"A specter is haunting Europe--the specter of communism." Thus begins this work, authored by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It is their literate effort to provide a rallying cry for the communist movement. The call? "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Thus, they lay out their perspective, based on class conflict. Given this view, it is not surprising that they close this rather brief work with the call: "WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES--UNITE." Why? "The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win."