e. Therefore, for Marx, every more frequent commercial crises of ever-increasing intensity, due to excesses generated by the continual revolution in the modes of production, lead inevitably to the downfall of capitalism. The eventual, violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie is accomplished by the proletarian class, whose power grows with the development of capitalism itself. As bourgeois modes of production necessitate the raising of huge industrial armies, as property comes into fewer and fewer hands, as some members o the ruling class and of the lower middle class join the proletariat as workers eke out a meager existence while constantly competing among themselves in the midst of scarcity—the proletariat as a class swells in numbers and becomes ever more aware of both its oppression and its oppressors, the capitalists. It is only a matter of time until the proletariat gains the power and awareness sufficient to bring about the revolutionary overthrow of the bourgeoisie.
