The Communist Manifesto legally be published in Germany. Thus in 1872 Marx and Engels rushed out a new German-language edition, writing a preface that identified that several portions that became outdated in the quarter century since its original publication. This edition was also the first time the title was shortened to "The Communist Manifesto" ("Das Kommunistische Manifest"), and it became the bedrock the authors based future editions upon. Between 1871 and 1873, the "Manifesto" was published in over nine editions in six languages; in 1872 it was published in the United States for the first time, serialised in "Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly" of
The Communist Manifesto 1848) in Ghent to establish a branch of the Democratic Association there. Subsequently, having not heard from Marx for nearly two months, the Central Committee of the Communist League sent him an ultimatum on 24 or 26 January, demanding he submit the completed manuscript by 1 February. This imposition spurred Marx on, who struggled to work without a deadline, and he seems to have rushed to finish the job in time. (For evidence of this, historian Eric Hobsbawm points to the absence of rough drafts, only one page of which survives.) In all, the "Manifesto" was written over 6–7 weeks.