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Preface to the Manifesto of the German Productive Party 1872

* * * Producers' Union, an international workers' organization that could only be a secret group at that time, entrusted us to draft a party program of Glorious Theory and Practice, which was presented at the London Congress in June 1847+0 1. Thus, this "manifesto" came into being, and the original of the manifesto was sent to London for printing a few weeks before the February Revolution. The manifesto was first published in German, and later reprinted at least twelve times in Germany, Britain and the United States. The first English version was translated by Ms. Irene MacFarlane, published in the London magazine Red * * * and the Party on 1850, and at least three different English versions were published in 187 1 USA. The French translation was first published in Paris shortly before the June uprising of 1848, and recently published in the socialist newspaper in new york. Now someone is preparing a new translation. Shortly after the first edition of the German version came out, a Polish translation appeared in London. The Russian translation was published in Geneva in the 1960s. The Danish translation was also published shortly after the original publication.

No matter how much the situation has changed in the past 25 years, the general basic principles played in this declaration are completely correct until now. Some places could have been changed. The practical application of these principles mentioned in the declaration depends on the historical conditions at that time, so the revolutionary measures proposed at the end of the second chapter have no special significance. Now this paragraph should be written differently in many ways. Due to the great development of large-scale industry and the development of working-class party organizations in the last 25 years, and the practical experience of the February Revolution, especially the practical experience of the Paris Commune, where the proletariat took power for two months first, this program is now outdated in some places. In particular, the commune proves that "the working class cannot simply master the ready-made state machine and use it to achieve its own goals." (See the French Civil War. International Working Men’s Association's Manifesto of the General Committee was published on page 19 in German, where this idea was further developed. Secondly, it is obvious that today's criticism of socialist literature is incomplete, because this criticism only includes1847; It is also obvious that the opinions (Chapter 4) put forward about the attitude of * * * producers to various opposition parties are still correct on the whole, but because the political form has completely changed, most of the political parties listed at that time have been completely swept away by the historical development process, and these opinions are outdated in practice after all.

However, the Declaration is a historical document and we have no right to amend it. The next reprint may include an introduction covering the period from 1847 to the present. The reprint is too short for us to do the work.

Karl Marx friedrich engels 1872 was in London on June 24th.

1882 Russian preface

The first Russian version of the Producers' Party Manifesto translated by bakunin was published by Bell Printing House in the early 1960s. At that time, the west thought it was just an anecdote in the literary world. This view is impossible today.

At that time (1847 65438+February), how narrow the area involved in the proletarian movement was, which can be clearly seen from the last chapter of the declaration, "the attitude of producers in various countries to various opposition parties." In this chapter, Russia and the United States are just not mentioned. At that time, Russia was the last huge reserve army of all reactionary forces in Europe; The United States is absorbing the surplus strength of European proletariat through immigration. Both countries provide raw materials to Europe, and they are also the sales markets of European industrial products. So these two countries were the pillars of the existing order in Europe at that time anyway.

Today, the situation is completely different! It is European immigrants that enable North America to carry out large-scale agricultural production, and this competition in agricultural production shakes the foundation of European land ownership. In addition, this immigration has enabled the United States to develop its rich industrial resources and scale, so that it will soon destroy the industrial monopoly position of Western Europe, especially Britain. These two situations also play a revolutionary role in the United States itself. As the basis of the whole political system, farmers' small and medium-sized real estate is gradually conquered by the competition of large farms; At the same time, in various industrial fields, a large number of proletarians and mythical capital accumulation began to develop.

Now look at Russia! During the revolutionary period of 1848- 1849, not only European monarchs but also European capitalists regarded Russian intervention as the only savior to help them deal with the newly awakened proletariat. The czar was declared the leader of the reactionary forces in Europe. Now, the tsar has become a prisoner of the revolution, banned in Gatchena, and Russia has become the vanguard of the European revolutionary movement.

The task of the socialist manifesto is to declare the inevitable demise of modern bourgeois ownership. But in Russia, we can see that most of the land is still owned by farmers, except for the rapid prevalence of capitalist fanaticism and the emerging bourgeois land ownership. Then I want to ask: can the Russian commune, a primitive form of land ownership that has been greatly destroyed, directly transition to a high-level form of land ownership? Or on the contrary, does it have to go through the disintegration process experienced by western historical development?

