Karl Marx

Karl Marx (1818–1883) studied law and philosophy in Bonn and Berlin as a Young Hegelian. Exiled from Germany, France, and Belgium for his radical journalism, he co-authored 'The Communist Manifesto' in 1848 with Friedrich Engels, declaring: 'The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.'

Settling in London, Marx spent decades reading in the British Museum reading room, producing 'Das Kapital' (Volume 1, 1867), a monumental dissection of industrial capitalism, surplus value, and commodity fetishism. His thought reshaped global politics for over a century.