bernstein, on the other hand, has proven the greater prophet. And the answer lies in Luxemburg's very words of attack. In this she attacks him for his integral approach of aperspectivism in integrating multiple paradigms which allow the relative nature and uncertainty of the various shades and levels of both Liberal Democracy and Socialism. Bernstein's sees the differing aspects and refutes absolutism in Marxist science and dogmatism in its Hegelian nature. History, nor economic history, is not an exact science. And If I may take this a step further there are levels of subjectivity, objectivity, cultural and social aspects or the I, We and It (&Its) (the big three or the 4 Quadrants of Ken Wilber's Integral Psychology).

Bernstein sees the problems of socialism and the need for liberal democracy to reform slowly, even rejecting both (vulgar or original scientific, Hegelian) Marxism and Socialism and choosing to remain a liberal democracy but with socialist-liberal facets of nature (Roosevelt's domestic policies for instance), while Luxemburg seeing Marxism as an exact science sees revolution the only real way to bring forth Socialism. And although both thinkers are basically reduction in inter-objective social systems or political system theories, there still exists a major difference between both and that 150 years of time has vindicated (relativlty speaking: the low wages, poor and homeless in the U.S. are in large numbers) Bernstein's flexible and integral insight with greater value than Luxemburg's "flatland," which in Integral Psychology means interpreting realty or in this case, economic political history, as only in objective terms, failing to understand its relativity in dealing with the individual and collective human subjective nature.

AND now I will contradict myself: Luxemburg was right, Bernstein was not. After reading Howard Zinn's Peoples History of the United States, it is evident; the only reforms come from revolution. Socialism is always adamantly fought by the wealthy, compromises are extremely rare.

Now the essay by Che Geverra is the only without such a materialistic, Hegelian science and Marxist exactitude of empirical societal observation on economic meaning. It is much less dogmatic and in that sense less scientific, being much more utilitarian in practical means to achieve a socialist revolution and common sharing good of the Cuban society.

The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, in the Light of the Researches of Lewis H. Morgan

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Scientific analysis

The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, in the Light of the Researches of Lewis H. Morgan
Friedrich Engels
Manufacturer: International Publishers
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Binding: Paperback

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Scientific analysis.......2002-10-21

Anthro major? You might be surprised how much and how many tools come from Engels, as in Marx and Engels of Capital fame. The same analytical tools they applied to economics (That are used every day) here are applied to anthropological study of the basis of our present day social institutions.
Relevant today, as much as for info as for seeing where the ideas discussed lead to the arguments and theories of today.

The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and the Communist Manifesto (Great Books in Philosophy)

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Marx's Manuscripts
The Blueprint for Economic Democracy
Dialetical Materialism taking form
Essential Marxism
The Marxian question

The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and the Communist Manifesto (Great Books in Philosophy)
Karl Marx , and Friedrich Engels
Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
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Binding: Paperback

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Marx's Manuscripts.......2006-03-18

Marx's Philosophic Manuscripts are just that. Dont think you'll get a nice package of arguments. I'd like to think of this as Marx "in the raw" so be ready to follow Marx as he organizes his own thoughts.

The Blueprint for Economic Democracy.......2005-10-10

Many people have sounded the Death Knell of Marx with the fall of the Eastern Bloc in the 80's and 90's. Many who have been interested in Marx read 'The Communist Manifesto' an admitedly dated work and never go beyond it. It must be remembered the Manifesto was a simplified form of practical ideas printed to drive the working class to action.

Marx was a student of Hegel, a notoriously difficult and deep philosopher to understand, but it shaped Marx to a degree that few understand. Marx was more than an economic philoshpher, he was an astute observer of psychology, sociology and anthropology. All of his philosophy shines in clarity in the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844.

Of all of Marx's works we see most the thesis and theory devised from his understanding of the human condition through historical analysis. This work is the most accessable, easily understood work by this great thinker. If you have the desire to truly understand a major influence for the framework of many socialized democracies of modern Europe, the drives for nationhood and equality that rocked Europe in revolt in 1848 or desire to truly understand the whole theory of Marx this small book is an absolute must.