For this process, the only possible answer at present is: if the Russian revolution will become the signal of the western proletarian revolution, and the two sides complement each other, then the current Russian land ownership can become the starting point of the development of capitalism.

Karl Marx Friedrich Engels 1882 65438+ 10/0/London.

Preface of German Version 1883

It's a pity that the preface of this edition can only be signed by me. Marx, who contributed more to the whole European and American working class than anyone else, was buried in the Hite Cemetery, and grass grew on his grave for the first time. After his death, there is no way to amend or supplement the declaration. Therefore, I think it is more necessary to state the following views clearly here again.

The basic idea that has always been implemented in the Declaration is: the economic production and the social structure inevitably produced in each historical era are the political and spiritual historical basis of that era; Therefore, the whole history (since the disintegration of the original land public ownership) is the history of class struggle, that is, the history of struggle between the exploited class and the exploited class, the ruled class and the ruled class at all stages of social development; The struggle has now reached such a stage that the exploited and oppressed class (the proletariat) can no longer liberate itself from the class that exploited and oppressed it (the bourgeoisie), unless the whole society gets rid of exploitation, oppression and class struggle forever at the same time-this basic idea belongs entirely to Marx.

I have said this many times, but now it is necessary to make it clear before the declaration itself.

Christopher Engels was in London 1883 on June 28th.

English Preface 1888

The Declaration was published as the program of the * * * proletarian alliance, which was originally a purely German workers' group and later became an international workers' group. Under the political conditions in continental Europe before 1848, it was inevitably a secret group. /kloc-At the League Congress held in London in October, 1847+065438+ entrusted Marx and Engels to draft a complete theoretical and practical party program for publication. The manuscript was written in German in 1848 65438+ 10 and sent to London for printing a few weeks before the French Revolution on February 24th. The French translation was published in Paris shortly before the June Uprising 1848. The first English version was translated by Irene McFarlin and published on 1850 in the magazine Red * * * and the Party in London, George Julian Harney. At the same time, Danish translation and Polish translation were also published.

The failure of the first great struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the June Uprising in Paris (1848), temporarily pushed back the social and political demands of the European working class. Since then, the struggle for sovereignty has only been carried out among various groups of the bourgeoisie, just like before the February Revolution. The working class was forced to fight for the freedom of some political activities and adopted the ultra-left position of bourgeois radicals. All the independent proletarian movements that continue to show their birth have been ruthlessly suppressed. For example, the Prussian police discovered the Central Committee of the Producers' Union, which was located in Koren at that time. Some members were arrested, imprisoned 18 months later, and handed over to the court on 1852 and 10. This famous "Kelun * * * Party Case" lasted from1October 4th 10 to1October 10/2; Seven defendants were sentenced to three to six years in prison. After the verdict, the alliance was formally dissolved by the remaining members. As for the declaration, it seems destined to be forgotten from now on.

When the European working class regrouped enough to launch another attack on the ruling class, International Working Men’s Association was born. However, the clear purpose of the establishment of this association is to unite the proletariat in Europe and America to fight as a whole. Therefore, it cannot immediately declare the principles set forth in the Declaration. The international community should have a broad enough program, which can be accepted by the British Trade Union Confederation, the proudhon faction in France, Belgium, Italy and Spain and the Lassa faction in Germany. Marx drafted this plan which can satisfy all parties. At that time, he completely pinned his hopes on the spiritual development of the working class, which must be the result of * * * action and * * * discussion. Events and changes in the struggle against capital-and failure is worse than victory-have to make people realize that their beloved panacea is useless and make them more thoroughly understand the real conditions for the liberation of the working class. Marx was right. When 1874 International was dissolved, the workers were completely different from those when 1864 International was established. Proudhon in France and Rascism in Germany are dying out, and even the conservative British trade unions that left the international community a long time ago are gradually improving, so that the chairman of their Swansea conference last year can declare in their name: "Continental socialism is no longer terrible for us." In fact, the principles of the Declaration have been widely spread among workers all over the world.

In this way, the "declaration" itself was brought back to the front desk. Since 1850, German has been reprinted several times in Switzerland, Britain and the United States. 1872 was translated into English in new york and published in Woodhull and Clavering Weekly there.