The Obstacle to Escalation The Industrial Revolution brought with it a new form of class distinction; society got rid of feudal lords, vassals, guild masters and serfs to embrace the bourgeois-proletariat relationship. The bourgeois class, composed of modern capitalists, are the employers of wage workers and the owners of the means of production. The proletariat class is the modern wage worker, much less fortunate; they have no means of production of their own and therefore must sell their labor to survive. Karl Marx expresses these ideas in the “Communist Manifesto” together with the theory of the redemption of the proletariat and total equality. Orestes Brownson and Henry Ward Beecher, also writers of the time, express opinions that coincide with Marx's concepts and ideas. The industrial revolution, the birth of a new class distinction and the resulting social norms framed Rebecca Harding Davis' story "Life in the Iron Mills". Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist and sociologist, as well as a political revolutionary. In 1843 he began to build the "Communist Manifesto" together with his companion Friedrich Engels. The Manifesto began by discussing class struggles and delving into the exploitation of one class by another throughout history. “The history of all existing societies is the history of class struggles.” (__) Marx explains that throughout history we see the oppressor and the oppressed in constant opposition to each other, sometimes openly and sometimes covertly. Whenever the struggle between the two ends, either revolutionary reconstruction or the end of the class is implied. The Manifesto continues to demonstrate that the modern bourgeoisie is the product of many…paper media…its own. Mitchell, on the other hand, is intellectual like Brownson but meticulous and in control. Mitchell understands this relationship and also understands that history repeats itself and that, given the opportunity, revolutions will result. “Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Reform comes from need, not pity. No vital movement of the people has weakened, for better or for worse, fermented, instead, brought up the heaving and clogged mass. Think back to history and you will know. What will these lower depths – thieves, Magdalenes, niggers – do with the light filtered through the ponderous creeds of the Church, the Baconian theories, the schemes of Goethe? (57)Men all represent a part of the cycle: the bourgeoisie, the proletariat, those who watch and want to act, and those who observe and remain calm. They are all men of their time and are all influenced by time and society.