Today Is...Communist Manifesto Published

Karl Marx is most famous for writing the books Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto which led to Communism becoming confusingly known as Marxism in his honour but i do wonder if those who adopted his reasoning, actually read the books.
How anyone can take: 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs' as meaning build a 40ft high wall with razor wire and armed guards in towers is beyond me but somehow they did and Marx and his little book got the blame for it.
It is hard to consider a book that had wider implications than the Communist Manifesto. The 20th Century saw Communism and it's smaller brother Socialism sweep around half the World and then retract back again. It led to the Cold War and competition between two competing ideologies which saw two massive leaps for mankind, one great (Space Travel) and one not so much (Nuclear Weapons).
Due to the economic situation and the battering Capitalism is taking being kept on life support by the people who crashed it, there has been a substantial rise in the numbers of books advocating alternative systems but i would advise that if you are one of the recently disillusioned and have heard about this
Socialism thing and want to find out a bit more about it, i wouldn't reach for the Marx/Engels book straight away.
It can not be called, in any terms, a page turner and can be confusing for anyone dipping a toe into Socialist theory.
The Socialist audience is getting younger because the younger people weren't around when Marxism was associated with Stalin and the nasty flavour of Communism in the Soviet Union or East Germany, now it is associated with men like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela whose Socialist philosophy dragged his country out of poverty and bettered the lot of the poorest in his country.
The younger generation look at the rich men making up the Worlds Government's, and feel alienated, rightly asking how can they possible understand their plight and not do anything about the pitiful, sinister and corrupt economic shambles going on around them. Many of the new left movements are organised by the younger generation who saw at first hand the violent efforts the Governments will go to when the present system is threatened.
As tempting as it may be for the establishment to ignore or just shake their heads at this new wave of interest in Marx, large swathes of the new generation coming through, the future politicians and policy makers, are questioning the present system and are not being fooled by the Capitalist mantra that what we have is all there is because they know there is an alternative where the majority also get a bite at the cherry.
As the author of one of the most influential books ever written, Marx is buried in Highgate Cemetery in Marx Corner with other famous Communists and Socialists but as the father of Communism, the main attraction is an impressive large 10 foot headstone and the words 'Workers of All Lands Unite' in gold lettering on the plinth.
Imagine his disappointment if he ever found out that someone decided to charge £8 to go see the grave of the World's foremost anti-Capitalist.
Seriously, did nobody at all read his bloody book?