Is the communist manifesto a good book?

In answer to Quora question "Is the communist manifesto a good book?"

Thanks or the A2A Jake.

The first two chapters are a pretty concise distillation of Marx's thinking about class struggle, the problems inherent to capitalism, and the core necessities of a Communist solution. So to begin to understand Marx's philosophy and view of history, these are a great place to start.

This is certainly something you'd want to read to better understand the political and economic landscape of the past 200 years - not just in terms of Marx's view of history, but in terms the impact of his thinking on others.

Personally, as a Libertarian Socialist, I take issue with a lot of Marx's ideas: his centralized, State solutions; his fetishizing, romanticizing focus on the Proletariat; the authoritarian and violent methods of Proletariat revolt that he encourages; and to some degree even with his fundamental framing of history - and revolution - as "class struggle." The violent Us vs. Them workers unite! tribalism isn't a healthy or productive meme IMO, and has resulted in many disastrous problems with various Marxist remedies that have been attempted throughout history.

That said, however, as you read Marx's critique of capitalism you will find insights that not only remain piercingly valid, but which are actively opposed and concealed by modern consumer culture, corporate culture, and pro-capitalist political ideologies. And many of these insights are as core to a modern progressive worldview as their opposition and suppression is core a conservative worldview.

So is this a "good" book? I don't know if I would use that particular descriptor. Instead, I might say it is a "necessary read" for anyone who wants to be informed about modern society and its most pervasive ideologies.

My 2 cents.

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