29). This initial resistance, or class struggle, actually benefited the bourgeoisie; thus Marx's belief that "the whole historical movement is concentrated in the hands of the bourgeoisie; every victory so obtained is a victory for the bourgeoisie" (Marx 2005, part I).
The decline of the feudal system, according to Marx, was the direct result of social struggle between the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy that was aided and abetted by the proletariat. This social struggle, in turn, was directly related to the economic growth that made feudalism's capitalist systemùorganized upon trade guilds and other restrictive practicesùobsolete. Marx goes out of his way to note, however, that "the means of production and of exchange, on whose foundation the bourgeoisie built itself up, were generated in feudal society" (Marx 2005, part I). However, as the world began to expand economically, the bourgeoisie began to enter into conflict with the restrictive practices of the aristocracy. Marx "traced the collapse of feudal society to 'productive forces' coming into conflict with, then bursting apart, the feudal organisation or 'relations of property'" (Deakin, p. 31). According to Marx, then, the decline of feudalism was fueled by the economic struggle between the productive forces and the landowners and catapulted the bourgeoisie into the leading role in the capitalist system.
With the end of the feudal system, the bourgeoisie emerged as the primary players in the capitalist system of production, a system based on the premise of free competition. According to Marx, the bourgeoisie leveraged their economic and political clout to adapt the instruments of powerùthe social and political constitutionùto the tenets of free competition. In effect, "the bourgeoisie advanced from strength to strength, investing financial capital in, and reaping profits from, factories, railways, and the like, and its triumph swept class structure of the M...