KARL MARX and Frederick Engels’s Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, though chronologically almost equidistant between the French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917, is the document that links the two most earthshaking revolutions in history. In it Marx and Engels looked back to the French Revolution and analyzed their own Europe, about to boil over into revolution, in order to look forward; later, Trotsky and Lenin, the most important Russian revolutionaries of 1905 and 1917, sometimes saw themselves fulfilling the prophecies of what had become Socialism's most holy document.

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This concise anthology presents a broad selection of writings by the world’s leading revolutionary figures. Spanning three centuries, the works include such milestone documents as the Declaration ot Independence (1776), the Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789), and the Communist Manifesto (1848). It also features writings by the Russian revolutionaries Lenin and Trotsky; Marat and Danton of the French Revolution; and selections by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emma Goldman, Mohandas Gandhi, Mao Zedong, and other leading figures in revolutionary thought.

An essential collection for anyone interested in the issues, ideas, and history of the major revolutions of modern times, this book will prove an enlightening companion to students of this genre.

Editor’s Note 

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU: Preface and Part 2,

Discourse on the Origins and Foundations of Inequality

VOLTARE, E: "Policy"

THOMAS JEFFERSON: A Summary View of the Rights

of British America

THOMAS PAINE: Appendix to Common Sense

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

Declaration of Independence 

CAMILLE DESMOULINS: "Live Free or Die"

EMMANUEL JOSEPH SIEYES: Preface and Chapter 1,

What Is the Third Estate?

THIRD ESTATE: Decree upon the National Assembly

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF FRANCE: The Tennis Court Oath

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF FRANCE: The Declaration of the Rights

of Man and of the Citizen

JEAN PAUL MARAT: "Are We Undone?" .

THOMAS PAINE: From Conclusion to Part 1, The Rights of Man .

GEORGES JACQUES DANTON: "Dare, Dare Again, Always Dare" .

PIERRE-SYLVAIN MARECHAL: Manifesto of the Equals

F. N. BABEUF: "Analysis of the Doctrine of Babeuf" .

ROBERT OWEN: "The Legacy of Robert Owen to the Population

of the World" .

PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDIqON: Chapter 1, What Is Property?

MARX AND ENGELS: The Manifesto of the Communist Party

MARX AND ENGELS: Address of the Central Committee to

the Communist League

FERDINAND LASSALLE: "The Working Man’s Programme".

PETER KROPOTKIN: "An Appeal to the Young".

MIKHAIL BAKUNIN: From God and the State

V. I. LENIN: "May Day".

LEON TROTSKY: "The Proletariat and the Revolution"

LEON TROTSKY: "The Events in St. Petersburg"

EMMA GOLDMAN: "The Tragedy of Women’s Emancipation"

LEON TROTSKY ET AL.: The Zimmerwald Manifesto

V. I. LENIN: "The Tasks of the Proletariat in the

Present Revolution [The April Theses]"

ROSA LUXEMBURG ET AL.: A Call to the Workers of the World

V. I. LENIN AND THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT: "Declaration

of Rights of the Working and Exploited People"

MOHANDAS K. GANDHI: Ahmedabad Speech

PETER KROPOTKIN: "The Russian Revolution and

the Soviet Government"

MOHANDnS K. GANDHI: "Satyagraha (Nonco6peration)"

MAO ZEDONG: Manifesto of the Chinese People’s

Liberation Army [October 10th Manifesto]

CHE GUEVARA: "Colonialism is Doomed".

VACLAV HAVEL, IAN PATOCKA, ET AL.: Charter 77