SOURCE: Hodges, Donald Clark. “Conclusion: Assessing the Manifesto.” In The Literate Communist: 150 Years of “The Communist Manifesto,” pp. 185-98. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.

In the following excerpt, Hodges looks at the Communist Manifesto's literary and religious tradition, and its importance to Russia in the late nineteenth century. He also follows its influence into the twentieth century as it affected the Russian revolution, the rise of Soviet power, and the subsequent fall of the Communist bloc.

The Manifesto of Marx and Engels begins with the balance sheet of historical evolution at the threshold of the crucial year 1848. A new balance sheet is called for today.

Lucien Laurat, Le Manifeste communiste de 1848 et le monde d'adjourd'hui (1948)

How has the Manifesto stood the test of time? As Engels proudly observed, “the history of the Manifesto reflects, to a great extent, the history of the modern working class movement.” Besides hope...