CRITICISM

Bender, Frederic L. “Historical and Theoretical Backgrounds of the Communist Manifesto.” In Karl Marx: “The Communist Manifesto,” edited by Frederic L. Bender, pp. 1-39. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988.

Analyzes the historical and theoretical influences on The Communist Manifesto.

Hobsbawm, Eric. Introduction to The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, pp. 1-29. London: Verso, 1998.

Provides an overview of The Communist Manifesto, the events surrounding its creation, and the social and political movements it inspired.

Hodges, Donald Clark. “Introduction: Understanding the Manifesto.” In his The Literate Communist: 150 Years of the “Communist Manifesto,” pp. 1-14. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.

Examines The Communist Manifesto's history and its influence on Russian and Soviet Communism, and considers whether Soviet Marxism self-destructed as a result of its “communist legacy” or as a result of its Marxist component.

Karat, Prakash. Introduction to A World to Win: Essays on “The Communist Manifesto,” edited by Prakash Karat, pp. 1-13. New Delhi: LeftWord Press, 1999.

Provides an overview of the history of The Communist Manifesto upon its one hundred fiftieth anniversary.

Lansbury, Coral. “Melodrama, Pantomime and The Communist Manifesto.” Browning Institute Studies 14 (1986): 1-10.

Analyzes the Communist Manifesto as a gothic melodrama, using Monk Lewis' The Last Spectre (1797) to illustrate the communist text's use of social reversal.

Taylor, J. A. P. Introduction to The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, pp. 7-47. London: Penguin Books, 1967.

A survey of events surrounding the writing of The Communist Manifesto, and an examination of its purpose and content.

Toews, John E. “Introduction: Historical Contexts of the Communist Manifesto.” In The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, edited by John E. Towes, pp. 1-59. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.

A comprehensive examination of the historical context of The Communist Manifesto from its own time up through the late twentieth century, with attention to how the fall of the Soviet Empire has informed contemporary understanding of the text.

Tuveson, Ernest L. “The Millenarian Structure of The Communist Manifesto.” In The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents, and Repercussions, edited by C. A. Patrides and Joseph Wittreich, pp. 324-41. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1984.

Explores the call to revolution set forth in The Communist Manifesto as it resembles the millenarian dream.

Additional coverage of Engels's life and career is contained in the following source published by the Gale Group: Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 129. Additional coverage of Marx's life and career is contained in the following source published by the Gale Group: Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 129.