In the 1850s and early 1860s Marx was unable to take an active part in politics, yet his prolific journalism from London offered a constant commentary on all the main developments of the day. During this time Marx began to interpret the British political scene and express his considered views on Germany, Poland and Russia, the Crimean War and American Civil War, imperialism in India and China, and a host of other key issues. "The Class Struggles in France" develops the theories outlined in "The Communist Manifesto" into an analysis of contemporary events, while "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon" contains reflections on Napoleon III"s "coup d"etat" of 1851. Although produced during years of acute political isolation and grinding poverty, the works in this volume provided a wealth of new ideas when Marx came to write "Das Kapital" and to found the International Working Men"s Association.