TheCommunist Manifesto is a short, easy read that summarizes what communists stood for. Can you believe they were the first to propose free public elementary schools, a progressive income tax, and an estate tax? How radical!

In this day and age in which many people don't read posts they share, let alone books, it is important to check out primary sources and verify what different ideologies in fact proposed. In contrast, getting second-hand information today is almost guaranteed to be distorted information.

You'll not only learn what Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels proposed exactly, but you'll learn a theory of history. They developed a framework for interpreting the historical process, how the status quo changed from ancient Rome to the Middle Ages to the French Revolution and the expected Proletarian Revolution; what were the driving forces. According to the authors, technological disruption sets the stage for a change in the status quo, which in turn changes ideologies. The first section of the Manifesto is a great historical analysis.

Whether you agree with its contents or not, reading the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels is a great experience!