Coming from an affluent family, he is forced to leave his studies to work in a relationship of dependency, and his formation will therefore be basically self-taught. However, he will become a profound connoisseur of the sciences and politics of his time. Heine and Hegel will be a decisive influence on their formation.
His interest in communist doctrine arises from the study of the proposals of the socialist Moses Hess. He met Carlos Marx in 1842 and together with him initiated the Chartism, which advocated the right to vote of the workers.
For Engels, economic evolution was the basis of history and private property, one of humanity's central evils. The confrontation between classes and the creation of a communist state would make it possible to put an end to all the problems that private property had generated in society.
His work, “The Situation of the Working Class in England” (1844) summarizes his ideological position.
A collaborator of Marx until his death, he dealt with the economic aspects while the latter developed the politicians.