We cannot understand the manifesto unless we remember that it was drawn up by young men living in exile, and that it was written in 1847, shortly after some of the earliest inquiries into the condition of labour both in England and the Continent had revealed facts which ought to fill every human heart with sorrow and indignation. As the manifesto of the first international combination of workmen, it has a special historical importance, and claims special attention. And apart from that, it is one of the most remarkable utterances of the nineteenth century. ‘The manifesto,’ says Fr. Engels, ‘was sent to the press at London a few weeks before the February Revolution. Since then it has made the tour of the world. It has been translated into almost every tongue, and in the most different countries still serves as the guiding-star of the proletarian movement. The old motto of the League, “All men are brethren,” was replaced by the new battle-cry, “Proletarians of all lands unite,” which openly proclaimed the international character of the struggle. Seventeen years later this battle-cry resounded through the world as the watchword of the International Working Men’s Association, and the militant proletariat of all lands has to-day written it on its banner.’[2] The Revolution of 1848, as we have already seen,[3] was a rising of the people in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Hungary against antiquated political arrangements and institutions. It was partly an interruption to the operations of the League, as it was far too weak to exercise any great influence on the course of events; but it was also an opportunity, as its members found access to the land of their birth, and in many parts of Germany formed the most resolute and advanced wing of the struggling democracy during that troubled period. After the triumph of the reaction it became clear that the hope of effective revolutionary activity had again for a time passed away. A period of unexampled industrial prosperity set in. Capitalism was about to enter a far wider phase of development than it had yet seen, a fact which abundantly showed that the time was not favourable for an active propaganda in the interests of the proletariat. When capitalism has become a hindrance to progressive social development, when it is obviously too weak and narrow a framework for further evolution, only then is there hope of successful effort against it. So reasoned Marx and his associates. He withdrew, therefore, from the scene of action to his study in London. In 1852 the first international combination of working men came to a close. Observers who could not reasonably be considered superficial, thought that the movement had died without hope of resurrection.