History of economic thought died, Engels completed the second volume of "Das Kapital" from his notes. Marx wrote his magnum opus "Das Kapital" (1867) at the British Museum's library in London. Karl Marx begins with the concept of commodities. Before capitalism, says Marx, production was based on slavery – in ancient Rome for example – then serfdom in the feudal societies of medieval Europe. The current mode of labor exchange has produced an erratic and unstable situation allowing the conditions for revolution. People buy and sell their labor as people buy and sell goods and services. People themselves have become disposable commodities. As Marx
The Communist Manifesto in the hands of shop-window mannequins, displayed in come-hither poses and fashionable décolletage." A number of late-20th- and 21st-century writers have commented on the "Communist Manifesto"s continuing relevance. In a special issue of the "Socialist Register" commemorating the "Manifesto"s 150th anniversary, Peter Osborne argued that it was 'the single most influential text written in the nineteenth century.' Academic John Raines in 2002 noted that "In our day this Capitalist Revolution has reached the farthest corners of the earth. The tool of money has produced the miracle of the new global market and the ubiquitous shopping mall. Read "The Communist Manifesto",