The Communist Manifesto

A specter is haunting Europe: The book about wealth, work, and society that revolutionized economic and political thought. In 1848, as revolutionary uprisings were spreading across Europe, a document was drawn up that viewed history in a new way—through the lens of class struggle. Arguing that power and wealth had always been concentrated in the hands of the few, who exploited the labor of the many, The Communist Manifesto examined the relationships between owners and workers, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and argued that capitalism contained the seeds of its own eventual destruction. The manifesto would go on to become one of the most influential works in modern history—its core ideas still discussed and debated today as governments rise and fall, and individuals and organizations continue to strive for solutions to the problem of the haves versus the have-nots.