The Industrial Revolution created the economic conditions for the development of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. This is because the advent of the factory made production of goods possible by using unskilled workers who were essentially identical in terms of labor skills. This "pot" of unskilled laborers became the proletariat.
Karl Marx believed that all history was the history of class struggles and that the proletariat would overthrow the bourgeoisie.
According to Marx, the proletariat would revolt against and overthrow the owners of the means of production , i.e. the bourgeoisie. The victory of the proletariat would mean that, for the first time in history, one group of people would not be oppressing an other. This new society would be called Communism. The new society would indirectly transition to Communism via a socialist stage, where class distinctions remained in existence and power while the means of the production, being socialised, would break down the existing social distinctions in society.
The bourgeoisie conception of history emphasizes progress through industrialization, capitalism, and individual achievement. It often focuses on economic development, technological advancements, and the rise of the middle class as drivers of historical change. This perspective tends to prioritize material wealth and social status in shaping historical narratives.
The idea that all history is the history of class struggles is primarily attributed to Karl Marx. He argued that societal development is driven by the conflicts between different social classes, particularly between the bourgeoisie (capitalists) and the proletariat (working class). This perspective is central to Marxist theory, which analyzes historical events through the lens of economic and social class dynamics.
According to Karl Marx, the two groups of society that would grow more and more hostile toward one another are the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie, or the capitalist class, owns the means of production and seeks to maximize profit, while the proletariat, or the working class, sells their labor for wages. As the interests of these groups become increasingly opposed, class struggle intensifies, leading to potential conflict and revolution. This antagonism is central to Marx's critique of capitalism and his theory of historical materialism.
The essential components of Marxism include the belief in a class struggle between the bourgeoisie (the wealthy capitalist class) and the proletariat (the working class), the idea of historical materialism where social structures are determined by economic forces, and the goal of achieving a classless society through revolution and the establishment of a socialist state.
A true Marxian revolution would not work in Russia because the country's economy was mostly agrarian rather than industrial. This meant that capitalism had not yet created the conflicting social classes of bourgeoisie and proletariat. Without these conflicting classes there could be no revolution of the proletariat. Marx did not believe in Utopia. He did not believe that a political group, be they Marxists, Socialists, Bolsheviks or Communists, could take over a country and impose socialism and communism upon it. The evolution from capitalism to socialism to communism was an historical process not a political one. Capitalism had to fully run its course, separate society into the two classes and set the stage for the proletariat to overthrow the bourgeoisie. Industrialized capitalism was an absolute must because only wide scale industrialization would create the homogeneous working class that would become the proletariat. An agrarian economy would not create those two classes and Russia was at that time an agrarian economy.
Marx and Engels' ideas on class struggle, the role of the proletariat as a revolutionary force, and the critique of capitalism were highly influential in the 1917 Russian Revolution. Their concept of historical materialism provided a framework for understanding societal change and the necessity of a workers' uprising against the bourgeoisie. Additionally, the notion of a dictatorship of the proletariat helped justify the Bolshevik seizure of power, as they sought to establish a government that represented the working class.
Karl Marx was the philosopher who believed that history was a struggle between classes, specifically between the bourgeoisie (capitalist class) and the proletariat (working class). He developed the theory of historical materialism, stating that economic forces shape society and drive the conflict between different social classes.
Karl Marx's definitions of class were based on the relationship individuals had to the means of production. He identified two main classes in capitalist societies: the bourgeoisie who owned the means of production, and the proletariat who sold their labor for wages. Marx believed that this class struggle was the driving force behind historical change.
Marx and Engels believed that the Industrial Revolution, with its rapid and disruptive changes to society and economy, created the conditions described in their writings. The transition from feudal agriculture to industrial capitalism led to the rise of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, setting the stage for class struggle and the eventual overthrow of capitalism.
The Marxist theoretical framework is a socio-economic and political theory developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that analyzes the effects of capitalism on society. It emphasizes the class struggle between the bourgeoisie (owners of the means of production) and the proletariat (working class), arguing that this conflict drives historical change and social development. Marxism critiques capitalism for creating inequality and alienation, advocating for a classless society achieved through revolutionary means. The framework also encompasses historical materialism, which posits that material conditions and economic factors shape human consciousness and societal structures.