The Communist Manifesto

Noted as one of the most influential writings in history, The Communist Manifesto has not gone out of style. Its call for revolutionary change has been echoed by the left for over a century and a half and does not appear to be drawing to an end anytime soon. However, the reason for this is due to the fact that the issues Marx and Engels wrote about in Manifesto are still relevant today and the solutions proposed by them have never been successfully established in the long term. While revolutions have temporarily worked and movements have transformed the landscape, the pressure of global capitalism has often worn them down. The Communist Manifesto was published in January 1848 – appearing on the eve of the 1848 revolutions, which erupted all across Europe. The revolutions of 1848 failed for a number of reason; there were plenty of internal divisions, not enough popular support, and the continued strength of conservative forces. The idealistic age of romanticism was beginning to yield to a new age of political realism. But mostly, like all new ideas and movements the time was not yet right.

In 1989, Polish voters overwhelmingly favored Solidarity candidates over the Communist Party – the first instance of a nation peacefully turning a Soviet styled Communist regime out of power. Inspired by the events in Poland, the people of East Germany soon demanded change as well and in November of 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down and, within a year, Germany was reunified. In 1991, an attempt to undo Gorbachev’s reforms led to a complete disintegration of the Soviet