Karl Marx – love him or hate him, he was a No 1 influencer

 
Karl Marx, described as one of the most influential figures in human history, both lauded and criticised, was born on 5 May 1818 2am in Trier, Germany into a middle class, non-religious, liberally inclined Jewish family. Marx’s political writings forced him into exile in London as a stateless person, where, in collaboration with Friederich Engels, he wrote The Communist Manifesto and the three-volume Das Kapital. Their writings had enormous influence on subsequent intellectual, eco