Marx was a both a materialist and process theorist in philosophical terms. His later socio-econmic works were a sort of working blueprint based upon the historical, psyhcological, sociolgoical, economic and anthropologic theories laid down in this work.

Dialetical Materialism taking form.......2003-01-31

I derived great amusement from the book's cover being that atrocious shade of hot pink. Perhaps red was too provocative for them?
Moving on to the contents itself, this books shows Marx's interesting interpretation of economics and its histroy. For such a dry topic, I found Marx's prose entertaining. He's not a skillful writer, such as Nietzsche or Wittgenstein, some of his sentences are long and torturous. But when his prose is overheated it is quite amusing. "Money is the pimp and whore of all nations."
His idea of alienation is not perhaps fully accurate psychologically, but it is a profound insight into our modern condition. Looking at the entertainment and advertising super-structure of Western society, you cannot help but be sickened by the objectification of man.
Class struggle is also interesting. That often seems to be true. The point is illustrated when higher tax breaks are given to the rich apposed to the poor.
I find it doubtful that all of history is subservient to an abstract economic movement though. This reduces man to a wholly material being as much as the machinery of capitalism does. Not that his cry to change the structure of society should go unheard. The most disturbing aspect is the way that Marx's ideas were implemented. The fact that the people in power are corrupt and pervert ideas to their own end says nothing about the idea itself. A highly readable introduction to Marx.

Essential Marxism.......2002-05-12

With the crumbling of the Berlin Wall--symbolizing for many the end of the relevance of Marx's political theory--and the veering toward a "third way" (read, neo-liberal way) in various Western European countries by formerly avowed socialist parties, Marxism, and its brand of socialism, is now universally assumed to be an historical artifact, and maybe neither a very interesting nor productive one at that.

"The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844" offers a point of rebuttal to those neo-liberals and their quick-handed assumptions that the totality of Marx's theory can be gleaned from The Communist Manifesto, a work written with the intention of motivating political action.

The "Manuscripts" is an essential read for those seeking Marx's revlevancy in the 21st century.

The Marxian question.......2000-12-23

The Paris manuscripts go back to a young and idealist Marx - perhaps one which few would bother to read, as today the concentration (and much contempt of Marxian theory) is based on his contributons to the understandings of a communist state. All that can be said is that Marx was trying not only to understand man as "homo economicus" (as seen clearly in Capital) but also as "homo sociologicus"...a fact which students of sociology should not forget.

Karl Marx on Society and Social Change: With Selections by Friedrich Engels (Heritage of Sociology Series)

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Karl Marx on Society and Social Change: With Selections by Friedrich Engels (Heritage of Sociology Series)
Karl Marx
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Qualifying Textbooks - Spring 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0226509184

Book Description

This volume presents those writings of Marx that best reveal his contribution to sociology, particularly to the theory of society and social change. The editor, Neil J. Smelser, has divided these selections into three topical sections and has also included works by Friedrich Engels.

The first section, "The Structure of Society," contains Marx's writings on the material basis of classes, the basis of the state, and the basis of the family. Among the writings included in this section are Marx's well-known summary from the Preface of A Contribution to a Critique of Political Economy and his equally famous observations on the functional significance of religion in relation to politics.

The second section is titled "The Sweep of Historical Change." The first selection here contains Marx's first statement of the main precapitalist forms of production. The second selection focuses on capitalism, its contradictions, and its impending destruction. Two brief final selections treat the nature of communism, particularly its freedom from the kinds of contradictions that have plagued all earlier forms of societies.

The last section, "The Mechanisms of Change," reproduces several parts of Marx's analysis of the mechanisms by which contradictions develop in capitalism and generate group conflicts. Included is an analysis of competition and its effects on the various classes, a discussion of economic crises and their effects on workers, and Marx's presentation of the historical specifics of the class struggle.

In his comprehensive Introduction to the selections, Professor Smelser provides a biography of Marx, indentifies the various intellectual traditions which formed the background for Marx's writings, and discusses the selections which follow. The editor describes Marx's conception of society as a social system, the differences between functionalism and Marx's theories, and the dynamics of economic and political change as analyzed by Marx.

Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

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they were wrong but you have to know why
Why doesn't the war of the sexes ever end?
Relevant Today
Tearing Down Social Icons
To change society we have to understand it

Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
Friedrich Engels
Manufacturer: Pathfinder Press (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Poverty of Philosophy
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ASIN: 0873482611

Book Description

How the emergence of class-divided society gave rise to repressive state bodies and family structures that protect the property of the ruling layers and enable them to pass along wealth and privilege. Engels discusses the consequences for working people of these class institutions -- from their original forms to their modern versions.

Also available in: French; Spanish

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One of Engels' most important works. It is based on a detailed synopsis made by Marx in 1880-81 of the work of the American anthropologist, Lewis H. Morgan.

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they were wrong but you have to know why.......2004-01-08

Marx and Engels made a fundamentally wrong guess about the nature of human beings. But it is very important to understand their line of reasoning, because they developed quite a few critical insights along the way. Due to political charge associated with their teachings it is practically impossible to find suitable third party narrative of their works. So, the only way to enlighten yourself is to dig right down into originals.

Why doesn't the war of the sexes ever end?.......2003-08-09

Why is society so cruel? It seems to be self-defeating. Why doesn't the war of the sexes ever end? In no other species do the two sexes battle against each other.

In this book we learn that things weren't always this way. In fact, oppression and exploitation are recent inventions, if we count that human history dates back EIGHTY thousand years since the rise of homo sapiens sapiens. At one point most cultures suddenly became sedentary and agriculturalist - and private property in the land emerged. Private property of land resulted in an overthrow of the matriarchal family by its male members and in the establishment of a separate group of men who violently protect unequal relationships (the state as we know it today). All happened together in a revolution that occurred in the course of just a few generations some SIX thousand years ago.

Nonetheless, the moral of this story is one of hope. If we were capable of remaking ourselves once, and based on that have advanced dramatically in a limited sense of creating material culture, then humankind can remake itself again and found a culture that enriches all aspects of everyone's lives. But this time the redesign will have to be conscious and conscientious, the beginning of a humane human history in which all participate on an equal basis. Such is the future that socialism and communism promise for us.

As a companion to this volume, be sure to read Women's Evolution, by Reed. Written a century later, it shows that anthropology's evidence overwhelmingly coincides with the theory Engels put forward in this book.

Relevant Today.......2002-04-22

Was human society always overseen by a military and police force?
Was wealth and the means of producing more wealth always the private possession of individuals or a small section of society?
Were women always at the bottom of society, treated primarily as sex objects and machines for child-bearing and child-raising?

And is this humanity's destiny?
In this book published in 1884, Fredrich Engels answers the above questions in the negative. His book is based on anthropological data available in his day from societies around the globe. New discoveries since have confirmed his conclusions and the book is remarkably relevant today.

Tearing Down Social Icons.......2002-03-18

Are the father-centered family, private property, and the state necessary and inevitable part of all human societies?
Frederick Engels, coworker of Karl Marx, says no. Engels demonstrates that these three institutions arose in the fairly recent history of the human race, as a way to establish the rule of the many over the few. And, conversley, when these institutions are an obstacle to human progress, they can be dismantled.
Although this book was written about 125 years ago, the subject matter and his point of view sound surprisingly modern. Evelyn Reed, a Marxist anthropologist, writes a 1972 introduction that updates the original work from the point of view of 20th century anthropology debates abd the rise of modern women's movement. An additional short article by Engels, "The part played by labor in the transition from ape to man" is a lively piece that could be part of today's debates on human origin with almost no hint of its vintage (except maybe for his use of the term "man", instead of gender-neutral "humanity").

To change society we have to understand it.......2002-03-11

This is a serious, scientific and materialist analysis of development and change in human society and its institutions. Frederick Engels, who along with Karl Marx was one of the central founders of the modern communist movement, wrote this book in the late 1800s based on the latest developments in the then-new science of anthropology. Studying it can help us understand society and be better prepared to organize and work to change it.

