Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels

1820 — 1895

Germany Modern Era Marxism

Biography

Friedrich Engels was Marx's closest friend and associate, co-author of Marxism. He came from a family of factory owners and financially supported Marx.

Engels developed dialectical materialism, applying it to nature ('Dialectics of Nature'). He also investigated the origin of family, private property, and the state.

After Marx's death, he prepared the second and third volumes of 'Capital' for publication and systematized Marxist doctrine.

Key Ideas

  • Dialectics of nature
  • Origin of family and state
  • Materialist conception of history
  • Unity of theory and practice
  • Scientific socialism

Works

  • Anti-Dühring (1878)

    Systematic exposition of Marxism

  • The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884)

    Historical anthropology

  • Dialectics of Nature (1883)

    Natural philosophy