![]() ![]() Much of Engels's critique of British capitalism reappears in greatly condensed form in Section I of the Manifesto. Upon his return to Germany, Engels published in 1845 a scathing indictment of early industrial capitalism, The Condition of the Working Class in England. While the Manifesto-was written by Marx, its economic analysis was strongly influenced by Engels's "practical experience of capitalism" in his family's cotton firm in Manchester, England, in 1842-44. I begin by summarizing the economic arguments of Marx and Engels. This paper attempts to place the Manifestos analysis of capitalist economic development in historical perspective. ![]() The critique of capitalism offered by Marx and Engels in the Manifesto is understandable in the context of economic conditions in Britain from 1837 to 1848, and it is not that different, in places, from the conclusions reached by other social critics during the 1840s. ![]() It is hard to imagine it being written in any other decade of the 19th century. ![]() 7) has called it a "holy book," and contends that because of it, "everyone thinks differently about politics and society." And yet, despite its enormous influence in the 20th century, the Manifesto is very much a period piece, a document of what was called the "hungry" 1840s. The Manifesto of the Communist Party, published 150 years ago in London in February 1848, is one of the most influential and widely-read documents of the past two centuries. ![]()
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