ABSTRACT
The manifesto of the Communist Party opens with a dramatic and chilling image: “Ein Gespenst geht um in Europa – das Gespenst des Kommunismus [A specter is stalking Europe – the specter of communism”]. But the first English publication of the manifesto must have eased the fears of the bourgeoisie as Helen Macfarlane translated Marx’s forewarning as: “A frightful hobgoblin stalks throughout Europe. We are haunted by a ghost, the ghost of communism.”1
