<P> In the early 1870s, the Manifesto and its authors experienced a revival in fortunes . Hobsbawm identifies three reasons for this . The first is the leadership role Marx played in the International Workingmen's Association (aka the First International). Secondly, Marx also came into much prominence among socialists--and equal notoriety among the authorities--for his support of the Paris Commune of 1871, elucidated in The Civil War in France . Lastly, and perhaps most significantly in the popularisation of the Manifesto, was the treason trial of German Social Democratic Party (SPD) leaders . During the trial prosecutors read the Manifesto out loud as evidence; this meant that the pamphlet could legally be published in Germany . Thus in 1872 Marx and Engels rushed out a new German - language edition, writing a preface that identified that several portions that became outdated in the quarter century since its original publication . This edition was also the first time the title was shortened to The Communist Manifesto (Das Kommunistische Manifest), and it became the bedrock the authors based future editions upon . Between 1871 and 1873, the Manifesto was published in over nine editions in six languages; in 1872 it was published in the United States for the first time, serialised in Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly of New York City . However, by the mid 1870s the Communist Manifesto remained Marx and Engels' only work to be even moderately well - known . </P> <P> Over the next forty years, as social - democratic parties rose across Europe and parts of the world, so did the publication of the Manifesto alongside them, in hundreds of editions in thirty languages . Marx and Engels wrote a new preface for the 1882 Russian edition, translated by Georgi Plekhanov in Geneva . In it they wondered if Russia could directly become a communist society, or if she would become capitalist first like other European countries . After Marx's death in 1883, Engels alone provided the prefaces for five editions between 1888 and 1893 . Among these is the 1888 English edition, translated by Samuel Moore and approved by Engels, who also provided notes throughout the text . It has been the standard English - language edition ever since . </P> <P> The principal region of its influence, in terms of editions published, was in the "central belt of Europe", from Russia in the east to France in the west . In comparison, the pamphlet had little impact on politics in southwest and southeast Europe, and moderate presence in the north . Outside Europe, Chinese and Japanese translations were published, as were Spanish editions in Latin America . This uneven geographical spread in the Manifesto's popularity reflected the development of socialist movements in a particular region as well as the popularity of Marxist variety of socialism there . There was not always a strong correlation between a social - democratic party's strength and the Manifesto's popularity in that country . For instance, the German SPD printed only a few thousand copies of the Communist Manifesto every year, but a few hundred thousand copies of the Erfurt Programme . Further, the mass - based social - democratic parties of the Second International did not require their rank and file to be well - versed in theory; Marxist works such as the Manifesto or Das Kapital were read primarily by party theoreticians . On the other hand, small, dedicated militant parties and Marxist sects in the West took pride in knowing the theory; Hobsbawm says "This was the milieu in which' the clearness of a comrade could be gauged invariably from the number of earmarks on his Manifesto"'. </P> <P> Following the October Revolution of 1917 that swept the Vladimir Lenin - led Bolsheviks to power in Russia, the world's first socialist state was founded explicitly along Marxist lines . The Soviet Union, which Bolshevik Russia would become a part of, was a one - party state under the rule of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Unlike their mass - based counterparts of the Second International, the CPSU and other Leninist parties like it in the Third International expected their members to know the classic works of Marx, Engels and Lenin . Further, party leaders were expected to base their policy decisions on Marxist - Leninist ideology . Therefore works such as the Manifesto were required reading for the party rank - and - file . </P>

Who wrote das kapital and the communist manifesto