A different kind of reader was Karl Marx, who thought he could see connections between Darwin’s ideas and his own theory of the struggle between social classes. “Although developed in the crude English fashion,” he commented to Friedrich Engels, “this is the book which in the field of natural history, provides the basis for our views.” Later, having published Das Kapital, he sent Darwin a copy, which then remained with uncut pages on the naturalist’s shelf, although he did write Marx a warm thank-you letter.
