February 21, 1848

The Communist Manifesto

First German edition of the Communist Manifesto printed in London

Twenty-three pages in a green paper wrapper, out of a small German workers' printing office in Bishopsgate — and the day now commemorated worldwide is not printed anywhere in it.

Late February 1848, at 46 Liverpool Street

In late February 1848 a London printing office associated with the German Workers' Educational Society produced the first German edition of Manifest der kommunistischen Partei.

It was a 23-page pamphlet in a green paper wrapper, printed by J. E. Burghard at 46 Liverpool Street, Bishopsgate.

The first printing was in German. The first English translation waited until 1850, when Helen Macfarlane's version was serialised in The Red Republican.

A commissioned party programme

The pamphlet supplied the Communist League with the theoretical and practical party programme it had commissioned Marx and Engels to prepare at its London congress in late 1847.

Engels had produced earlier catechism-style drafts and then proposed turning the planned document into a historical manifesto; Marx prepared the final manuscript in Brussels.

The League obtained a compact printed programme for circulation among German-speaking activists, though its immediate readership was limited.

Why 21 February will not hold

The date is widely commemorated, but the first edition itself says only that it was published in February 1848, and scholarly and bibliographical accounts generally say "late February" or "the end of February."

The Workers' Educational Society agreed to cover the printing expenses on 29 February, and contemporary recollections have the pamphlet arriving with news of the Paris revolution — both reasons to hold to the month rather than the day.

The manuscript was already at the printer before the French outbreak, so the Manifesto did not set off the Revolutions of 1848.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 7 sources 2 audit passes Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at 1848-02.

What the sources leave uncertain

February 21 is widely commemorated as the publication date, but the first edition itself says only that it was published in February 1848. Scholarly and bibliographical accounts generally say “late February” or “the end of February.”
A February 29 decision to pay the printing expenses and contemporary recollections that the pamphlet arrived with news of the Paris revolution further counsel against treating February 21 as securely documented.
The sheet therefore preserves the securely supported month rather than presenting February 21 as certain.