Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels was a German philosopher, social scientist, journalist, and businessman who lived from 1820 to 1895. His collection of work done with Karl Marx laid the groundwork for modern communism. Engels and Marx wrote and published many articles and books together that attempted to expose the uneven distribution of wealth gained during the Industrial Revolution. Their writings see capitalism as an exploitative system that benefits the owners of land, capital, and means of production more than the workforce. Specifically, Engels and Marx claimed that the surplus value created by workers in excess of wages produced significant profits for owners of capital—a central theme in Engel’s contributions to modern communism.