Marx and Engels's Communist Manifesto has become one of the world’s most influential political tracts since its original 1848 publication. Part of the Rethinking the Western Tradition series, this edition of the Manifesto features an extensive introduction by Jeffrey C. Isaac, and essays by Vladimir Tismaneanu, Steven Lukes, Saskia Sassen, and Stephen Eric Bronner, each well known for their writing on questions central to the Manifesto and the history of Marxism. These essays address the Manifesto's historical background, its impact on (...) the development of twentieth-century Communism, its strengths and weaknesses as a form of ethical critique, and its relevance in the post-1989, post-Cold War world. This edition also includes much ancillary material, including the many Prefaces published in the lifetimes of Marx and Engels, and Engels's "Principles of Communism.". (shrink)

The Irish national question is located on a turning point in the evolution of Marx's and Engels' thought with respect to national and colonial issues. Discussing the Irish national question, Marx and Engels succeeded in escaping from their earlier Eurocentric view. Rudimentary recognition of imperialism as the new historical reality helped them to overcome the Eurocentric and capitalocentric view inherent in the earlier historical materialist conception of the nation. It presaged Lenin's theory of national self-determination, which formalizes the dialectical relationship (...) between nationalism and proletarian internationalism in the era of imperialism. The Irish question thus involves a matter of principle in the Marxist theory of nationalism, bridging the gap between the founders of Marxism in the classical era of capitalism and Lenin in the era of imperialism. (shrink)