Google says it ' s J . Howard . But I can ' t find a reliable source on that . Edit nevermind , that ' s who wrote it a hundred years ago . <| sep |> A spectre is haunting Salem the spectre of communism . All the powers of old Salem have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre Josh and Blake , Town and Mafia , shills and supporters . Where is the poster in opposition that has not been decried as communistic by its opponents in power ? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of communism , against the more advanced opposition posters , as well as against its reactionary adversaries ? Two things result from this factI . Communism is already acknowledged by all Salem powers to be itself a power . II . It is high time that Communists should openly , in the face of the whole world , publish their views , their aims , their tendencies , and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Communism with a manifesto of the party itself . To this end , Communists of various nationalities have assembled in Salem and sketched the following manifesto , to be published in the English , French , German , Italian , Flemish and Danish languages .