Engels takes up the rise of the state and of the family and the oppression of women as early societies became more productive, making possible the division of groups of human beings into those who produce and those who live off them, and the need of the exploiters to perpetuate this state of affairs.

Book Description

The Condition of the Working Class in England is the best known work of Engels, and still in many ways the best study of the working class in Victorian England. What Cobbett had done for agricultural poverty in his Rural Rides, Engels did - and more - in this work on the plight of industrial workers in England in the 1840s.

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Engels' meticulous study of the urban working class in 1844 is a harrowing account of life in the slums of the new industrialised cities of Britain. A work of intense journalistic brilliance and political importance.

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The most powerful indictment of 19th century capitalism in existence.......2006-09-30

Friedrich Engels' classic "The Condition of the Working Class in England" was written when he was only twenty-four, and had but recently abandoned his Calvinist upbringing for a more critical, socialist, point of view. Yet this book reads as if it were written by an experienced political commentator or a radical sociologist, without actually at any point becoming melodramatic or dense.

Engels' main purpose is to confront the bourgeoisie with the reality of their mode of production and to contrast this with the rhetoric of "free choice" and "civil liberties", as well as the capitalist apologia of the political economists of his day, in particular Andrew Ure. With great insight into both the causes and effects of the capitalist system, Engels catalogues the endless want, filth, despair and misery experienced by millions of labourers every day in 19th century England. He pays attention to housing, to factory safety, to unionism, to the physical condition of the workers, to alcoholism, the state of the Irish underclass, to prostitution and disease; in short, all the ills attendant on industrialization.

What gives this book such power is that Engels on the one hand proceeds in an analytical manner, making use above all of sources from the bourgeoisie itself and from Parliamentary reports, in explaining the functioning of the capitalist system and the competition between capitalists and between labourers. On the other hand, he writes in a particularly readable manner and at no point bores the reader with the mere summing-up of statistics. On the contrary, every analytical truth is accompanied by a vivid description, taken from Engels' excursions into working-class neighbourhoods, of the terrible state of humanity that the economic laws of capitalism cause for a great number of people.

For those interested in political economy, it may come as a surprise to see how much of the functioning of capitalism Engels already understood at such an early point in the development of theory. This gives the lie to the many theorists who would later claim that it was Marx only who worked on economics and that Engels was a mere epigone; this book should be a vindication of Engels. His later sketches of the political economy and of the historical development of capitalism would lay the foundation for both the Communist Manifesto and Marx' economic works. But the core insights that would create the modern theory of socialism are for the first time fully expressed here, and in a most appealing and shockingly effective manner.

In other words, an absolute must read for every person of intelligence.

Engels' Expose' on 'How the Other-Half Lived' ........2006-09-23

This chilling book is the real-life Oliver Twist exposed.I think Fredrick Engels wrote this book,in part to clear his conscious.And largely, to shed light on the fetid ,wretched underbelly of the 19th century industrial-age society.The nameless toilers working ten to twelve hour shifts,in a factory operation they had no vote or control over.Marx and Engels had many valid arguments for improving the workers lives.Did their end-results justify their means of social revolution? Engels would be amazed at the former textile towns,like Manchester,absorbing the large influx of Asians,Moslims and Africans today.It is still being debated,whether history has proven Engels & Marx right.This book is still a historical classic,thats presumptive findings give the modern reader,reason to pause. So,look all around you. -A Great Book !

Awesome.......2004-05-21

Fabuous book. Engels wrote this when he was only 24- and what a tour de force.

The work is detailed, beautifully observed and elegantly written. Despite the depressing nature of the subject matter, the tone is always possible about a better world beyond the evils of capitalism.

Unfortunately 150 years after this masterpiece was written things dont seen to have gotten better under capitalism. Rather, the old evils of poverty, infectious diseases, starvation have been replaced by the modern evils of capitalism: obesity, alienation, mass materialism, depression, plunging fertility and marriage rates and so on...

