proletarian outside their ranks, as they have done. With the spread of Socialist ideas among them, however, their exclusive character is being modified, and they may even yet take that place in the revolutionary working-class movement which Marx anticipated they would occupy. Given this change of attitude, the development must inevitably be along the lines he predicted. We are seeing "in face of constantly united capital, the maintenance of the association [becoming] more important and necessary for them than the maintenance of wages," and, further, that the combinations of capital are forcing the trade unions to that point where "association takes a political character."
It is scarcely necessary to point out that in this work, written in 1847, some words have a meaning quite other than that which they bear to-day. Thus, for instance, the words "Socialists" and "Socialism," where they occur, refer to the utopians—who formulated theories of a social system independent of the industrial evolution—and to these theories themselves.
In most cases the numerous quotations have been verified and reproduced in the original. In some instances, however, they are summaries rather than quotations, and appear as translated.
A translation in necessarily an imperfect presentation of the thoughts, ideas, and conclusions of the author. In this work I have endeavored to adhere as closely as possible to the form and letter, as well as the spirit of the original, and to this the indulgent reader is asked to ascribe such faults of language as would otherwise merit his censure.
