The Revolutions of 1848

Marx and Engels had sketched out the principles of scientific communism by 1846. Yet it was from his intense involvement in the abortive German Revolution of 1848 that Marx developed a depth of practical understanding he would draw on in Capital and throughout his later career. This volume includes his great call to arms - "The Communist Manifesto" - but also shows how tactical alliances with the bourgeoisie failed, after which Marx became firmly committed to independent workers' organizations and the ideal of permanent revolution. The articles offer trenchant analyses of events in France, Poland, Prague, Berlin and Vienna, while speeches set out changing communist tactics. In a new introduction, the major socialist feminist writer Sheila Rowbotham examines this period of Marx's life and how it shaped his political perspective.