Editing Europa: The Last Battle (section)

===== Claim (02:22): "in the middle of the 19th century Moses Hess formulated the first written principles for communism" =====
This claim is loosely based on Hess' association with Marx and Engels, and his view that history will culminate in the introduction of common property,<ref>https://assets.cambridge.org/052138/7566/frontmatter/0521387566_frontmatter.pdf"Our era strives towards equality – this cannot be denied; but [does this imply] that it is headed immediately towards the community of property? Let this happen one day in the future, let it be the last goal of ageing mankind."</ref> formulated in his Spinozist book ''Die heilige Geschichte der Menschheit'' (1837), which had no explicit mention of communism. Hess was, moreover, not the first person to argue for the abolition of private property, nor the first to formulate a political platform with the word communism, neither was he the first person to use the word communism. Communism was termed by diffuse groups arguing for a communal organisation of society in France and England during the mid 19th century - etymologically generated out of ''Commun, Communion'' and ''community.'' It can not be pinned to one person.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20201218153511/http://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/1385668/2a0d6d0b045feef2adb6ae76ec9a2c92.pdf?1509502303</ref> First attested in writing - meaning '''first record of political principles''' - by John Goodwin Barmby in 1841, founder of the Utopian, Christian, London Communist Propaganda Society.<ref>https://www.etymonline.com/word/communism</ref> People arguing for the abolition of private property (as Engels put it, the meaning of communism in one sentence), predated the 19th century. For example the French Catholic abbé Jean Meslier's ''Testament'' (1729) '''Verdict''': False