History of socialism French revolution, as well as from the German philosophy of GWF Hegel, and English political economy, particularly that of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Marx and Engels developed a body of ideas which they called scientific socialism, more commonly called Marxism. Marxism comprised a theory of history (historical materialism) as well as a political, economic and philosophical theory. In the "Manifesto of the Communist Party", written in 1848 just days before the outbreak of the revolutions of 1848, Marx and Engels wrote, "The distinguishing feature of Communism is not the abolition of property generally, but the abolition of bourgeois property".
Revolution of 1848 in Luxembourg belonged to the same social milieu: they were members of the same clubs and associations, and would meet in Masonic lodges. The different families of the bourgeoisie were all linked by intermarriage. The rest of the country, farmers, artisans, and workers, remained as excluded from political life as they had been before 1848: the Revolution changed little for them. Several of the achievements of the Revolution of 1848, including the Constitution itself, proved to be quite short-lived. William II died in 1849, to be succeeded by his rather more reactionary son, William III, who described the Constitution of 1848 as