Historian, philosopher, journalist, economist and sociologist, Karl Marx was born in Trier in 1818. After studying law and philosophy, he contributed as a journalist to the Gazette rhénane. He developed a philosophy advocating the class struggle: starting from a materialist conception of history, he denounced the ravages of capitalism and favoured the organisation of the proletariat at an international level. In 1843, he moved to Paris where he met Engels with whom he elaborated the theory of revolutionary proletarian socialism and moved closer to the League of Communists. In 1848, he wrote The Manifesto of the Communist Party. A year later, he moved to London where he lived very modestly and where until his death in 1883, he continued his activist activities and the writing of his major work, Capital.

His contribution to the foundation of socialist and labour movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and the impact of his work on the social sciences continue under the name of Marxism.