The Principles of Communism

In 1847 Friedrich Engels, lifelong friend and collaborator of Karl Marx, was commissioned to write a catechism for the Communist League. He produced the “Draft of A Communist Confession of Faith.” The draft, which expressed the outlook developed by Marx and Engels, was not published. A second draft written soon after entitled “The Principles of Communism” is the piece contained here. Neither was published by the League, though Marx used the drafts as the basis for writing “The Communist Manifesto” in 1848.