The Communist Manifesto was published in 1848 and is written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It is without doubt one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. The text was commissioned by the Communist League to explain the League's aims and ideals. It analyses the problems of capitalism and the class system throughout history. It is a philosophical text, explaining the authors' theories about the nature of society and politics. However, there are also some predictions about how capitalism would morph into socialism and then Communism.