Preface to the 1888 English Edition Summary and Analysis

The preface is quite extensive and recounts most of the material presented in previous preface texts. Additional historical and political interpretations of events are provided. The preface to the 1872 German Edition is quoted nearly completely; the preface to the 1883 German Edition is offered again nearly verbatim but not as a quotation. The edition is significant because it was the first major English-language translation directly endorsed as essentially correct by Engels; at the time, the original document was four decades old and had become enormously influential.

That document was originally published as the political platform of the Communist League, a then-secret working man's association concentrated in Germany. At an official meeting, the League commissioned Marx and Engels to prepare a comprehensive theoretical and practical party program. The program thus created was written in German...