The Communist Manifesto was a product of the social, economic and political turmoil that characterized Europe before 1850. Both of its authors, Marx and Engels, were touched by elements of this turmoil. The first adition of the Manifesto was commissioned by the Communist League and was originally published in London (in German as Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei) just as the revolutions of 1848 began to erupt. It was later recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle, historical and then-present, and the problems of capitalism and its mode of production, rather than a prediction of communism's potential future forms.
The Communist Manifesto summarizes Marx and Engels' theories about the nature society and politics, that in their own words, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles". It also briefly glimpses their views for how capitalism would over time eventually be replaced by socialism.