Communist Measures ?

Communist Measures?

In the Guardian (10 May), Ellie Mae O’Hagan wrote of Marx, ‘plenty of his proposals – just as radical when he wrote them – are common sense today. These include free education, abolition of child labour, a progressive income tax, a national bank, and closing the gap between town and countryside.’ This is true, but these, taken from the Communist Manifesto,o weren’t what he meant by ‘communism’, as we explain here.

The main thing to realise about the Communist Manifesto is that it isn’t. It was originally published in German in 1848, and its title was Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei (Manifesto of the Communist Party). The Manifesto was issued in the name of the Communist League, a loose grouping of German refugees in London, and no author was credited. In the previous year the Central Committee of the League had commissioned Marx to write a statement of general principles and issued him with editorial guidelines. The Central Committee then authorised it for publication. There was no Communist Party as we now understand that term, but there can be little doubt that their Manifesto was a rallying cry for such an organisation.