Communist Manifesto, The

Description: In the two decades following the fall of the Berlin Wall, capitalism entrenched itself globally in its modern, neoliberal form. Its ascendance was so triumphant that the word "capitalism" itself ceased to be used; it became a given. But with the outbreak of financial crisis and global recession, "capitalism" is heard and read everywhere again. The status quo is no longer something to be taken for granted. In such a time, The Communist Manifesto, written over a century and a half ago, emerges as a work of great prescience and power, as Eric Hobsbawm argues in his acute and elegant introduction to this modern edition. He highlights Marx and Engels's enduring insights into the capitalist system: its devastating impact on all aspects of human existence; its susceptibility to enormous convulsions and crises; and its fundamental weakness.

Review: "As a force for change, its influence has been surpassed only by the Bible. As a piece of writing, it is a masterpiece."--Guardian "[T]he best possible explanation of what the world was about that I had ever read. It pointed out that the real conflicts in the world were not between black and white, men and women, Muslims, Christians and Jews, Americans, Russians and Chinese; it was about the conflict of economic interest between 95 per cent of the population of the world, who create the world's wealth, and the 5 per cent who own it. I think of Marx as a prophet: the last of the Old Testament prophets. And we should think of him as a teacher ... Karl Marx discovered it all long before I did, and I am very grateful to him."--Tony Benn, The New Statesman

Author Biography: KARL MARX was born in 1818, in the Rhenish city of Trier. He published his magnum opus Capital in 1867. He died in London in 1883. FRIEDRICH ENGELS was born in 1820, in the German city of Barmen. He died in London in 1895 while editing the fourth volume of Capital. ERIC HOBSBAWM is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. How to Change the World: Tales of Marx and Marxism is his latest book.