The Communist Manifesto rescued a considerable part of the population from the idiocy [sic!] of rural life". As Eric Hobsbawm noted, however: Marx and Engels’ political influences were wide-ranging, reacting to and taking inspiration from German idealist philosophy, French socialism, and English and Scottish political economy. "The Communist Manifesto" also takes influence from literature. In Jacques Derrida’s work, "Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International", he uses Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" to frame a discussion of the history of the International, showing, in the process, the influence that Shakespeare’s work had on Marx and Engel’s writing.
Il manifesto independent than the party newspaper "l'Unità". The 1991 PCI dissolution that gave birth to the social democratic Democratic Party of the Left was not followed by "il manifesto", a paper which maintains positions closer to those of robustly left-wing parties such as the Communist Refoundation Party while remaining independent. "il manifesto" is known in Italy for its bitter and sarcastic headlines, puns and clever choice of photographs. For example, the day of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the first page of "il manifesto" featured a large photo of the newly elected pope along with the title "the German shepherd".