Karl Marx, the father of communism, who complained of excruciating boils, suffered from a "chronic skin disease" with psychological effects such as self-loathing and alienation that may well have influenced his writings.
According to British researcher Prof Sam Shuster, the revolutionary thinker's life and attitudes were shaped by hidradenitis suppurativa -- a disease that blocks apocrine sweat glands found in the armpits and the groins.
"The skin is an organ of communication, which is why its disorders produce so much psychological distress, with depression of self-image, mood and well-being, and with self-loathing and disgust," he said.
"In addition to reducing his ability to work, which contributed to his depressing poverty, hidradenitis greatly reduced his self-esteem. This explains his self-loathing and alienation, a response reflected by the alienation Marx developed in his writing," Prof Shuster of the University of East Anglia wrote in the British Journal of Dermatology.
In fact, the researcher came to the conclusion after searching and carefully examining Marx's letters and found that he had started complaining of carbuncles in 1864, when he was 46.
"The evidence that he suffered hidradenitis suppurativa is strong," he said.
It may be mentioned that the condition was described as early as 1839 by French doctor Alfred Velpeau. Even Marx wrote to Ludwig Kugelmann in 1867, "I still have a carbuncle on the left loin not far from the centre of propagation, as well as numerous furuncles."
