section_path: Class conflict
section_name: Class conflict
paragraph_text: Class conflict
  
  Class conflict, frequently referred to as class struggle, is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests and desires between people of different classes.
  
  For Marx, the history of class society was a history of class conflict. He pointed to the successful rise of the bourgeoisie and the necessity of revolutionary violence—a heightened form of class conflict—in securing the bourgeois rights that supported the capitalist economy.
  
  Marx believed that the exploitation and poverty inherent in capitalism were a pre-existing form of class conflict. Marx believed that wage labourers would need to revolt to bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth and political power.