The Communist Manifesto

Authors

Paul M. Bretscher, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Publication Date

10-1-1946

Document Type

Article

Keywords

karl marx, communist manifesto, programme, religion, hegel, revolution, friedrich engels, evolution

Submission Type

Bible Study; Lecture; Sermon Prep

Abstract

For Communists The Communist Manifesto, joint product of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), is, indeed, an "immortal" document. In the whole realm of communistic literature no other publication has exerted so potent and far-reaching an influence as the Manifesto. In A Handbook of Marxism, the official manual of orthodox Communism, the Manifesto occupies. the first place. The last document in the Handbook, "A Programme of the Communist International" (1928), is, as the "Programme" itself declares, "in a sense a restatement of The Communist Manifesto of 1848 in relation to the imperialist stage of capitalism." The "Programme" repeats verbatim sentences of the Manifesto, reiterates its fundamental philosophic premises, and while it lags far behind the Manifesto in inflammatory eloquence, it closes on the same threatening note.

Disciplines

Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Submission Cost

Free

Submission Audience

Laity; Ministers; Scholars

Recommended Citation

Bretscher, Paul M. (1946) "The Communist Manifesto," Concordia Theological Monthly: Vol. 17, Article 59.
Available at: https://scholar.csl.edu/ctm/vol17/iss1/59