is this a classic text that will be of particular intrest to scholars of the history of utopian socialism and feminism and political thought in general? probably. is charles fourier one of the most complex, mind boggling, idiosyncratic thinkers and writers of all time? i think so. what is particularly intresting to me about this book though? here it is: the idea that civilization is an abomination responsible for the decrepit state of our planet and that fourier had single handedly discovered the process by which we will be able to bring the universe into harmony through a social revolution that will align the planets and turn the ocean into a tastey beverage and will create an aurora that will attach itself to the north pole that will raise the temperature of the northern lattitudes enough to make them comfortable to humans and also that any animals that dont help humans will be replaced by anti versions of these animals such as the anti-shark that will catch fish for us and anti-hippopotomi that will pull our boats around for us and anti-lions (sevral times larger than normal lions) that will be capable of carrying several passangers at a time to where ever they want to go at increadibly high speeds. all this was conceived in the late 1700's. truly amazing. the stuff about his social structure ideas is very interesting too whether you are interested in social theory or not.

Reading some of the hysterical attacks on this book amuses me more than a "Fawlty Towers" marathon. Examples:

"Which country has put forth more of a concerted effort to adopt Marxist ideals, which country has tried its level best to adopt economic policy more in line to that espoused by the Communist Manifesto: U.S. or Russia? Japan or China? Kenya or Tanzania Puerto Rico or Cuba? Namibia or Angola? Hong Kong or Viet Nam? West Germany or East Germany?" Guess what? NONE of those countries even TRIED to adopt "economic policy more in line to that espoused by the Communist Manifesto" (which is fundamentally not a treatise on economics -- that'd be "Das Kapital"). Each of these countries adopted backwards, reactionary regimes based on the nationalist system of "socialism in one country," directly contradicting Marx and Engels' vision of an international workers' movement.

"Let's look at the results: over 100,000,000 killed and countless imprisoned, and an ideology for the Democratic Party." Hmm, so by that logic, Christianity is an evil system of thought because of the countless hundreds of millions killed in its name, if not its actual beliefs. And anyone who thinks the Democratic Party is "communist" must lie somewhere to the right of Mussolini on the political spectrum.

"Communists should ask themselves why only murders and tyrants have espoused their ideology." Gee, I espouse communist ideology. I guess I'm a murderer and a tyrant, then. Thanks for clearing that up -- my mind had been so damaged by this evil, deceptive swill that I didn't even realize I'm one of history's great villians!

As for the book itself......well, I have to be honest, it's not that great. It was written in a hurry and it shows, not only in its brief length but in its severe disorganization (there is much overlap between the various sections) that makes reading certain parts of the book an exercise in patience and concentration -- an exercise that is quite simply not worth the trouble when there are plenty of other works out there on socialist/communist thought espousing the same ideas as Marx and Engels but in an eminently more readable fashion. The best example, I think, is the writings of Rosa Luxemburg, who maintained a relative fidelity to Marx and Engels' theories but also grappled with the practical implementation of an international workers' movement -- which she unfortunately did not live long enough to lead. (Which raises the question: if a socialist state is such an unworkable and unreasonable goal, why did they bother killing her in the first place?)

The book begins with a series of prefaces to different worldwide editions. Then, it reaches the core its purpose - the actual pamphlet written by Karl Marx. Marx states that all history is a history of class struggles and predicts that workers all over the world will revolt against the government for their rights and set up a Proletarian state where everything belongs to the state which uses it on the behalf of the people. Marx also shows the need to abolish religion and all other elements of the bourgeoisie, the middle class - factory owners, doctors, employers etc. His belief can be summarized into a single phrase - "Power To The People" (no pun intended). Marx's philosophy may not appeal to many but lets face it - the man is highly responsible for changing the world completely. Would our world be the same without the people he inspired? Lenin, Stalin and Mao would all cease to exist if it was not for Marx. His slogan, "Workers Of All Countries, Unite!" shook the foundations of the world as we knew it.

Sheer fantasy? Time has definitely proven otherwise. I believe that no individual has any right to criticize Marx or his theory without reading the Manifesto Of The Communist Party. Slightly technical language might cause a confusion of facts but otherwise a recommended read.

This classic text was not only the first but is still the bestat pointing out that people can free themselves of the capitalistsystem based on class divisions, production for profit, buying and selling, by working people - people who work for a wage or a salary but don't own enough capital to live off (most of us) - organizing as a class to establish a new moneyless and stateless society called socialism or communism. This book is all the more current because since his death so many groups especially during the 20th Century (Labor Parties, Social Democratic parties, Greens, Nazis, Leninists, Maoists, Trotskyists, the press, and so on) have distorted the words communism or socialism to mean nationalized industries or a society with a rigid state machine that is brought about by a party claiming to be socialist or communist. But The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels makes it quite clear that only the working class as a whole can capture the state machine in order to abolish it, and this distinction is still an important one in this world of starvation, poverty, war, racism and environmental destruction. This society, as Marx analyzed 150 years ago in this book, produces so many problems that it would take forever to address them as separate reforms, as we tend to do in our own political life. He was arguing for a moneyless and stateless society controlled not by private capitalists nor by the state, but by all the people, and this lesson is still a vital one in the face of all the problems we have today. We have lost the whole 20th Century to wars, poverty, and environmental problems, and geared our whole lives to just making other people rich, so philanthropic are we. Let us hope that in the 21st Century we will take heed of Marx's caution, and be a little greedy at last to bring about a society in which the means of production are own by all the people, and we can produce what we want from our resources, take freely from the common supply (an abundance possible with today's technology), not just produce for the small percentage who own capital while we live in relative scarcity. After all, as a class, we made everything and grew everthing! So Marx is arguing forcibly that we should be entitled to reaping the benefits of our own technology and labor and creative energies.

Doesn't matter what ideology you like, follow or accept. Marx is a genius on sociology that made some of the most important works in this matter. This book is a good one but is not the great biography that I was expecting. I didn't see any need for the illustrations too... but is very nice written