Final answer:
Karl Marx focused on how capitalism would inevitably lead to a proletarian revolution leading to communism, a society of justice and equality. His analysis shifted more towards capitalism's mechanics after the failed revolutions of 1848, and he theorized that class conflict would eventually trigger a global revolution without explicitly detailing the conditions for its occurrence.
Step-by-step explanation:
Karl Marx was a sociologist and philosopher who extensively discussed the topic of revolution about societal transformations. Initially, Marx was elated by the revolutions of 1848, but after their failure, he focused more on the analysis of capitalism rather than revolutionary propaganda. Marx predicted that a global revolution would eventually lead to communism, which would epitomize a society characterized by peace, justice, freedom, and equality of material resources without economic classes.
Marx's concept of revolution centered on the proletariat, the working class, seizing control of industrial wealth for the common good. He theorized that capitalism's inherent issues would inevitably spark a revolution. Marx and Engels' work, The Communist Manifesto, outlined the role of the bourgeoisie as a revolutionary class that upended the previous feudal structure and subsequently dominated the proletariat. Marx believed that in the full maturity of industrialism and the class consciousness of the proletariat, the material conditions would be ripe for revolution, which he saw as an inevitable outcome of capitalism.
In Marx's vision, the proletariat would either spontaneously revolt or be aided by a political party — the Communists. However, he never provided explicit details on when exactly the conditions for a socialist revolution would materialize. Nonetheless, he was convinced that class antagonisms and economic crises would trigger a proletariat upsurge, an idea anchored in his concept of dialectical materialism.