Authors: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
Publication Date: 1848
Rating: 4/5
After First Reading (2015) - 3 Stars
I'm not a smart guy, and so I can't formulate any in-depth opinion based on how I interpreted this book. I read some of the reviews other Goodreads members posted, and I admire the length to which they can talk about this manifesto. But unfortunately that kind of thing daunts the hell out of me. Suffice to say that it was interesting, and while I've always known about Communism in relation to its application in Russia and Cuba and such, during the twentieth century, I hadn't really remembered much from studying its Marxist roots in school.
I guess it was interesting learning that Karl Marx and Frederic Engels' original idea of Communism was actually quite different to the way it became identified through Leninism and Stalinism. That was the only context in which I had ever really known Communism. The ideals presented back in 1848 were somewhat more positive and optimistic - though severely misguided - in their treatment of the working class and their right to living in harmony with themselves as Nature had initially intended. Leaving High School and suffering brain damage by snorting mass amounts of shoe polish to protect myself from mental and emotional torture, I always considered the Communistic lifestyle as the ultimate form of slavery to the state, or whatever they called the leading dictatorship back then. That's the way it certainly seemed in Russia during the mid-twetnieth century, anyway.
But the original basis of Karl Marx's communism was the "emancipation" of Man from industrial labour for the higher classes, with nothing in return but the basic necessities to continue his abjectly miserable life. The main purpose of Communism - as was repeatedly stated - was the abolition of private property - (or, more accurately, bourgeoisie property) - and the redistribution of land and its objects into a more communal system, where everyone is entitled to the same quantity of goods and entitlements.
But beyond all this, Marx basically comes across as one of the forefathers of the working man's union. He believed that the working class were being exploited, and he meant to encourage them to realise this, and to unite together against the upper class. This principle was completely distorted by the Soviet Union.
I don't know; that's just my thinking, and it was certainly interesting for me realising this. With this kind of stuff though, I would generally need to read through it at least twice before really grasping anything of real importance. If I had to present a speech on the Manifesto tomorrow, I would be praying for an apocalypse, to say the least.
There was also lots of skipping back and forth through the book, in order to check the editor's extensive notes at the end. The fun in doing this - (and having to use two bookmarks) - lost it charm quite quickly. But had it not been for the comprehensive input of Gareth Stedman Jones, then I would not have learnt a thing, and so to criticise this crucial element would be no less stupid than going to Antarctica and complaining about the cold, or, like, watching pornography and then taking offence at the nudity.
Basically, I read this because I didn't want to read it. And having done so, I'm glad, but I will probably not read it again unless I have to. I'll just feel that much cooler telling people I have read the Communist Manifesto. I will make my fiends hate me by constantly reminding them of this, trying to steer every single topic of conversation back towards the damned book.
After Second Reading (2020) - 4 Stars
Am I a leftie communist because I like this book more this time around? Most certainly not. In fact, I was not nearly as conservative (in that I was pretty much apolitical) when I first read this book. I just enjoyed a lot more this time because I understood and cared about the things it (the Manifesto) and the editor's introduction (in my view, better than the primary text) are about. This time I read this with my much more left-leaning wife, and again I did find much of the original sentiments in Marx's theory sympathetic. But that's as far as it goes. Put into practice, communism (at least so far) is just as atrocious if not more so than fascism.
Nevertheless, this is worth reading - whether you are one of the deluded Bernie Bros who think the U.S. will ever become socialist (let alone remain so after hypothetically getting a taste of it), or if you are a conservative who thinks modern-day communist proponents are idiots - and I enjoyed it, especially the introduction by Gareth Stedman Jones which offers a great historical context.
