Karl Marx, the founder of communism, is one of the most influential thinkers of all time — his memory revered by some and loathed by others.

Karl Marx, the founder of communism, is one of the most influential thinkers of all time — his memory revered by some and loathed by others.

Marx was born in Trier, Germany, in 1818 and educated at the universities of Bonn and Berlin.

In 1842 he became editor of the Cologne newspaper Rheinische Zeitung. But his articles attacking the government caused a storm and he was forced to resign.

Marx moved to Paris, where he developed his communist beliefs after further studies in philosophy, history and economics.

During this period he struck up what was to be a lifelong friendship with Friedrich Engels.

The two men discovered they had each formed almost identical views on the necessary conditions for a revolution by the workers.