Karl Marx

1818 – 1883

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, and revolutionary socialist whose theory of historical materialism and analysis of class struggle under capitalism reshaped economics, politics, and sociology for the next two centuries. With his lifelong collaborator Friedrich Engels he co-authored The Communist Manifesto (1848), and his three-volume work Das Kapital (1867–1894) provided the foundational critique of political economy on which 20th-century socialist and communist movements built. He spent most of his adult life in exile in London, where he died in 1883.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM