Karl Marx was the bearded man most feared by capitalism and the guy who managed to turn the class struggle into compulsory reading.
 

Born in 1818 in Germany, he started out as a philosopher, but soon realised that philosophy without revolution was just a bourgeois pastime. With his partner in intellectual crime, Friedrich Engels, he wrote ‘The Communist Manifesto’ and ‘Capital’, works that to this day make bankers break out in a cold sweat.

 

He spent his life on the run from censorship, living on the dole and writing about the exploitation of workers - basically, a 19th century freelancer. He died in 1883 in London without seeing the revolution through, but he left behind a legacy that continues to inspire protests, heated debates and, of course, stylish T-shirts with his face printed on them.