A visit to the Dark Satanic Mills of England.......2003-02-12

Engels was the engine behind Karl Marx, one that gave him all the support he could, so to permit Marx to dedicate himself almost completely to the completion of his works. Judging himself many degrees bellow Marx in terms of intelect, Engels nonetheless is capable of writting a book such as this which describes all the impoverishment of the working class in the beginning of the industrialization in England, being helped by some well porputed factories labor fiscalization agents who allowed Engels to flip trough their reports. Strong terms like "the dark satanic mills" describe fully what were the working conditions of the time in a so rich country as England. An historical document lest no one forget what can happen again if the free hand of capitalism is allowed to run free of any barriers.

Engels.......2000-09-03

In this book, Karl Marx's friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels describes the lives of England's laboring classes in the worst days of the industrial revolution. This includes dangerous working conditions, meager pay, child labor and explotation. Being the son of the owner of a textile factory, Engels knew of these conditions first hand. In these days it was said that the fastest way out of Manchester was a bottle of gin. This book contains images that are pathetic in the true sense of word, one catches glimpes of life so wretched that they are scarely belivable. Writings such as this one eventually exposed the misery of the working classes and had a profound influence on socialists and labor movement leaders. The book is a tour-de-force and truly speaks for it's self.

The German Ideology: Including Thesis on Feuerbach (Great Books in Philosophy)

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Earlier = Better
Great work, poor edition
A grand masterpiece
A philosophical romp with the "young Marx"
A vital early work, but not a complete picture of Marx.

The German Ideology: Including Thesis on Feuerbach (Great Books in Philosophy)
Friedrich Engels , and Karl Marx
Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy (Penguin Classics)
The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and the Communist Manifesto (Great Books in Philosophy)
Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy (Penguin Classics)
The Poverty of Philosophy
The Philosophy of History (New Edition)

ASIN: 1573922587

Customer Reviews:

Earlier = Better.......2007-03-01

More concise and hardcore in the critique of capital than later works. Should be in every Marxist/non-Marxist library.

Great work, poor edition.......2005-08-29

I highly recommend The German Ideology, but wish to warn buyers of this edition (Prometheus). The quality of the print in this edition is very low, the font is difficult to read, and the spacing is very tight. Perhaps most frustrating, however, is that the text is marked with numbers for footnotes that have no actual corresponding footnotes. I have written to the publisher three times about this issue and have received no response or explanation. The name of the translator is also suspiciously absent, and there is no introduction to the work--something that in this case would be very helpful. On the positive side, I think this edition provides the complete German Ideology, but Book One is really all that is necessary or ever referenced, and this can be found in other editions.

A grand masterpiece.......2005-03-17

this book is basically an in depth communist manifesto, it backs up his claims of the communist society and goes into much detail. Also included is the critique on fueurbach, and the intro to the critique of the political economy. Very good book, any marxist needs it

A philosophical romp with the "young Marx".......2002-03-16

The fashionable revisions and reifications of Hegel (the "official" political theory of Germany) common to Marx's era filled him with such disgust that he and Engels penned an entire rhetoric-laced diatribe against them, "The German Ideology." This book served, for Marx and his sidekick, not only as a materialist attack on Hegelian idealism and its conceptions of history, but also served, in their words, as a "self-clarification" of their own stances on a number of issues. Foremost among these issues is the actual role of the political philosopher in society and in history. Indeed, Marx is directly referring to the legacy of his Hegelian contemporaries when he says that "philosophers have only interpreted the world . . . the point, however, is to change it."

Marx departs from Hegel and his latter-day followers (whether revolutionary or conservative) in both method and in goals. As far as methodology is concerned, Marx is an empiricist of a certain normatively world-changing brand, which obviously leaves him open to critiques from "pure" empiricism as being either an outright determinist (an obviously abhorrent concept to the entire Humean tradition) or else being merely a moral philosopher in scientist's clothing.

As for goals, while some of Hegel's followers might share a certain revolutionary telos with Marx, they cannot truly be his comrades because for Marx the revolutionary method (historical materialism) is inseparable from the revolutionary goal (communism); that is, communism cannot by nature be an "ideal" . . . "to which reality will have to adjust itself" (as it is for the Hegelians). Instead, the ideal of communism must adjust itself to reality (thus becoming no longer an ideal), and that is precisely Marx's project as expressed in the 11th Thesis on Feuerbach: through his writings, to "adjust" the real world to his view of the way it's going to be (by writing about the world the way that it has been, and the way that it is now).

