A specter is haunting Europe. The Communist Manifesto can be regarded as the most influential political document since the Declaration of Human Rights of the French Revolution. This modern edition of the original text written by Marx and Engels 160 years ago encourages a re-reading of the manifesto from the perspective of current issues. Historian Eric J. Hobsbawm subjects this foundational political document of Marxism to a Marxist interpretation. He places it within its social-historical context and clarifies the illusory exuberance that guided the two young authors. He arrives at the astonishing conclusion that the analytical power of the text only truly comes into play today—under the conditions of a globalized capitalism. Eric Hobsbawm on the Communist Manifesto: "The contemporary reader can.".