Free Communist Manifesto

[Dóchas]

Hey guys i was just wodering if any of you knew were i could download the communist manifesto for free or a site were i could just copy and paste it.

Thanks!

[Plagueround]

The communist manifesto is rather hard to find these days. Be prepared to spend a lot of money on it.

Just kidding, it's all over the place. :lol: Here's a link to one:
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html

The stickied threads at the top of this forum also have some great links to other works by Marx, as well as many other anarchist and communist writers.

[Dóchas]

The communist manifesto is rather hard to find these days. Be prepared to spend a lot of money on it.

Just kidding, it's all over the place. :lol: Here's a link to one:
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html

The stickied threads at the top of this forum also have some great links to other works by Marx, as well as many other anarchist and communist writers.

is that the whole book?

[Sprinkles]

is that the whole book?

Yes it seems to be, it's not really that long. The length is usually determined by how may prefaces are included. Penguin has a cheap paperback edition if you want a printed edition.

Edit: Protip; the Marxist Internet Archive has a lot of free books: http://www.marxists.org/

[Dóchas]

thanks guys i appreciate it i just dint want to buy it in a shop it wud just seem wrong. you know buying it from the capitalists we are fighting

[Trystan]

You can get copies from left-wing publishers, too.

[revolution inaction]

The communist manifesto is rather hard to find these days. Be prepared to spend a lot of money on it.

Just kidding, it's all over the place. :lol: Here's a link to one:
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html

The stickied threads at the top of this forum also have some great links to other works by Marx, as well as many other anarchist and communist writers.

the one here is better formatted

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm

[Dóchas]

thanks iv been trying to learn more about communism in the learning forum but in the end i thought it would be easier if i just started at the beginning, where communism was born ie. the communist manifesto

[revolution inaction]

thanks iv been trying to learn more about communism in the learning forum but in the end i thought it would be easier if i just started at the beginning, where communism was born ie. the communist manifesto

no communism existed before this, and anarchist communism is not based on the communist manifesto either.
If you look on marxists.org there are several pre marx communists, and on libcom there is a lot of anarchist communist material

[#FF0000]

thanks guys i appreciate it i just dint want to buy it in a shop it wud just seem wrong. you know buying it from the capitalists we are fighting

Oh don't worry about that. Just by living you create profit for capitalists, so don't get too hung up on it.

[OI OI OI]

thanks guys i appreciate it i just dint want to buy it in a shop it wud just seem wrong. you know buying it from the capitalists we are fighting

Then don't buy a computer, a telephone, clothes and go around a forest naked crying communism!


Being anti-capitalist does not mean not buying from capitalists.

Of course you need to buy shit. Boycotting is so petit-bourgeois.


If you want to be a real anti-capitalist and hurt them, buy many leftit books, study your theory and then go out and start doing some action.

Protests, organizational stuff, organizing in your school,workplace, joining a group etc

[spice756]

Being anti-capitalist does not mean not buying from capitalists.

Of course you need to buy shit. Boycotting is so petit-bourgeois.

I would never buy from big chain store or big businesses.I would buy from smaller businesses or businesses not doing well.

We should not support big businesses or big chain stores.

[#FF0000]

.

I would never buy from big chain store or big businesses.I would buy from smaller businesses or businesses not doing well.

We should not support big businesses or big chain stores.

Bad idea. That gives people the idea that some businesses are better than others. The fact is that all business is exploitive, and whether one competes "fairly" in the market or not is irrelevant.

[Agnapostate]

If you're looking into anarchist communism, you'll want to look at The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin.

[FreeFocus]

Bad idea. That gives people the idea that some businesses are better than others. The fact is that all business is exploitive, and whether one competes "fairly" in the market or not is irrelevant.

I disagree. A small, family-owned bookstore can't be conflated with large chains in terms of exploitation. In fact, I'd argue that the family-owned bookstore doesn't really exploit anyone directly - family members are likely to be the employees, and non-family members are partners usually, not exploited workers.

[Red October]

The Communist Manifesto is fairly long for a pamphlet, and reading that much stuff on a computer screen sucks. I'd recommend you go out and get a copy, it'll make things easier, though that's just my opinion. You can find one at pretty much any all-around bookstore for a few bucks, and if you don't want to pay you can just steal it.

[#FF0000]

I disagree. A small, family-owned bookstore can't be conflated with large chains in terms of exploitation. In fact, I'd argue that the family-owned bookstore doesn't really exploit anyone directly - family members are likely to be the employees, and non-family members are partners usually, not exploited workers.

Perhaps in the case of a family-owned store, I would be inclined to agree. However, it's important to remember that not all small businesses are like family businesses in that regard. I would say that a small business is more likely to treat its workers unfairly by trying to squeeze every ounce of labor out of them in an effort to compete with the big companies.


The Communist Manifesto is fairly long for a pamphlet, and reading that much stuff on a computer screen sucks. I'd recommend you go out and get a copy, it'll make things easier, though that's just my opinion. You can find one at pretty much any all-around bookstore for a few bucks, and if you don't want to pay you can just steal it.

Not to mention I've seen some lovely looking copies of the Manifesto. I remember seeing some at Borders with a Suprematist-inspired cover that looked fantastic sitting on a shelf.

[Agnapostate]

I disagree. A small, family-owned bookstore can't be conflated with large chains in terms of exploitation. In fact, I'd argue that the family-owned bookstore doesn't really exploit anyone directly - family members are likely to be the employees, and non-family members are partners usually, not exploited workers.