A vital early work, but not a complete picture of Marx........2000-11-08

First of all, the correct title would refer to the THESES on Feuerbach, of which there are eleven. These are terse exhortations, which Marx apparently wrote out for himself as a reminder of principles, not intended for publication. They remain brilliant and challenging to readers. The rest of the volume is taken up by *excerpts* from the vast manuscript on the German Ideology, which is an uneven early work of Marx and Engels. There are brilliant passages, crucial to Marxist thought, but there's also a lot of directionless vitriol directed at now relatively unimportant thinkers.

I disagree with the previous reviewer -- this is not an ideal intro to Marxism. Read the Communist Manifesto, then move on to the Eighteenth Brumaire, or this, or Capital, or the early works.

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Probably the best English-language work on Engels.......2006-10-28

In fact, comparable to Gustav Mayer's immense work on biography and theory of the grand man, Friedrich Engels. Hunley wrote this apparently as a "Deputy Command Historian" in the USAF; I have no idea what that is, but his affiliation with the US military has in any case in no way prevented him from writing an excellent and balanced analysis of Engels' works and, of course, his relation to Marx.

Engels has been much maligned by Marxists of all sorts, something eagerly adopted by non-Marxist historians looking for an easy explanation for the degeneration of socialism in the first half of the 20th Century. Even otherwise competent people like Terrell Carver and Shlomo Avineri have gone along with this tendency. Fortunately for those of a more critical mind, in comes J.D. Hunley, according to his own political statement something of a libertarian, to set the record straight. And that he does with excellence in both style and substance.

Hunley starts by giving a rapid but effective overview of Engels' life, dividing it into an early and a mature period. He shows the way Engels abandoned his faith, the influence of the Young Hegelians, and the development of the extreme width and depth of Engels' knowledge and erudition over the years. He succesfully refutes the view of Stedman-Jones that Engels' character was that of a disappointed believer looking for a new faith; on the contrary, Engels is shown as a critical and consistently materialist thinker.

In the middle part of the book, probably the most important and by now unfortunately dreadfully necessary, Hunley refutes all the negative stereotypes attributed to Engels over the decades, particularly those by Marxist analists and biographers. He goes into the "dichotomist" view, which sees the theories of Engels and of Marx as very different, and shows the degree to which this is untenable. Delightful here are the sections where he subtly shows how the authors arguing this dichotomy contradict themselves, for example praising Marx and blaming Engels when saying the exact same thing. One of the authors involved even praises Marx' clearly superior view, not realizing the quote involved was written by Engels!

Hunley also goes into the view of Engels as being more technologically determinist or positivist in the natural sciences than Marx, showing that the former is untenable since every determinist phrase used by Engels can be shown to have been used or agreed to by Marx as well. The latter point is addressed quite extensively by showing how the use of concepts like "laws of nature" is the same with both Marx and Engels.

The final dichotomy Hunley rejects is that of Engels as father of social-democrat reformism. The (in)famous statement where the SPD in Germany is praised for its use of the ballot instead of the barricades is put into the context of military strategy, and is besides shown to have been heavily censored into a reformist view by Liebknecht et al., something Engels got very angry about. Hunley also compares Engels' "Principles of Communism" with the "Communist Manifesto", largely written by Marx, and shows that they say essentially the same things on every significant point. Finally, Engels is established to have been just as 'humanist' as Marx, in asserting the primacy of humans as actors in history in an equal manner (and sometimes stronger) as Marx.

Hunley ends with a chapter on the intellectual partnership between Marx and Engels, and while never saying this, quite correctly leaves no other conclusion possible than to view Marx and Engels as people who worked at an equal level of intellectual competence and who generally agreed on all matters of socialist theory, but at the same time different people with very different characters and temperament. One can go on blaming Engels for everything in a rather silly attempt to 'save' Marx from the errors of his followers, but Hunley shows what they both actually wrote about the controversial issues: and, to paraphrase Harry Truman, the buck stops there.

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