Did A Boil On the Ass Drive Marx To Marxism?

Or perhaps one on the genitals?

LONDON (Reuters) - Karl Marx, who complained of excruciating boils, actually suffered from a chronic skin disease with known psychological effects that may well have influenced his writings, a British expert said on Tuesday.

[...]

The bourgeoisie will remember my carbuncles until their dying day," Marx told Friedrich Engels in a letter from 1867.

Funny are the twists and turns of history. If they'd had acne cream back in the 19th century, Karl might have been able to laugh and dance and sing like the rest of us, and might have collected butterflies instead of agitating for world-wide revolution.

Similarly with Hitler. If he hadn't cut his original mustache to cram his face into the gas-masks they used during WWI, Germany would never have fallen under his evil spell. He would have looked too dorky.

Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century

Though my own personal philosophy is "no jewellery, no facial hair", I nevertheless got a real kick out of Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century, a blog which explores, you guessed it, the "hotbed of facial hair experimentation" that was the 19th century. Includes pictures (mostly taken from the University of Kentucky Archives), glossary, and analysis. Especially pertinent to these sad modern times is the blog-owners discussion of Beardism. (Those damn kids today and their stupid goatees!)