born Nov. 28, 1820, Barmen, Rhine Province, Prussia
died Aug. 5, 1895, London, Eng.
German socialist philosopher.
Son of a factory owner, he eventually became a successful businessman himself, never allowing his criticism of capitalism to interfere with the profitable operations of his firm. As a young man, he developed an interest in the philosophy of Hegelianism and dialectic was communism. In 1844 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England. With Karl Marx , whom he met in Cologne, he formed a permanent partnership to promote the socialist movement. After persuading the second Communist Congress to adopt their views, the two men were authorized to draft the {{link=Communist Manifesto">Communist Manifesto (1848). After Marx's death (1883), Engels served as the foremost authority on Marx and Marxism . Aside from his own books, he completed volumes 2 and 3 of Das Kapital on the basis of Marx's uncompleted manuscripts and rough notes.