The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848. During this time, many intellectuals were examining Europe's capitalist system and the effect that industrialization had on the working class. Marx was not the creator of the socialist movement. While attending the University of Berlin, Marx studied the works of Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Cabet and he found their principles too idealistic. Marx began using history, economics and science to create the "foundations of scientific socialism." In 1847, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels both joined the Communist League. Together, Marx and Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto to depict the League's agenda.
<Tab/>In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels explained that history is made up of class struggles. The authors believed the struggles arose between the "oppressor and [the] oppressed." Marx and Engels stated that each struggle ended in either a radical reconstruction of society or in the destruction of the revolting class. …
