Marx combined his economic analysis of the existing capitalist system with a dialectic view of history. He believed that capitalism had undergone a series of cycles of boom and bust, each time ending in a crisis that could not be resolved within the existing system. Capitalist crises were caused by the tendency for profits to fall, leading to a cycle of debt deflation. Ultimately, he predicted that there would be a proletarian revolution that would transfer ownership of the means of production from the bourgeoisie to the working class. This would create a classless society. Marx also recognized that the transition to socialism would be preceded by an intermediate phase when the economy would still be dominated by large businesses owned by big corporations, which he called the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. During this transitional period, the workers would seize the factories and establish workers’ councils to run them democratically.
Eventually, however, the workers would take total control of production. At this point, all production would be carried out collectively, either directly by the workers themselves or by worker cooperatives. There would no longer be any need for money since goods would be produced according to demand. People would instead share their surplus labor equally with everyone else. Everyone would be given equal access to education and healthcare. Private property would cease to exist, and the state would be abolished. Instead, everyone would act as equals in a communist utopia.
