Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-25
Saturday, August 25, 1888.
THR CodaIdNIsFs' MANIFEsTo.

= THE COMMuNISTs' MAnIFEsTO
 We are in possession of g pamphlet entitled the Manifesto of the Communists" :" which is being circulated b1 the Socialist organization of this city. This manifesto was composed by the well-kncNh Karl Marx, assisted by Frederiek Engels, and 1t first appeared a short time previoukD to the outbreak of the European Revolutions of 1S4S. It has been translated into all the principal European languages It is srepublished this year in New York by the Socialists. of this country for circulation. Ab Karf.Max was regarded rus aheiesasr of fNs socialistic party in Ger many, and as his manifesto has been very widely circulated and has been republished at this late day, it may be regarded as con- tatning an authentic statement of the views and purposes of Communism generally, and if so it is by no means an unimportant docu- ment. s,....s ....s-..-
 The common impression about the Social ists is that they are few discontented per- song of i'll balanced minds who have got to- gether and formed organizations in the large cities. and who for their lack of numbers ant ints1ligend aie simply contemp tible as
 
 the fact that Socialism is really one of the great movements of modern times. Wrong and dangerous as it's principles. are there is no denying it's magnitude. It Is the only political movement that is not confined to. any one country but is common to all civilized nations. In the German empire. where they. are the most numerous, they form regular political party called the Social Democrats and are represented in the Reichstag. As long ago as 1877 this party boiled in the cleo ton of the new Parliament about eight hun dred thousand votes. At the last election it is claimed by the Socialists themselves that they cast about million votes. The Con- munists are also powerful factor tn French politics. There are good many Socialist organizations both in England and in this country, but they have never been sufficient ly numerous to form national party in either country. They have appeared as a political organization in the municipal cleo tions in Chicago, but with this exception we believe they have taken no part in American politics. The organization in New Haven numbers about hundred members.
 The purpose of the Communists, according to this manifesto, is the abolition of private property. The average price of labor, the manifesto says, is the minimum rate of wages, and that is the quantity of subsistence necessary to keep the workngman alive and that the surplus is absorbed by capital: The remedy that Communism finds for this alleged evil is the abolition of private property. It holds that the community, the government, should own all capitai. and thus see that the fruits of labor are equally distributed. All are to be laborers and ali equally interested in the products of labor. Communism, the manifesto sags, .sdepzives no one of the power to appropriate social products for his own use. It only deprives him of the power to subject others labor by such appropria- tion." Of course it would be 8 waste of time to show that the abolition of private property is a ehimera that can never be realized. The Socialistic scheme..doss not seem to us to make any distinction between the idle and the industrious, the capable and the incapa. ble, but taking away the right to accumulate private property it makes the interest of all equal, no matter what may be the different values of industrial york, and thus destroys the greatest. and, indeed, the only incentive to industry. But ths views expressed in the manifesto are interesting as they form part of ono of the most reznarkabie social phenom- ena of our times. u9 T