On November 28, Communists, Komsomol members, supporters and allies of the CPRF all over the country laid flowers at the monuments of one of the most outstanding political figures, philosopher, historian and publicist Friedrich Engels to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth.

      Friedrich Engels is the co-author of the first program document of the Communists in history - the “Manifesto of the Communist party”, actively participated in the development of the world Communist movement and completed the world-famous “Capital” after Karl Marx's death.

      Long before class struggle issues became key in the Communist Manifesto, before his collaboration with Marx, the young Engels had convincingly argued that the main subject of historical progress in the time of victorious capitalism was the working class. The first two chapters of this historical document (Manifesto) were called “Bourgeois and proletarians” and “Proletarians and Communists”. In all subsequent works, all socio-economic and socio-political phenomena were considered from the perspective of the working class.

       Another, Engels’ indisputable merit is his development of the revolutionary theory and practice of the international labor movement. The Communist Manifesto emphasized that only the working class can bring relief from oppression to society by destroying the capitalist form of property and replacing it with public property. This task can only be accomplished through a proletarian socialist revolution. This, in turn, requires the creation of a political party of the proletariat - the Communist Party.

        The main historical achievement of the outstanding tandem of thinkers was that they convincingly proved the doom of capitalism and clearly formulated the foundations of Communist ideology. Marx and Engels believed, that the communists are the most determined and always encouraging part of the workers’ parties of all countries, and in theory they have the advantage over the rest of the proletariat in understanding the conditions, course, and General results of the proletarian movement. They also identified the immediate goals of the Communist party: “ the formation of the proletariat into a class, the overthrow of the rule of the bourgeoisie, the conquest of political power by the proletariat.”

      The Communist Manifesto is really essential work for all communists. Many of its ideas were actually embodied by the Soviet State 70 years later under the leadership of  Lenin and Stalin.

      It is no less important to emphasize that over the course of his life Engels's attention was increasingly focused on Russia. To get acquainted with the life of the country from original sources, he even learned Russian. He maintained close ties with prominent revolutionary-democratic thinkers: P. Lavrov, G. Lopatin, and others. Knowledge of the situation developed confidence in him: the revolution in Russia will become a decisive stage in the general socialist reorganization of the world. He wrote to G.V. Plekhanov that Russia “has long been on the verge of great upheavals, and all the elements necessary for this have already ripened”.

     In a very short time, Engels’ forecasts for Russia were largely realized. And this is another proof of the depth of the Theory and amazing foresight of one of the brightest philosophers in history.

         We should be proud to follow Marx’s and Engel’s ideas and realize that it imposes a special responsibility on us. It obliges us to be principle and fearless in the struggle for communism, to creatively master the wealth of scientific thought left to us by Karl Marx and Frydrych Engels. They bequeathed us not only outstanding scientific and political achievements, but also the highest examples of moral strength and dedication.

    The Ideology of Marx and Engels is of enormous importance to our country and our Party: it made possible the break through to socialism in October 1917.

CPRF CC International Department