Communist Manifesto
Published in 1848, at a time of political upheaval in Europe, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s Manifesto for the Communist Party was at once a powerful critique of capitalism and a radical call to arms.
It remains the most incisive introduction to the ideas of Communism and the most lucid explanation of its aims. Much of what it proposed continues to be at the heart of political debate into the 21st century. It is no surprise, perhaps, that The Communist Manifesto (as it was later renamed) is the second bestselling book of all time, surpassed only by the Bible.
The Guardian’s editorial cartoonist Martin Rowson employs his trademark draftsmanship and wit to this lively graphic novel adaptation. Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth, The Communist Manifesto is both a timely reminder of the politics of hope and a thought-provoking guide to the most influential work of political theory ever published.
Martin Rowson is a multi-award winning cartoonist and writer whose work has appeared regularly over the past 30 years in The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mirror, The Independent on Sunday, The Irish Times, Time Out, Tribune, The Spectator, The New Statesman, Morning Star, The Daily Express and many other papers & periodicals. His books include graphic novelizations of The Waste Land, Tristram Shandy, and Gulliver’s Travels, while Stuff, his memoir about clearing out his late parents’ house, was long-listed for the 2007 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. Formerly Ken Livingstone’s Cartoonist Laureate for London (in return for one pint of London Pride ale per annum, still 6 years in arrears), Rowson is also the vice-president of the Zoological Society of London. He and his wife live in southeast London and have two children in their 20s who drop round occasionally.