Friedrich Engels

The co founder of socialism, along with Karl Marx. Intelligent and well-educated, Engels wrote and published numerous articles and books. His most well-known book was The Communist Manifesto, written in collaboration with Marx and published in 1849. He also edited volumes 2 and 3 of Capital after Marx's death. Engels died in 1895.

Engels was born in 1820 in Prussia. He worked on and off in a textile factory where his father was a shareholder, and he hated it. He was opposed to organized religion and to capitalism and was influenced by the writings of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Engels helped to develop Marxism, which is based on the labor theory of value and on the idea that capitalists earn profits by exploiting workers.