Karl Marx

Karl Marx (1818–1883) was a philosopher, political theorist, and economist born in Trier. After earning a PhD from Jena and marrying Jenny von Westphalen in 1843, his radical journalism sparked expulsions from France, Belgium, and Germany. In 1844, he formed a lifelong partnership with Friedrich Engels, with whom he co-authored The Communist Manifesto (1848). Settling in London in 1849, Marx endured deep poverty while leading the International Workingmen’s Association and writing his masterwork, Das Kapital (1867). Marx died stateless in London, leaving Engels to posthumously publish the remaining volumes of his defining economic theories.