In particular, Marx believed that he could have predicted the revolutions of 1848 based on this idea of historical progress. Similarly, he believed that he could foresee the eventual demise of industrial capitalism due to the same historical forces.
One of the primary impetuses for the revolutions of 1848 was the transformation of workspace and working relationships caused by the burgeoning Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. During this time, craftsmen and skilled laborers increasingly perceived their livelihoods to be threatened by the increased mechanization of production and increased importation of cheaper foreign goods (Encyclopedia Britannica 1
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