The Communist Manifesto

By: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels

Narrated by: Charles Armstrong, Roy McMillan

Length: 1 hr and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Without question one of the most significant books in modern history, The Communist Manifesto is a brief, populist pamphlet that distils the core ideas of communism into accessible prose. Published just months before violent uprisings threatened to destabilize much of the European establishment, it outlines a view of history as a constant battle between the classes that will inevitably result in revolution. An angry call for a stateless world where the workers are no longer exploited, its depiction of the remorseless nature modern capitalism is as alarming and striking now as it was in 1848.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

Public Domain (P)2011 Naxos AudioBooks

Good work comrades!

A review requires at least fifteen words. Blah blah blah seize the means of production.

Taken in the context of it's time...

The performance is solid: whether or not you agree with the observations and claims made is going to depend on your personal Political beliefs.

The Communist Manifesto highlights patterns and struggles of working class peoples around the world. I gave the "Story" a 4 because, although I personally hold many beliefs in common with the Communist Party of yore, but I find their willingness to disregard other movements as either problematic : the integrity of ones race, for instance, is viewed as important, despite working class citizens struggling regardless of race or ideology, and issues of gender equality are mostly just dismissed as problems that aren't severe, and will be solved by the inevitable rise of the Proletariat.

Taken in the context of it's time, I understand where these policies and beliefs come from and can personally set them aside from the ideology of the contemporary movement. I would give it 5 stars, but not in the modern context.

Modern readers or listeners will need to determine for themselves if they believe that the otherwise non-problematic ideas are inherently valuable enough to share or discuss a text that has problematic concepts within it.

As always with history, standing on the shoulders of Giants means personally understanding that not all ideas of the past are worth keeping: With any historical philosophical text, it is important to keep that in mind when deciding what value one gains from such works.

Good listen

I really enjoyed this listen a great deal. Definitely something all should listen to. I only wonder how communism would have made out if in a country that already had wealth to spread such as America. Instead, it always fell in the hands of the wrong people.