Future prospects
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Read this in context and as of its time. It's a Manifesto, just as Labour or the Conservarives or George Bush put out party manifestos at each election (or at least they did when they at least pretended to have policies and an idiology that went beyong simply making the world safe for the rich to get richer).
It's an election leaflet, party rallying call and outline of policies all in one. And what is the message? You poor take courage, you rich take heed...the World Turned Upside Down (where the rich and powerful become equal to the rest of us) is dawning. As a Socialist Party member that is this reviewers life work.
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This edition has the greatest literary introduction ever
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Greatest explanatory introduction ever, in fact could be as important or good as the book itself, really does Engels justice.
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Marx -Naiive idealist?
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I can only imagine that many people who read this have lost the ability to read objectively, as most seem to swallow this work hook, line and sinker. Others, I can only conclude, have not read it at all. Some claim this work is around 100 pages, it isn't it is around 40, with explanatory notes, introductions and such.
Many people today have a very narrow view of communism, as something alien, to be feared by all those who love freedom, and so in many ways this is obligatory reading for those who wish to understand global politics. It would be interesting indeed if this was considered compulsory at G.C.SE, but our bourgeois government might object.
It is easy, in retrospect, to see the potential falings of communism. By advocating the confiscation of all land, power and property, and centralising it in the state (i.e the working class), he failed to take into account the failings of the human condition. He failed to appreciate that individuals will be corrupted by power, and indulgent, hence the failings of Communist parties from the Bolshevics to the Khmer Rouge.
One of his ideas is that, when the Poletariat rise against the Bourgeois, the history of class struggle and antagonsim will come to an end, along with nationalism and global war. But again, as we saw, the bourgois, when they see an uprising in one country, essentially brainwash their own proletariat and declare war on Communism for what it represents. That is the state of the western world today it seems.
Another thing he claims, which I found bizarre, is that those who care for animals are just Bourgeois conservatives trying to placate the proletariat to prevent revolution. I must admit, that wasn't my main motivation for putting up a bird feeder in my garden!
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Never have so many extrapolated so much out of so little.
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A concept born in a simpler time used as an excuse for many things from Socialism to controlled capitalism. As with any pivotal work one should read it for his/her self. There is always the chance of misinterpretation by an individual, but if you do not read this then you are just accepting someone's word anyway.
This is more than an economics book it is a way of life. It sounds good on paper but makes a lot of assumptions. Instead of worrying about workability, look at the logic that is built on assumptions of that time (written, in 1848). Add this to your library.
You can pick a side (pro or con) and make a stand if you like; but look at the size of this book and realize that many people will just use the title and build their own case. You will have read the real thing. And be sure to balance it with. "The Capitalist Manifesto" by Louis O. Kelso
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One of the greatest works of all time
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This is without a shadow of a doubt one of those works that all appreciative people should read. Few authors could convey such a message with such simplicity of language. It is a haunting and powerful work.
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