Beloved by many, reviled by many more, from a literary standpoint it is amazing that a book 150+ years old probably evokes stronger emotions now than when it was first published.  Of course, reading the Manifesto now, it is nearly impossible to separate this small ideological work from the historical events before, during, and after the Cold War that indelibly etched people's impressions of "Communism" into their minds.  Adherents of Communism protest that the regimes in the USSR and China under Stalin and Mao were not truly "communist" (and they are likely correct in their protestation), but the reality is that for most people born and raised on this side of the Iron Curtain, the communist ideology of Marx and Engels became inseparable from the communism-in-practice of self-identified communists like Mao, Kim, Castro, and Stalin.  All became the "face" of Commumism for many, whether rightfully or not.