The Communist Manifesto co-author is Friedrich Engels, who was a German philosopher and revolutionary socialist. He collaborated with Karl Marx to write the Communist Manifesto in 1848. Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary. Together, Engels and Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, which is one of the most influential political manuscripts in the world. Karl Marx is often referred to as the father of communism.