*Those Who Fought For Our Communist Future Are Kindred Spirits-Honor Our Revolutionary Forbears-Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels

Click on the title to link to the Karl Marx-Friedrich Engels Internet Archive's copy of their 1848 classic revolutionary document, "The Manifesto Of The Communist Party".

Every January, as readers of this blog are now, hopefully, familiar with the international communist movement honors the 3 Ls-Lenin, Luxemburg and Liebknecht, fallen leaders of the early 20th century communist movement who died in this month (and whose untimely deaths left a huge, irreplaceable gap in the international leadership of that time). January is thus a time for us to reflect on the roots of our movement and those who brought us along this far. In order to give a fuller measure of honor to our fallen forbears this January, and in future Januarys, this space will honor others who have contributed in some way to the struggle for our communist future. That future classless society, however, will be the true memorial to their sacrifices.

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Note on inclusion: As in other series on this site (“Labor’s Untold Story”, “Leaders Of The Bolshevik Revolution”, etc.) this year’s honorees do not exhaust the list of every possible communist worthy of the name. Nor, in fact, is the list limited to Bolshevik-style communists. There will be names included from other traditions (like anarchism, social democracy, the Diggers, Levellers, Jacobins, etc.) whose efforts contributed to the international struggle. Also, as was true of previous series this year’s efforts are no more than an introduction to these heroes of the class struggle. Future years will see more detailed information on each entry, particularly about many of the lesser known figures. Better yet, the reader can pick up the ball and run with it if he or she has more knowledge about the particular exploits of some communist militant, or to include a missing one.


Markin comment:

If the names of the revolutionaries, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, permeate the spirit of this space that is even more true of our earlier communist forbears, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. This site would not exist without their pioneer work to fight for the classless society that this old planet so desperately needs.

Every once in a while even an old hard-bitten, long time Marxist like the writer has a flash that, perhaps, old Karl and Friedrich were off the mark and that this society that we have now is the 'best' we are going to get. It doesn't last long though, especially these days when the old Marxist analysis is on the order of the day. So let's get hopping. A read, or re-read of "The Communist Manifesto" is a very good place to begin. Some of it reads like it was written just yesterday.