EARLY WRITINGS: COLLABORATION WITH MARX  
Working in his family's Manchester textile firm between 1842 and 1844, Engels came into contact with Chartism, the movement for extension of suffrage to workers. He contributed to the Northern Star and other publications and made a study of political economy. His experience and studies convinced him that politics and history could be explained only in terms of the economic development of society; he believed that the social evils of the time were the inevitable result of the institution of private property and could be eliminated only through a class struggle culminating in a Communist society. These conclusions were embodied in a historical study, Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England (Condition of the Working Class in England, 1844), which established Engels's reputation as a revolutionary political economist.

In Paris, in 1844, Engels visited Marx, who had published works sympathetic to Communism. The two men found that they had arrived independently at identical views and undertook to work together. Their many-sided collaboration continued until the death of Marx in 1883. It had two principal aspects: systematic exposition of the principles of Communism, later known as Marxism; and the organization of an international Communist movement. Lesser aspects of their collaboration included journalistic writing for the New York Tribune and other publications.

In elaborating Communist principles, the two men began in the field of philosophy and subsequently turned to other fields. Marx dealt particularly with political thought, political economy, and economic history; Engels's interests included the physical sciences, mathematics, anthropology, military science, and languages.

The Communist Manifesto, which influenced all subsequent Communist literature and is regarded as a classic exposition of modern Communist views, appeared in 1848. It was written by Marx, partly on the basis of a draft prepared by Engels.