This setting lets you change the way you view articles. You can choose to have articles open in a dialog window, a new tab, or directly in the same window.
Open in Dialog
Open in New Tab
Open in same window
Open in New Tab
Open in same window
Journal of Economic Perspectives: Vol. 12 No. 4 (Fall 1998)
JEP Volume. 12, Issue 4 | 
Previous ArticleNext Article
Sign up for Email Alerts Follow us on Twitter
Full-text Article (Complimentary)
View Comments on This Article (0) | Login to post a comment
Previous ArticleNext Article
Expand
Quick Tools:
Print Article Summary Email Link to this Article Export CitationSign up for Email Alerts Follow us on Twitter
Explore:
The Historical Background of the Communist Manifesto
Article Citation
Boyer, George R. 1998. "The Historical Background of the Communist Manifesto."
Journal of Economic Perspectives,
12(4): 151-174.
DOI: 10.1257/jep.12.4.151
DOI: 10.1257/jep.12.4.151
Abstract
This paper attempts to place the economic analysis of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's Communist Manifesto in historical perspective. The author begins by summarizing the analysis of capitalist economic development in the Manifesto, and showing how it was strongly influenced by developments in the cotton industry in Manchester, England. He then examines the economic, social, and political conditions in Manchester and the surrounding cotton towns during the 1830s and 1840s, drawing on the views of contemporary observers and recent research by economic historians. The paper concludes by discussing why Marx and Engels's predictions for the imminent collapse of capitalism were wrong.
Article Full-Text Access
Full-text Article (Complimentary)
Authors
Boyer, George R. (Cornell U)
JEL Classifications
B14: History of Thought through 1925: Socialist; Marxist
B31: History of Thought: Individuals
B31: History of Thought: Individuals
Comments
View Comments on This Article (0) | Login to post a comment