I agree with you, and think that Kropotkin's insight on the value of small producers and their lack of exploitation is applicable here.


when we see a peasant, who is in possession of just amount of land he can cultivate, we do not think it reasonable to turn him off his little farm. He exploits nobody, and nobody would have the right to interfere with his work. . . [W]hen we see a family inhabiting a house which affords them just as much space as . . . are considered necessary for that number of people, why should we interfere with that family and turn them out their house? . . . And finally, when we see a . . . cutler, or a . . . clothier working with their own tools or handloom, we see no use in taking the tools or handloom to give to another workers. The clothier or cutler exploit nobody.

[FreeFocus]

Perhaps in the case of a family-owned store, I would be inclined to agree. However, it's important to remember that not all small businesses are like family businesses in that regard. I would say that a small business is more likely to treat its workers unfairly by trying to squeeze every ounce of labor out of them in an effort to compete with the big companies.

Ah, I see. In this regard I agree. Essentially I don't support any type of hierarchical business, it should be horizontal in nature as an association of partners. The best small business owners (non-cooperatives) are those who treat their employees as partners (in that case, they might as well form a cooperative, but not everyone is attuned to this part of leftist theory. Genuinely honest and hard-working small business owners who are outgoing for their employees aren't people we should be targeting or anything).

And good excerpt from Kropotkin, Agnapostate.

[JimmyJazz]

Wal-Mart started out as a family-owned store...

[FreeFocus]

Wal-Mart started out as a family-owned store...

Doesn't mean every family-owned store turns into Wal-Mart. If I'm not mistaken, Sam Walton started off as a rich boy anyway, so the monstrous expansion was the natural evolution of his store.

[Drace]

Perhaps in the case of a family-owned store, I would be inclined to agree. However, it's important to remember that not all small businesses are like family businesses in that regard. I would say that a small business is more likely to treat its workers unfairly by trying to squeeze every ounce of labor out of them in an effort to compete with the big companies.

I'm thinking the opposite. The bigger companies treat their workers unfairly for a greater profit.

A small business owner would be more inclined to get his business running smoothly rather then making the greatest amount of profit he can. So he would treat his few workers fairly. Now when he expands...

[JimmyJazz]

Doesn't mean every family-owned store turns into Wal-Mart. If I'm not mistaken, Sam Walton started off as a rich boy anyway, so the monstrous expansion was the natural evolution of his store.

No, of course not every business does, but one Wal-Mart does rise out of a crop of family-owned stores competing.

[Martin Blank]

http://www.communistleague.us/lit/wls/manifesto-print.pdf

[Yehuda Stern]

No business works in vacuum. Small businesses need to pay rent, they have to pay their suppliers, etc. It all ends up serving the capitalist system. That, however, is not the question - basically everything we do under capitalism serves the system other than our attempts to overthrow it.

[chegitz guevara]

Then don't buy a computer, a telephone, clothes and go around a forest naked crying communism!

Being anti-capitalist does not mean not buying from capitalists.

Of course you need to buy shit. Boycotting is so petit-bourgeois.

You could have said that without putting the comrade down. He is new, you know. He's going to have lots of misconceptions. If we only want people joining the movement who already know everything, be prepared to remain a hermetic sect.

[Wakizashi the Bolshevik]

It's no fun to read the Manifesto on a computer screen or on pages you printed from your computer.
I suggest: borrow it from a library or buy it.
It's totally worth the money!

[ckaihatsu]

I disagree. A small, family-owned bookstore can't be conflated with large chains in terms of exploitation. In fact, I'd argue that the family-owned bookstore doesn't really exploit anyone directly - family members are likely to be the employees, and non-family members are partners usually, not exploited workers.



No business works in vacuum. Small businesses need to pay rent, they have to pay their suppliers, etc. It all ends up serving the capitalist system. That, however, is not the question - basically everything we do under capitalism serves the system other than our attempts to overthrow it.


Yehuda Stern is correct here. At the most fundamental level any time spent outside of engaging in class struggle is time spent in cooperation with the status quo.

And, it doesn't matter the size of the business one works for -- anyone who makes their living from their own labor is, by definition, exploited.

How we make our living is probably not going to be on our own terms anyway, due to exploitation (and racism, etc.), so to think that we *could* carve out a purely self-directed life is individualistic, libertarian utopianism and, therefore, idealism.

The family-owned business will still need staff to cover the sales counter during business hours -- that's the nature of profit-making, no matter who the boss is. The employees of the family business are probably *worse* off in many ways than the employees of Wal-Mart because of the limited number of employees to choose from to cover the sales counter.

In effect the family construction becomes the controlling mythology / ideology of the small, family-based business, because those business concerns must come first -- if there's no family member covering the sales counter, then no business can be conducted, and then there's no material basis for the continuation of the family organization.

In the real world the family will probably come to be known as that-store-family, the-one-whose-family-works-the-store. Very likely the family will also employ a few people from the local community / town as well as family members, and if it does well, may start to become attractive to local banks which would want to offer finance capital in hopes of expanding its business and thereby realize returns on its investment in the family store.

And, then, after a few years, you have Wal-Mart!

I don't know why some types think they can just draw a line and prevent small, profitable businesses from enlarging -- the nature of capital investment is that small fish get eaten by bigger fish -- * DUH * !!!


Chris




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