Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, historian and revolutionary socialist. He developed historical materialism, analyzing capitalism as a system of class struggle by economic forces, predicting its overthrow by the proletariat in favor of communism. He co-authored the Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867-1894) with his lifelong friend Friedrich Engels. Marx's ideas and their subsequent development, collectively known as Marxism, have had enormous influence and resulted in revolutions in many different countries.