Final answer:
Karl Marx criticized savage capitalism for its exploitation of workers, the resulting societal conflict, and the inequality it produced, predicting that it would ultimately be replaced by socialism. Marx's thoughts were heavily influenced by the dire conditions during the Industrial Revolution and the lack of mitigating factors against capitalism's negative impacts.
Step-by-step explanation:
Karl Marx was critical of savage capitalism because he saw it as an unjust, exploitative, and fundamentally coercive economic system. In his view, the bourgeoisie, who controlled the means of production, were motivated by the exploitation of labor. This resulted in the alienation of workers from their essence and the disproportionate accumulation of wealth by the owners at the expense of the workers. Marx predicted that the inherent conflict between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie would lead to the collapse of capitalism and the rise of socialism, a system where public ownership of the means of production would replace private ownership.
Through his critical analysis, Marx explained how the capitalist system, particularly during the Industrial Revolution, led to severe social disparities, and how state intervention and concessions to workers, which were unlikely from individual capitalist interests, were the only means to mitigate these destructive tendencies. The conditions of the nineteenth-century European capitalism, characterized by 'hellish mills', 'starving workers', and significant poverty, strongly influenced Marx's thought and works.
Critics like Marx and others envisioned a shift from capitalism to socialism or communism, with predictions that revolutions within the industrializing world would organically occur and create a society without major social problems. However, historical outcomes diverged from these predictions, as revolutions led to different forms of government and economic systems, with varying levels of success.