A review by barium_squirrel
The Principles of Communism by Friedrich Engels

informative slow-paced

3.0

A very interesting little tract about 19th century communism. Some interesting highlights: Engels groups what we would today call facists, neoliberals, and democratic socialists together under the heading of socialists (and says all three groups are the enemy of communism). Engels defines "proletariat " as essentially unskilled workers who own no property. Skilled workers are defined as "handycraftsmen" and people who own property but live off of their own labor are "petty bourgeoisie". Engels imagines an ideal communist future as one in which there essentially is no skilled labor and anybody can do any job at any point in their career.

Very interesting to see how things have changed over the past 200 years or so