London: Over 160 years after the Communist Manifesto sparked minds and set off revolutions in different parts of the world, the British Library here has acquired the only complete copy of the first edition of the document.
Appearing even as a wave of revolutions swept Europe in Spring 1848, the pamphlet that is known as the Communist Manifesto was first printed in London. An association of German political exiles sponsored the printing in German, by an obscure radical press, of what would become one of the most momentous political works of all time.
Despite its later fame, the slim 23-page pamphlet by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had only a limited impact at the time. Although several hundred copies were distributed, fewer than 30 copies of the first edition are known to have survived.The British Library’s acquisition will ensure that a copy is preserved in the city of its birth, where it can be seen and studied in the library’s reading rooms at St. Pancras.
Widely translated “The Communist Manifesto has been described as the best-known and certainly the most widely translated pamphlet of the 19th century,” said Elizabeth James, head of 19th Century British Collections at the British Library. “It also has a special significance for the library. Following his return to London as a penniless refugee in September 1849, Marx obtained a ticket for the British Museum Library, the former home of the British Library, and was a regular reader during the 1850s and 1860s.”

IMPHAL, Dec 27 : The 83rd anniversary of the establishment of the Communitst Party of India was held today at the Irawat Bhawan in Imphal organised by the agitation and propaganda department of the party.

Several dignitaries were present at the function including M Ibohal, chairman of the control commission of the CPI, P Parijat, health minister, L Iboyaima, state secretary of the CPI, B Sharma, state secretariat member of the CPI, N Mangi, MLA and state secretariat member of the CPI, Dr. M Nara Singh, state secretariat member of the CPI, Dr. H Borajao, MLA and Dr. U Deven, MLA.

Speaking at the inaugural function, L Sotinkumar, the assistant secretary of the CPI Manipur informed the gathering that the Communist Party of India was founded on December 26, 1925 in Kanpur with Hasrat Nishani as the chairman of the party.

The reason behind the forming of the party was to force the Britishers to leave India, he said.

According to Th Tomba, ex-minister and state executive member, Gandhiji believed that the Britishers were the most civilized but after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre Gandhiji changed his opinion and said that only socialism would do the work and not the Britishers. He also condemned the killings of Chauri Chaura.

Kh Surchand, state executive member of the CPI said that before the formation of the CPI the Congress had a big image but not afterwards.

Health minister P Parijat released a book named `Bharatta Communist Party` written by Th Yaiskul, a state executive member of the CPI, on the occasion.

The minister also mentioned the 1925 Kanpur conspiracy case and how the Communist Party of India was formed with the objective of removing all the Britishers from India.