Geneva, Volnaja Russkaja tipografia, 1882. 8vo of 50 pp., publisher’s printed wrappers, corners restored, library sign removed from the cover, slip-case. 180 x 120 mm. The very rare first complete Russian translation of the Communist Manifesto, with an original preface by the authors, written a year before the death of Marx. Prepared by Georgi Plekhanov, the present authorized edition made obsolete the 1869 first Russian translation by Bakunin which contained a number of serious mistakes and omitted several sections of the German original. Although heavily persecuted by the Tsarist government, it would have an immense impact on the Russian socialist movement of the 1880s. « Le Manifeste obtient sa consécration mondiale avec la Révolution soviétique d’octobre 1917 » (J. Elleinstein, Histoire mondiale des socialismes). Marx's and Engels' groundbreaking work of communist propaganda is "undoubtedly the most widespread, the most international production of all Socialist literature, the common platform acknowledged by millions of working men from Siberia to California" (preface to the 1888 edition). In the words of the British economist Harold Laski, the Manifesto is "admitted by every serious student of society to be one of the outstanding documents of all time". It also constitutes an early sum of Marx's and Engels's ideas, later to become known by the catchword of "scientific socialism": "[L]e manifeste renferme en puissance la quasi-totalité des idées élaborées par ses deux auteurs dans leurs ouvrages ultérieurs et qui, dans leur ensemble, représentent ce qu'ils appellent le socialisme scientifique; la seul exception importante est la théorie de la plus-value" (Andréas, p. 1). It begins with what has become one of the most famous sentences ever penned :”A spectre is haunting Europe-the spectre of Communism”. Unbeknownst to either author, it would be Russia where the Revolution heralded by the Manifesto would finally take place, under the leadership of their disciple Lenin who did not discover Marxism until after Marx's passing. Very rare and sought-after copy preserved in publisher’s wrappers.
Reference : YTB-62
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