I reread this as part of Red Book Day.

It's a mindblowing work in how applicable it feels to 2021 as it did to 1848, which I'm sure has been the case for everyone reading it, in ever year, since it's publication. It's also very packed full of information in it's 50 pages. Marx & Engels lay out the class structure forming at that time which we've come to know so well, wage labour and capital, the development of history through class struggle, and the ideas and demands of a communist society. A reasonable portion is dedicated to discussing the prevailing Utopian/bourgeois socialisms of the time which will certainly lose some people but are still pretty relevant today.

The best thing about it is how the criticisms Marx & Engels respond to in this work are exactly the same common, dull criticisms levelled at communism/socialism today: You want to abolish freedom! You want to abolish the family! You want to abolish nationality, human nature, hard work etc etc. And their responses are as good as any in deconstructing these still constantly repeated sound bites.

Written when both Marx & Engels were still in their 20s and at 173 years old it's still so full of life and relevance and imagination. The book has transformed the lives of billions of people and will transform billions more.