The present work was written while the events analysed were still in progress. It is, as Frederick Engels says, "Marx's first attempt, with the aid of his materialist conception, to explain a section of contemporary history from the given economic situation." The work has long been considered a classic in historical materialism as applied to current events, having withstood the test of later and fuller analyses. This edition includes in full Engels' famous Preface of 1895, in which he assessed Socialist strategy and tactics for the previous 50 years.